Fire burns at Jackson's Neverland Ranch
August 25, 2006
LOS OLIVOS, Calif. --A wildfire burned about 40 acres of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch on Friday, coming within a quarter-mile of the main residence, officials said.
No structures had caught fire at the 2,500 acre estate, Santa Barbara County Fire spokesman Jeff Ross said.
About 100 firefighters were battling the blaze along with water-dropping helicopters, Ross said.
Jackson, 47, was not at the house. He has been living in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Bahrain since being acquitted of child molestation charges in California in June 2005.
In March, Jackson closed the main house at Neverland and laid off several of his employees.
AP
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http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California2/CA_N..._251238CA.shtml
Firefighters contain blaze at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch
The Associated Press
LOS OLIVOS
Flanked by water-dropping helicopters, about 100 firefighters fully contained a 40-acre blaze Friday on Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
The blaze came within a quarter-mile of the main residence, but there were no injuries and Jackson's menagerie of animals were also unhurt, said Santa Barbara County Fire spokesman Capt. Keith Cullom
"It's pretty much been knocked down," said Cullom. "It's not really moving much at this point."
The ranch's amusement park rides were within the burned area, Cullom said, but no structures caught fire. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
The 2,500 acre estate, which Jackson purchased for $14.6 million in 1988, is tucked into the California countryside amid wineries about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Jackson, 47, was not at the house. He has been living in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Bahrain since being acquitted of child molestation charges in California in June 2005.
In March, Jackson closed the main house at Neverland, laying off most of the staff after agreeing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages to avoid a lawsuit by state labor officials.
Meanwhile Friday, 100 firefighters battled a brush fire in Lancaster that started when a mobile home caught fire, said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Sam Padilla.
The fire burned on a grassy area below a ridge and had consumed about 150 acres, or about a quarter of a square mile. It was 50 percent contained, said Padilla.
It wasn't immediately clear how the mobile home caught fire, he said.
Published: Friday, August 25, 2006 19:25 PDT