Fire crews doused two overnight brush fires just hours after they dealt with a blaze in El Dorado Nature Center Wednesday evening, and now they’re trying to determine if they’re all connected.

The string of blazes started with three small spot fires in the southeast corner of the nature center around 5:40 p.m., according to the Long Beach Fire Department.

Crews doused those blazes after they charred about an acre of brush, but a few hours later, they were racing to a new emergency a couple of miles west.

Long Beach Fire Department firefighters start mopping up the mess left behind by a brush fire in the El Dorado Nature Center. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

Crews got word about a fire near Los Coyotes Diagonal and Willow Street just a few minutes before 9 p.m., LBFD spokesman Brian Fisk said.

A eucalyptus tree next to a retaining wall was ablaze and burning so intensely that fire crews had to call in a few extra engines.

“They got a quick handle on it once they got those additional resources,” Fisk said.

An hour later, there was a third blaze about two miles farther west near 29th Street and Redondo Avenue, Fisk said.

Video shot from the 405 Freeway showed the flames charring palm trees and brush just off the freeway.

It’s possible the string of fires are coincidental, but, Fisk said, investigators are looking into whether there’s a link among the three.

“They’re working hard on this,” Fisk said. It’s not clear yet what started the blazes.

A fire, seen from the Long Beach Airport, burns near the 405 Freeway. Courtesy photo.

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.