Los Angeles, United States - July 24, 2025 07/24/2025 02:15 am GMT-0700 HOLLYWOOD HILLS WEST, LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to reports of a vegetation fire in Runyon Canyon Park, located at approximately 1800 North Fuller Avenue. A witness reported smelling smoke and rushed to locate the source of the fire. Firefighters arrived and successfully extinguished multiple hotspots. The fire is currently being treated as suspicious, and LAFD arson investigators have arrived at the scene to conduct an investigation. SOT: "[00:03:18:24 - 00:03:42:14] the entrance to Runyon. And I was sitting in my living room and I smelled something. And we just went through the virus here and got evacuated. So I was playing video games. And went on my balcony, saw what I thought was smoke. It came out front and I smelled that smell of wood burning. [00:03:43:27 - 00:03:55:26] And came out here but couldn't see any fire. So I called the fire department and apparently the number is wrong for the department that's right here. They told me to call 911. Called 911. [00:03:56:29 - 00:04:29:10] Then jumped the fence over here to confirm that the fire was there. Ran up there and there was a big tree that had been lit on fire. It was already jumping to another spot just down the road. Well, I thought you were out for a run. You actually smelled smoke and ran up there to get eyes and figure out where it was to call emergency services. That's like hero stuff. And you don't see people doing that. So really incredible. And you mentioned-- I just want to be clear. Going through the fires earlier this year in January, you smelled that smell. You knew what that was. Walk me through your headspace. What were you feeling in that moment? [00:04:30:14 - 00:04:51:16] Not everybody's going to jump out of bed at 2 AM and go do that. Just tell me what you're thinking, how you're feeling in that moment. You know, last time I had been a little bit aways when we got the evacuation notice and my puppy was here by himself. So when I got here and our apartment was filled with smoke inside-- he would already see it inside each apartment-- [00:04:52:25 - 00:06:02:09] that's when I really freaked out to try to get him out of there as quickly as possible. And I was sitting there believing when I smelled it again. And I was like, OK, it's like 2 AM. Nobody's going to be grilling right now. This isn't OK. And when I came out, I checked the wind, and it was blowing from this way. And I was like, oh, that's not good. Yeah, that's not good. Explain to me, you said nobody's barbecuing. It's a different smell, right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I mean, nobody's going to be barbecuing this time of night, I wouldn't think, especially in our apartment. Didn't you guys just have an incident up here in Runyon with a guy trying to set fires and stuff? Wasn't that-- I don't know about that one. I want to say a week or two ago, there was a guy taking into custody for lighting a palm tree on fire. I'm not surprised, because honestly, coming up hiking in some of these places, you see where little fires were lit at night. So that's honestly what I thought it might be. I know there's a couple of homeless guys, one that lives there and one that lives there. I was thinking, maybe he just lit a fire and doesn't know he shouldn't be, got out of hand. But seeing that, man, it's crazy. Again, you went above and beyond tonight. If you could, just your first name and last name and spelling them both. Steven Ayers, S-T-E-P-H-E-N and A-Y-E-R-S."