Two separate brush fires that exploded in northern Los Angeles County on Thursday had scorched more than 2,250 acres by nightfall, forcing residents of Leona Valley and southern Palmdale to evacuate as flames cast a plume of dark smoke over the Santa Clarita Valley.

The Crown Fire in Acton erupted about 2:20 p.m. north of Anthony Road near Highway 14 and had burned about 2,000 acres by 7 p.m., said fire Inspector Matt Levesque. There were no injures reported Thursday night, but the blaze was not at all contained, he said.

It wasn’t clear how many people were forced to evacuate Thursday night.

Plumes of smoke were visible from Valencia in the afternoon.

The Acton blaze moved north, pushed by winds blowing about 10 mph with 20 mph gusts, he said. More than 300 Los Angeles County firefighters were attacking the flames, while another 200 protected homes, Levesque said.

“Our concern is in Leona Valley, that’s why we evacuated that area,” Levesque said. “Structure-protection units to protect those homes have been there all afternoon.”

The blaze was moving in a north-easterly direction late Thursday.

A second fire, dubbed the Briggs Fire, began burning about 3 p.m. in the Angeles National Forest near 8344 Soledad Canyon Road, said Jessica Luna, a fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service. The Briggs Fire forced the evacuation of Fire Camp 11 and  scorched more then 250 acres by 5:45 p.m., Levesque said.

Two Acton animal rescue shelters, The Brittany Foundation and the Villalobos Pit Bull Rescue, had to move dogs away from the Crown Fire on Thursday afternoon.

Signal staff writer and Brittany Foundation board member Michelle Sathe said it took more than 2 hours for 12 volunteers to bring the 90 dogs in the shelter to a home farther south of the fire on Anthony Road. From the shelter, Sathe said she could see flames about a half mile away.

“The dogs are handling it pretty well. They’re handling it better than the people,” Sathe said. “We’re just keeping them hydrated and calm.”

Denise Kane, 40, whose house was used as a temporary shelter said she found out about the fire after her neighbor sent her a text message on her cell phone.

“I was in my kitchen, and I got a text message from my neighbor at 2:33 p.m. that said, ‘fire, fire, are you okay?’” Kane said. She added the fire department responded quickly.

“They’ve really hit this with all the might they could,” Kane said. “They responded a few minutes after the fire started.”