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Weather is on firefighters' side - for now
Cool, moist air is aiding the battle against the last of the Southern California wildfires, but Santa Ana winds are expected to return by this weekend. More
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Firefighter Josh Balboa monitors the Harris fire in southern San Diego County.
Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
Residents returning to their homes following the Santiago Fire are urged to use caution when cleaning up ash and debris.
The debris may include sharp edges, nails or other objects that can cause injuries. When going through fire debris, wear sturdy shoes, long pants and long-sleeved shirts. Leather work gloves and eye protection are also recommended.
Fire ash may be irritating to the eyes and skin. If the ash is breathed, it can be irritating to the nose and throat and may cause coughing.
Exposure to ash might trigger asthmatic attacks in people who have asthma. In order to avoid possible health problems the following precautions are recommended:
If you do get ash on your skin, wash it off as soon as possible.
Avoid getting ash into the air as much as possible. Do not use leaf blowers or do anything else that will put ash into the air.
Wear eye protection, such as goggles.
A dust mask can significantly reduce (but not completely eliminate) the amount of particles inhaled. A mask rated N-95 or P-100 will be more effective than simpler dust or surgical masks in blocking particles from ash.
Persons with heart or lung disease should consult their physician before using a mask during post-fire cleanup.
Gentle sweeping of indoor and outdoor hard surfaces followed by mopping is the best procedure in most cases.
If you have a vegetable garden or fruit trees, wash the fruit or vegetables thoroughly before eating them.
For additional information on the safe cleanup of fire ash please visit the Orange County Health Care Agency's website at www.ochealthinfo.com.
Mandatory evacuations remain in place for the canyon areas off Santiago Canyon Road between Silverado Canyon Road and Live Oak Canyon Road, including the Santiago Estates and Jackson Ranch Road. Areas along Live Oak Canyon Road through the Trabuco Canyon area, including O'Neill Regional Park to Trabuco Creek Road, are also included in this mandatory evacuation.
The Santiago Incident Unified Command has established an assessment team to determine when residents of the Santiago Fire area may return to their homes.
This assessment begins today and will continue through at least the peak burning period and into the evening. The decision to allow residents to return to their homes will be contingent upon the anticipated fire threat and weather predictions for the affected areas.
Modjeska, Live Oak, Trabuco, and Silverado Canyons may be reopened at different times based upon conditions within each respective canyon. Only residents will be allowed to return to the evacuated areas; road blocks by local law enforcement will stay in place.
The returning residents will be asked to stay on their properties and not enter other affected areas including Cleveland National Forest land, which is still closed.
— Jeffrey L. Rabin
Capt. Phil Rawlings at Cal-Fire said that firefighters at the Santiago blaze in Orange County had a good night and that containment was at about 50%, though there was no prediction for full containment. So far, 27,900 acres have burned.
At this point, there is no indication that the fire will spread to Riverside County, he said. "We're making very good headway and we're cautiously optimistic."
-- Michael Muskal
Orange County:
Firefighters made steady progress today battling the Santiago fire, but the 27,521-acre blaze is still threatening homes, and Orange County's rustic canyon communities remain under mandatory evacuation.
"The weather today has been outstanding," said Dennis Cross, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority. "High humidity and very little wind is allowing aircraft to really target and hit a lot of hot spots. Structure protection is in place, and we're getting a lot of line constructed."
Nearly 2,000 firefighters are battling the fire, and they were supported in the air by four planes and 16 helicopters.
Assessment teams visiting remote burned areas discovered two more destroyed homes, bringing the fire's toll to at least 16.
A $285,000 reward is being offered to anyone offering information that leads to a conviction.
-- Seema Mehta
Orange County:
Evacuated from their rustic Orange County canyons for nearly a week, scores of residents are gathering in the parking lot of a nearby Albertsons market that they have dubbed "Camp Silverado."
Children are handing out homemade Halloween cupcakes; volunteers are tending pets, including roosters and iguanas, in a makeshift animal shelter; and fire authorities are providing regular updates about the blaze's direction as the evacuees wait to find out whether their homes are among the 14 destroyed.
"I'm feeling optimistic, but I'm dead tired and I'm pretty stressed out," said Sherry Meddick, a Silverado Canyon resident, as she tended the pets. "Keeping the animals keeps my mind off the situation, and people need the help.... It's pretty hard to take your iguana, 15 rabbits, 10 chickens and pot-bellied pig to Motel 6. They might not leave the lights on."
-- David Haldane
Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times
Orange County:
The Santiago blaze is clambering toward Mine Tract, a small community of about 40 homes in Silverado Canyon. All residents have been evacuated, and hand crews are cutting a fire break. Firefighters are positioning themselves to defend the homes while water-dropping helicopters are trying to douse the flames, which are half a mile away.
"Right now, it's a very slow back-burning fire creeping down the ridge tops," said Orange County Fire Authority Battalion Chief Pat Antrim, who has lived in Silverado for 46 years.
These homes are the only ones immediately threatened in Silverado, which has been evacuated for days and has so far avoided major damages.
Read on »
Hand crews are cutting fire breaks to save hundreds of homes in rural Orange County as 13 water-dropping helicopters and four air tankers are battling the Santiago blaze from the sky.
"The main area of focus today is Silverado Canyon, where the fire is still threatening homes," said Fire Authority Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion. Firefighters are engaged in "structure protection, trying to establish a line between the fire and the homes."
After days of erratic winds and bone-dry humidity levels, the weather is finally cooperating with firefighters, he said. Temperatures are decreasing, humidity is increasing and moist ocean breezes are blowing inland.
-- Seema Mehta
The Santiago fire in Orange County threatened hundreds of homes in Silverado Canyon and is approaching the Riverside County line. Fire officials hope that milder weather conditions today will help their efforts. A few raindrops were even falling at the Irvine command post this morning.
The arson blaze, which has destroyed at least 14 homes, is 35% contained.
Overnight, firefighters protected homes in the narrow seven-mile canyon and used bulldozers to build a five-mile fire break, aiming to stop the fire front marching toward the Riverside County line. Nearly 2,000 firefighters are fighting the blaze.
An update is scheduled for later this morning.
-- Seema Mehta
Silverado Canyon:
Though Silverado Canyon, with its steep walls, narrow roads, mature trees and chaparral is a potential tinderbox, it has managed to escape major damage from wildfires in modern times. Silverado Canyon was untouched even by the 1967 Paseo Grande fire, which blackened nearly 49,000 acres and burned 51 homes, mostly in the canyons and foothills of east Orange County. The blaze was marching toward the canyon, but it changed directions at the last moment and burned Black Star Canyon.
-- William Lobdell
Residents of Silverado, Modjeska and Williams canyons are being escprted to their homes by authorities for a 10-minute roundup of belongings to take back with them to "Camp Silverado."
-- Jennifer Delson
Rich Phelps, fire spokesman and U.S. Forest Service officer, said at 1 p.m. today the Santiago fire is in Silverado Canyon and will reach the canyon bottom within the hour. The Sheriff's Department is again trying to evacuate about 20 people who would not leave their homes. "It's an extremely active fire in Silverado Canyon right now, things are pretty rough, there's been no structural damage so far," Phelps said.
Authorities said the fire was moving quickly. During the day, fire personnel cleared propane tanks and wood piles from around peoples' homes and cleaned out gutters. Thirteen helicopters and four tankers are providing air assistance.
-- Jennifer Delson
Silverado Canyon:
Deep in Silverado Canyon, where small wooden homes line up side-by-side like matchboxes, and tree canopies turn the narrow roads into leafy tunnels, five strike teams braced for the worst at midday as fires burned on distant peaks.
Three of the teams were positioned at County Fire Station 14, at the foot of a steep ridge the locals have dubbed "Killer Ridge" because of its history. Six people working inside the fire station were killed in a mudslide in 1969, and a woman sitting at a desk inside her home was killed a couple of years ago when a falling boulder crashed through a back wall.
Modesto battallion chief Sean Slamon, with the three teams, said two additional strike teams were stationed about two miles further up Silverado Canyon, where the road ends and the fire is just "one peak away."
Slamon said there were further concerns that the fire might also crest the ridges right above the community.
"The winds are much better but the fire's still moving pretty good," he said. "It's jumped a couple of lines -- this morning, but last night it made some runs last night.
If there was any imminent danger, George Nagelin was the picture of calm.
Outside his home, while sheriff's deputies sped by in cruisers and went door-to-door in a last-minute sweep, the 80-year-old was hosing down his car in his dirt driveway, with no plans to leave.
-- Christine Hanley
Chay Peterson who lives on Wildcat Road off of Silverado Canyon Road, refused to evacuate during the earlier mandatory evacuation, but left today with her husband when the sherriff's officials came and asked those who hadn't already evacuated to leave.
"When [the firemen] look like they're moving on to plan B, and they have that look in their eyes, that makes me scared. That tells me I have to move further down the canyon. " She and her husband went to Calvary Chapel of the Canyons about two miles away and are planning to stay there until they hear it is safe to go home.
--My-Thuan Tran
As the fire closed in on the far reaches of Silverado Canyon this afternoon, about 50 Orange County sheriff's deputies spent an hour scouring up to 100 homes to evacuate lingering residents. An unknown number agreed to leave, but 10 residents refused, according to Sgt. Jim Greenwood.
-- My-Thuan Tran in Silverado Canyon
About 100 residents of canyon communities went to a shopping center to get fire information, but fire officials could not provide detailed information of the fire's path. That left many of them in tears and on edge.
Read on »
Fire officials battling the Santiago fire urged residents to call a hotline before deciding to evacuate or return to their homes. The number is (714) 573-6200. The fire continues to threaten Silverado Canyon, and is moving quickly toward Riverside County.
"The ocean winds blow from the west and hit mountains and stop," said Rick Vogt, a spokesman for Cal Fire. "The concern is that if the fire crosses the hill at the county line, homes in Riverside County could be in jeopardy. Should people leave now? No. If that becomes an issue, residents will be warned."
-- Jennifer Delson
At 11 a.m., two strike teams from Los Angeles County Fire were awaiting deployment instructions from battalion chiefs scouting the burn area of the Santiago fire.
Capt. Eric Kuck, one of the leaders with the 10 engines lined up and ready to go at the entrance to O'Neill Regional Park, said they expected to be sent to Trabuco Canyon to protect homes. Kuck said some small fires were burning in some inaccessible areas but the winds had died dramatically from earlier in the week.
Read on »
The Orange County Fire Authority confirmed today that the reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the Santiago Canyon arson fire is now up to $250,000, up by $100,000 thanks to a donation from the radio station KFI-AM 640, an agency spokeswoman said.
Read on »
Santiago Canyon:
Last Sunday, Ben Viloria, 57, and his wife, Susan, were in Laguna Beach celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary, but he could not fully concentrate on the occasion. He noticed that it was extremely windy and thought that authorities should shut down a stretch of nearby Santiago Canyon Road.
"That's what I was concerned about, some arsonist," Viloria said. "It didn't have to happen. Whoever did this put all these lives and all these properties in jeopardy."
All around him, homes are charred, and some tree stumps are still smoking. Fifty hand crews and firefighters marched into his neighborhood just minutes after neighbors fled Tuesday morning. A volunteer firefighter friend gave him updates all Tuesday and ultimately came to his home with tears in his eyes, saying, "You can't stay. You can't stay." The friend looked at Viloria's son and said, "Don't let him stay."
He and his 29-year-old son defied the evacuation order as long as possible. The last thing he did before leaving was turn on his Rainbird sprinkler, which firefighters say could have helped protect the home. When he returned from his brief evacuation, he saw that though the fire had burned just feet away, his house had survived.
"With a natural fire, at least you can say it was an accident, but this was not an accident," he said.
--Hector Becerra
Trabuco Canyon:
Cook's Corner, a biker haunt for 81 years, has become a de facto headquarters for firefighters fighting the Santiago flames since Monday.
On Tuesday, when the Santa Ana winds barreled into the Canyon and the flames came to about half a mile from Cook's Corner, manager Rhonda Palmerri, 37, recalls being told that they would have to evacuate immediately. They had begun pulling pictures and memorabilia together when the winds suddenly shifted and firefighters said they would no longer have to flee. "The firefighters promised that this place is not going anywhere," said Palmerri, who was wearing a pink bandanna and other biker regalia. "I love these guys."
In response to the arson named as the cause, Palmerri says, "It's sickening to me. Now we need to make sure we're safe and make sure we find the idiot who did this."
In their downtime, the firefighers are enjoying an outdoor barbecue and foods slathered in chili. Los Angeles County firefighter Anthony Jefferson, who arrived from the Malibu fires Tuesday evening, said as he finished off a barbecued hamburger and hot dog drowning in chili, "It's fantastic. It's the best camp food I've ever had."
--Hector Becerra
Entrance to downtown Trabuco Canyon:
On his sprawling ranch home next door to the Trabuco General store, Leonard Schwendeman, 89, sits in his living room and spews against whoever started the fire that threatened his home.
"Of course [we're] very aggravated," said Schwendeman, sitting on his couch in a blue shirt and red suspenders. "I think they should put [the arsonists] to work on a fire line for six months. Just carrying those water hoses is a hell of a lot of work." ....
Read on »
Orange County Fire Authority's list of addresses of homes confirmed destroyed in the
Santiago fire near Irvine and Lake Forest*:
Williams Canyon Road: 28564, 28562, 28522
Modjeska Canyon Road: 28331, 28040, 16956, 28456
Modjeska Grade Road: 28012, 28452, 28041
Country Home Road: 18691
Baum Canyon: 17286
Canyon Heights Drive: 17382
*13 confirmed addresses of 14 homes reported destroyed
-- Tony Barboza
Orange County:
Santiago Canyon College and the South Orange County Community College District's three campuses canceled classes until Monday. High school football games and other athletic events have also been called off through Monday, and Yorba Linda's Fiesta Days has been canceled.
Irvine Unified School District schools are closed Friday. They were opened on Thursday.
-- Jennifer Delson
Rancho Bernardo:
At the request of San Diego Fire-Rescue, Scripps Health today set up a mobile trailer and two tents as a medical response unit at the Rancho Bernardo service center.
"We're ready to provide care for both firefighters, if they need it, and citizens coming to the recreation center," said Dr. A. Brent Eastman, chief medical officer for Scripps Health. "Many have illnesses that are neglected or mental health issues when they come back and see their homes destroyed."
They were asked to help to alleviate the strain on San Diego's hospital emergency rooms, Eastman said.
He said the unit, which opened up for its first full day today, has already dealt with about a dozen patients, but he said the lines were expected to increase as people began to be allowed back to their homes.
So far, he said, they have dealt primarily with three kinds of patients: those suffering from chronic illnesses who have missed doctor's appointments or do not have the supplies they need because of the fires; people suffering from respiratory problems due to the air quality; and those who need mental health counseling to deal with the emotional trauma of their losses.
The unit was utilized in Houston to aid Katrina victims, many of whom had lost their healthcare supplies, he said, adding that one example might be asthmatics without nebulizers.
"When I've walked through the recovery center and see all these people, it's exactly what we encountered in Houston," Eastman said.
One man seen by Scripps Health last night had been in an evacuation center since Sunday without either insulin or his glucometer to measure his insulin level. Eastman said the man had been very distressed but had received care. Today, as President Bush arrived at the center, a woman who had just learned her house had burned to the ground approached the tents for mental health counseling.
Eastman said doctors at the unit can treat people and write prescriptions right away, but follow-up appointments also are discussed.
"We know from the Cedar fires we provided a lot of mental health in 2003 early on ... but we're still seeing those patients now," Eastman said. "We're looking at it as a first encounter of what may be a long relationship" with Scripps or people's regular doctors.
The unit has a volunteer staff of about four doctors and six nurses, Eastman said. He said Rancho Bernardo has a sizable population of elderly and retired people.
--Tami Abdollah
Cleveland National Forest:
Fueled by dry shrubs and trees, the Santiago fire raged into the rugged Cleveland National Forest this afternoon, burning up the slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains and threatening to cross over to Riverside County.
As onshore winds pushed a wall of black smoke over the mountains and into Riverside County, firefighters were considering building a firebreak by using bulldozers to link the various mountain roads in the area.
"We still haven't been able to take the offensive, but we're hoping to do so today," said Louis Sandoval, with the Southwest Area Incident Management Team.
Firefighters in eastern Orange County today had so far kept the 25,000-acre fire from reaching homes in Trabuco and Live Oak canyons, the most endangered communities. In nearly deserted Trabuco Canyon, a dozen fire engines took positions, ready for battle.
Buck Wickham, operations chief with the Orange County Fire Authority, called Trabuco and Live Oak canyons "a box of matches ready to go."
Fire officials said Modjeska Canyon appeared safe for now, but that Silverado Canyon and its 700 homes were "far from being out of the woods."
Crews said they were being helped by several factors, including lower temperatures, higher humidity, onshore winds, more personnel, 10 helicopters and four water-dropping airplanes.
About 1,100 firefighters are now fighting the Santiago blaze, nearly double the staffing of earlier this week. More than 200 of them, along with bulldozer teams, are trying to shore up a firebreak near the ridgeline that separates Orange and Riverside counties. They are working to clear a stretch of eight to 10 miles on a fire road built in the 1930s. If the flames jump the break, firefighters said, the blaze could threaten the community of Lake Elsinore.
"We've never sent a fire to Riverside County yet," said Rick Reeder, battalion chief with the Fire Authority.
Meanwhile, Orange County authorities appealed to the public to help them catch the arsonist who set the fire Sunday evening near Santiago Canyon and Silverado Canyon roads. Officials were offering a $150,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction.
"The FBI will bring to bear all of its national resources ... to make sure that we track, apprehend and put this person or persons behind bars where they belong," said FBI Special Agent Herb Brown.
The FBI has 20 agents working on the case. The agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives will employ cause and origin experts and behavioral scientists.
"We've had 250 tips," Sheriff Michael S. Carona said. "None have led to anybody we believe to be the suspect in this case."
The fire started on the Irvine side of Santiago Canyon Road at 6 p.m. Sunday. Though officials previously said there were three points of origin, today they said there were only two.
Within 15 minutes of the report of the fire, the blaze had spread three miles, officials said.
"The person or people who did this are exceptionally lucky or they have some knowledge of when they can do the most damage when you set a fire," Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather said.
The Santiago fire grew rapidly yesterday, with officials reporting last night that they had lost ground and that containment had fallen to 30% from 50%, firefighters' victories in hemming it in undone. The number of homes destroyed stood at 14. Modjeska Canyon suffered the brunt of the destruction.
Phil Buller, a veteran firefighter with Station 16 in the canyon, said this morning that the hillsides had "all burned, but no more homes had been lost."
A CHP officer stopped motorists on Santiago Canyon Road this morning and said the FBI was not allowing anyone through.
Though many residents of Live Oak Canyon had been evacuated, there were some holdouts, including Bob Heerdt, 73. He has lived for nearly three decades on a sprawling estate at the corner of Hunky Dory and Rinky Dink, two modest canyon roads. His land is dotted with rusted farm equipment, appliances, a 50-foot sailboat he had hoped to restore when he bought it in 1976, and tall oaks that form a canopy over the property.
"I won't see this taken away from me," he said Wednesday. "I'm like a good captain. I'm going down with the ship."
All schools were closed today in the Capistrano and Saddleback districts, as were Silverado Elementary near the fires and several private schools. All Irvine schools will be closed tomorrow. The South Orange County Community College District canceled classes at its three campuses until Monday. High school football games and other athletic events have also been called off through Monday, and Yorba Linda's Fiesta Days has been canceled.
--Seema Mehta
Orange:
Orange County authorities appealed to the public today for tips to help them catch the arsonist who set the Santiago wildfire.
"We've had 250 tips. None have led to anybody we believe to be the suspect in this case," said Sheriff Michael S. Carona.
Finding the arsonist without help from the public will be "exceptionally difficult," said Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather.
"We have a number of leads to follow in this complex incident and we desperately want to arrest the person or people who did this," he said.
The fire has burned 23,000 acres and destroyed 11 homes. The governor's office, the FBI and the ATF have each pledged $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for the fire. The total reward will be $150,000.
Officials said they are bringing to the investigation as many resources as possible.
"The FBI will bring to bear all of its national resources ... to make sure that we track, apprehend and put this person or persons behind bars where they belong," said FBI Special Agent Herb Brown.
The FBI has 20 agents working on the case. The ATF and the FBI will employ cause and origin experts and behavioral scientists.
Carona said the unified command structure -- in this case, the fire authority, FBI, ATF and Sheriff's Department -- is similar to the one that helped catch the man convicted in the case of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion case, whose 2002 kidnap-murder in Orange County captivated the nation.
The fire started on the Irvine side of Santiago Canyon Road at 6 p.m. on Sunday. While officials previously said there were three points of origin for the fire, today they said there were only two. Once set, the fire grew very fast, Prather said.
Within 15 minutes of the first report, the fire had spread three miles, he said.
Said Prather: "The person or people who did this are exceptionally lucky or they have some knowledge of when they can do the most damage when you set a fire."
"There was evidence found at the scene that led investigators to believe this was an arson," Prather said.
Usually, the evidence is not as obvious, he said. He would not elaborate.
Prather said he wondered if the response to the Orange County fire took resources away from fighting other fires.
"This arsonist prohibited us from responding to our neighbors for help," Prather said.
-- Hector Becerra and Jennifer Delson
Lake Forest:
The reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the arsonist who set the Santiago fire near Lake Forest and Irvine is up to $150,000.
-- Seema Mehta
Orange County:
The FBI late Wednesday said it was helping Orange County, California, sheriff and fire officials investigate the source of "some" of the fires, according to spokesperson Laura Eimiller. Authorities earlier confirmed they had determined the Santiago fire (near Lake Forest and Irvine) was an arson, and that the FBI and local officials spent Wednesday examining the location where it originated as a crime scene. Eimiller, in a statement, said FBI Evidence Response Teams had been working with other federal, state and local authorities to identify the source of the Santiago fire.
Modjeska Canyon, eastern Orange County:
Susan Hand, who lives in Modjeska Canyon, left Tuesday morning after a firefighter came to her home and said, "You need to leave now." She jumped in the car with her son, Sam, 14, and two dogs, D.O.G. and Marley, not even remembering to bring her purse.
Susan's husband, Steve Hand, and their 16-year-old son, Steven, were supposed to follow in another car. But as Susan drove away, she turned around and saw only flames licking the left side of the road.
She couldn't reach her husband because there was no cellphone reception in the canyon.
It wasn't until a few hours later -- after Steve hiked up a nearby mountain to find cellphone reception -- that Susan learned that her husband had stayed to spray the house down. Steve, who works for Leatherwood Construction, had driven to his job site Monday and picked up a large fire hose, just in case. When his wife left Tuesday, he connected the hose to a sidewalk fire hydrant and sprayed his home and a handful of others on Harding Canyon Road.
Steve told Susan that their house was fine, but that others on the street had burned to the ground.
"My dad is so stubborn. He wanted to protect our house," said daughter Jessica, 23. "I can't even believe it. But thank goodness for his stubbornness."
-- My-Thuan Tran
Lake Forest, Orange County:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, on a tour of a fire evacuation center at El Toro High School, was asked whether more people would have been available to fight the blazes if the National Guard had not been in Iraq.
"I think you're always going to be short on resources," Schwarzenegger said. "I think if you ask the Red Cross that, they will tell you that. If you ask the firefighters, they will also tell you that, because this disaster has hit at one time. In one day, all those fires started. They are all struggling for resources."
He added, "I'm happy the state and local governments are working so well together."
The governor and Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange) who was also at the event, got along swimmingly today. Spitzer did not say a word about his broadside yesterday against the government for failing to support the firefight in Orange County.
"This governor has been all over the state, from San Diego to Malibu. This is a governor who cares deeply about you," Spitzer said.
-- My-Thuan Tran
Orange County:
Investigators from the FBI and county agencies today were at Silverado Canyon and Santiago Canyon roads, where the Santiago fire was believed to have started, investigating arson charges.
"It's definitely arson and it's been deemed a crime scene," said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Although there were several media reports of a raid on a home in the area by the FBI and other authorities, Amormino and FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller said there had been no search warrant issued and they were unaware of any raid.
The FBI is joining the investigation because the fire crossed into federal lands in the Cleveland National Forest.
-- Jennifer Delson
Lake Forest:
Standing away from the crowd surrounding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after his news conference at El Toro High School, four evacuees from Fallbrook--three men and one woman--waited to learn if their houses had survived the night.
They received a mandatory evacuation order on Monday as a result of the Rice fire, which has burned at least 7,500 acres and is about 10% contained, with 206 homes, two business and 40 outbuildings destroyed and 1,500 homes still threatened.
"We haven't heard back about our houses," said James Smith, 53, a resident of Fallbrook. "I finally got through to the San Diego Fire Department this morning, but they didn't pick up."
Ban Hedgerwood, 62, a long-time resident who lived in Fallbrook during the devastating 2003 Cedar fire, said the evacuation was orderly and quick. "Cedar Creek was a Chinese you-know-what drill," he said, referring to the rushed evacuations during the 2003 fire. "They learned their lesson with that one."
When asked about the promised government aid, including a property tax break for residents whose houses were burned down, Jane Butler, 77, said she was impressed with the immediate care evacuees had received.
"The care has been exceptional," she said, smoking a cigarette on the grass outside the gymnasium. "If we didn't have our houses to worry about, it would be wonderful."
Butler, who moved to Fallbrook in 1999, hoped to return to her house on Tuesday. But she was less optimistic that authorities would deliver relief anytime soon. "They're making all these promises," she said. "We'll see how quick they can make them come true."
--Brandon Miller-de la Cuesta
Hamilton Truck Trail:
Two days ago Gary Summers saw puffs of smoke from the Santiago fire over the ridge near his home. Summers had fought countless house fires before he retired after 29 years with the Santa
Ana Fire Department. Now, he prepared to frantically defend his own home, the last house perched on the hillside here.
At 8 a.m., firefighters set a back-burn on the hillside next to his home. By midday, flames were dangerously close to his house. Summers paced his redwood deck, a garden hose in one hand, a cordless phone in the other taking calls from old friends and fire buddies asking if he was still there. He told them he felt "like a smoked ham."
"It looks like just a little bunker here now, my house is the only thing that hasn't burned, everything else is destroyed," he said.
As the fire approached on all sides and helicopter after helicopter made water drops, they asked for Summer's permission to cut down bushes and trees outside his house. "Cut it all down, anything you want," he replied.
The fire appeared to move on. He appraised his scorched four-acre property. Thirty years before, he had built his own wooden-framed home. "This house could be in these ashes, too."
-- Tony Barboza
Live Oak Canyon:
Bob Heedt lives on the corner of Hunky Dory and Rinky Dink. He is one of the holdouts in this rustic canyon, which firefighters consider a crucial break point in their campaign against the Santiago fire. The fear is if they don't stop it here, the blaze could could run up and over into Trabuco Canyon.
"Our goal is to keep it up in the higher country," said Craig Daugherty, division commander overseeing hotshot crews working the front lines. "We're still nipping and tucking at it. It's going to be this way all day."
"It's all total defense, no offense," he added.
Heedt has a sprawling managerie on his large property, a nice house and several outbuildings. Rusted farming equipment and appliances are scattered about. Tall oaks form a canopy over the land; one even grows up through the house, shading a patio. If you squint, it looks like the Ponderosa Ranch from the old "Bonanza" television series.
Heedt said one of the reasons he stayed is the 50-foot sailboat in the yard, that he's been planning to restore since he bought it in 1976.
"I'm only one here. I won't see this taken away from me," he said.
He's lived on the land for 37 years. He said his wife divorced him because she felt a world away from Los Angeles.
"I'm like a good captain. I'm going down with the ship."
Heedt is a bit of an adventurer. On his living room wall is marlin. There's also a quote on the wall from Rudyard Kipling: "If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance, run."
"That's what life is all about," he said.
-- Mike Anton
Modjeska Canyon:
Linda Wheeler, 59, and her husband Steve, 53, haven't seen their house on the back of Modjeska Canyon since 1:30 a.m. yesterday. But gathered with neighbors at a Santiago Canyon Road checkpoint, where deputies had stopped them from returning home, they heard that the house likely had been saved.
"We were sure our house was going to be lost. To hear otherwise is such a relief," Linda Wheeler said.
As the neighbors swapped stories, Linda remarked that she was "here partly for the camaraderie." Last night, they spent the night at her daughter's house in Orange, but Linda said she was restless.
"When you feel like your home is likely in danger, all you want to do is be there. It's a strange feeling."
She recalled thinking, "That smoke could be what's left of my great-grandmother's table that I didn't have a chance to take with me."
-- Tony Barboza
Cook's Corner:
Firefighters say they're not going to let the fire cross Live Oak Canyon Road near Old Stage Road, north of Cook's Corner. Flames approached within 100 yards of the road this morning. Firefighters set backfires, which lit up the sky. North of the backfires, dozens of firefighters are standing guard to save a large house with a wraparound deck on an outcropping. The fire appears to have crossed into Cleveland National Forest. OCFA Fire Capt. Dave Ferdig said the goal is to protect homes in nearby Hamilton Truck Trail. "We're trying to use natural breaks such as this road," he said. "We're trying to keep it away from that housing tract. I'm not so worried about the national forest." Winds are mild and the smoke is billowing more vertically than horizontally.
-- Mike Anton and Tony Barboza
Lake Forest and Irvine:
Firefighters reported the 19,200-acre Santiago fire threatening Orange County’s rural canyons abutting the Cleveland National Forest is 50% contained. The announcement marked the first time since the arson fire’s ignition on Sunday that authorities have reported significant progress in hemming in the fire, which is still threatening thousands of homes and the national forest.
Nine homes and eight other buildings are confirmed destroyed, and eight homes and 12 buildings are damaged, though this number is expected to rise and additional homes appeared to be ablaze this morning. Modjeska Canyon suffered the brunt of the destruction.
-- Seema Mehta
Santiago Canyon:
When Julie Ann Treloar, 47, and her three children were evacuated from their home in Santiago Canyon Estates about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, Treloar drove to a park at the entrance of the development to watch the fire. Before the family sat down to a picnic lunch of barbecue sandwiches, French fries and cole slaw that a neighbor had brought them, Treloar said a prayer:
"Dear God, we pray you put these fires out and protect our neighbors and pray that they get out in time."
Treloar said her children, Sterling, 9, Tivoli, 6, and Hudson, 4, hadn't eaten all day. "I thought this was a nice picnic in the park. I wish it were under different circumstances."
-- Jason Song
Santiago Fire:
Standing near the entrance to Holy Jim Canyon, Michael Milligan took stock of the situation.
Up the rough road were renters living in 49 cabins on U.S. Forest Service land. As the volunteer fire chief for Holy Jim, it was his job to to get everyone out.
Knowing how fiercely independent canyon people tended to be, Milligan knew some would resist.
As he talked with a dozen sheriff's deputies, he provided a bit of detail on the characters who lived up the road. He also handed out maps showing the locations of all the Holy Jim cabins.
"There's an 86-year-old woman with one leg and terrible health," he said. "I got her out on a ruse, and they'll never let her back in."
"There's Shane. Old guy with a grey beard. You've probably seen him," Milligan went on. "He'll be alright."
Milligan brought the conversation around to another resident, a guy he identified as an old man with animals.
"I'd like to encourage him to leave," Milligan said
We can't physically make him leave, a deputy responded.
Milligan shook his head, knowingly.
"I can get him out."
-- Mike Anton
Cooks Corner:
Firefighters are going to light a backfire in hopes of keeping the blaze from crossing Live Oak Canyon road. The fear is that if it's not stopped here, the fire could run unchecked all the way to Rancho Santa Margarita.
OC Fire Chief Mike Rohde, who is in charge of the firefighting effort in the Lake Forest area, said, "We're going to be in real trouble if it gets past us here."
A fire strike team was sent in along the road to make sure that the backfire itself doesn't jump the road.
-- Mike Anton
Modjeska Canyon, east Orange County:
Los Angeles Times reporter Janet Wilson, who has lived in a creekside stone house in Modjeska Canyon in Orange County for nearly nine years, returned from her wedding Monday evening to find her home threatened by the Santiago fire. Today, she gave this account to Times staff writer Tony Barboza:
"I got married on Saturday, and there's a good chance my home was destroyed this morning.
I was married in a lakeside chapel in my mother's small town in New Hampshire. It was fantastic. Two weeks ago, 40 of my women friends held a wedding shower in Modjeska Canyon. We sat out on my friend's porch staring at the blue sky and beautiful chaparral-covered slopes that we all knew and loved so well. Today I saw that same area engulfed in 75-foot flames.
The good news is as far as I can tell nobody has been hurt. Three of my neighbors were among the 12 firefighters that were required to deploy their emergency fire-retardant tents as flames overtook them Monday, but they also escaped injury.
My mom told me the day after the wedding that there were seven fires in Southern Californa. At first it seemed like my house would be okay, but each time I changed planes I received increasingly disturbing messages on my cellphone about shifting winds and fire trajectories.
By the time I was on the tarmac in Denver, a neighbor told me that people were being evacuated. I called an editor, who told me that Modjeska Canyon was in danger, but the fire hadn't reached the homes.
As the plane took off, I started to cry. Both my husband, the man I love very much, and a kind elderly lady from Newport Beach, also got emotional trying to comfort me. But soon I straightened myself out. There was no point crying and collapsing now.
I am not the most religious person in the world, but I just glued my eyes shut and started praying for my neighbors. When the plane took off, I just tried to sleep.
As we flew into John Wayne Airport at around 6:35 p.m., we tried to make out Santiago Peak and Modjeska Peak from the plane window. But we couldn't see through the smoke and darkness.
Driving to Modjeska Canyon, we had to travel through thick smoke near Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills. But as we entered the canyon, the air was clear and even smelled sweet. I was relieved that my house was OK and my animals were out of there, thanks to my neighbors.
I started to pack some essentials -- insurance forms, one piece of my grandmother's china -- but I wasn't too worried. I didn't even grab any wedding presents -- or gift list for thank you notes. In the canyon, everything seemed fine.
But then sheriff's deputies arrived, calling fom voluntary evacautions from their car's loudspeakers. I looked out my sideyard and saw the dull red glow getting brighter and brighter. Having covered fires before, I became extremely anxious and wanted to go. My husband wanted to stay. I told him we're married now so we need to go together. In the end, I waited longer than I wanted. He stayed longer than he wanted.
Just before we left, I leaned against the wall at the top of my stairs and quieted my mind. It's a little ritual I do each time I go on a trip. Someone once told me this would allow me safe journey and protect my home.
This morning, I grabbed quotes from fleeing neighbors for the newspaper. I saw the head of the volunteer fire department standing by the side of the road, helpless.
It was an eerie experience as a reporter because you're trained to observe areas you don't know. But I knew every inch of what I saw today. I know the hills and the houses. It's an extraordinarily close-knit community. People who live outside the canyon joke that it's a cult.
We see it as our little bit of heaven away from all the rest of Southern California. And at the same time, we know that fires are the hazard of living here.
Now, I'm on Santiago Canyon Road, which I've driven thousands of times. The familiar view that has always made me feel safe and let me know that I'm home is now blotted out by a gray and black cloud.
Fady Najjar, 16, was watering down palm trees in front of his Santiago Canyon Estates house and watching planes drop pink fire retardant on the flaming hillside.
"This morning they said the fires were all over, and 20 minutes later the hill was on fire," Fady said.
Najjar's cousin, Rob Zahr, 36, came out of the house and told him, "Get ready it's getting time to go."
Zahr added, "When they say they don't have enough resources, it doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy, it doesn't make you feel safe. Why wouldn't they have the resources here?"
-- Jason Song
Modjeska Canyon:
Sobbing as she surveyed the remains of her burned-out Modjeska Canyon home, Sue Geraci was grabbed by friends who kept her from collapsing.
"We have a pump house and water tank," she said. "Our house was supposed to be fire-proof."
Geraci and Brian Joley moved into the multimillion-dollar house about five years ago. Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Keith Davis from San Clemente said that a neighbor's pine trees exploded "like a roman candle" today, sending burning embers across the roof to the attic, and from there, "it just got the house."
On Monday night the home was probably defensible, but firefighters were overwhelmed by the high temperatures and winds that swept through Modjeska Canyon. Some hadn't slept in two days. One 21-member strike team was on a bus waiting for a relief crew to arrive so they could get some rest.
Team leader John McMasters said homeowners didn't help matters by refusing to evacuate.
"Residents were evacuated by sheriffs, and we had to stop what we were doing to let the sheriff's deputies escort them out," McMasters said.
Bruce McDougal, 54, a homebuilder, had spent three months clearing brush and trees to meet an insurance company deadline to set up a 100-foot clearance around his house.
McDougal, who built his Santiago Canyon house, refused to leave it because "it took a long time to build it."
Early today, McMasters' strike team arrived and told McDougal his house would be next to burn if he didn't get his eucalyptus trees down.
"I said I've got two chain saws down in my garage, have at it," McDougal said.
Just down the road, Allen Aksu, McDougal's neighbor, said he wanted to see the fire being fought with more water-carrying helicopters and big tankers.
Aksu thanked animal control officers who took dozens of rabbits and chickens from his ranch to a shelter.
-- David Reyes and Karen Tapia
As fire raged along Modjeska Canyon Road in Orange County's canyons, Jim Ducote pumped water from his 40,000-gallon swimming pool. He planned to use the water to spray down his roof and yard.
"If it gets too close, we're out of here," said Ducote, 41, chief financial officer for a construction company and resident of Santiago Canyon Estates.
As he spoke, a plane dropped pink fire retardant on a ridge above his house. The housing tract, much newer than the rustic cabins that dotted the canyons, sits in a horseshoe-shaped canyon.
Ducote, whose wife and three sons had evacuated to nearby Santa Margarita, said he had been keeping an eye on the approaching fire for three days. Nearby, on Santiago Canyon Road, the vegetation has burned away and a fire-gutted car sits abandoned.
He said panic had not set in yet. Eyeing his pool, he said, "We'll empty it if we have to."
Like other residents of the area, Ducote said he preferred canyon life despite the risks:
"I always dreaded it," he said of the prospects of fires. "But, no, I'd never move, because I love these canyons. "
-- Jason Song
In the nicer parts of San Clemente, "no vacancy" signs adorned ocean-view resort hotels, one after another, and a San Diego crowd had transformed the normally sleepy weekday beach town into a bustling carnival.
Every table at the waterfront cafes was filled, and evacuees with dogs, trailers and cars stuffed with household possessions could be seen on every block.
"They have been coming in since yesterday," said Cindy Campbell, manager at the posh San Clemente Cove Resort Condominiums, a time-share condominium complex overlooking to ocean where units typically rent for $225 a night.
Evacuees got a break, paying only $200 per night, and were allowed to bring their pets, she said. Many were from the Carlsbad area, she said.
Dave Henderson, 43, a computer director, spent the night at the San Clemente Cove with his wife and 13-month-old daughter after evacuating the Del Mar area ahead of the order so that the baby would not have to breathe smoky air.
The family could book the condo for only one night, and Henderson was returning the garage-door opener at the front desk, baby in one arm, so the family could head north to Laguna Beach, where another hotel room waited.
"It could be a lot worse," he said as waves crashed at the nearby pier and people passed with surfboards.
Henderson said hotel clerks were helping evacuees by providing referrals, so he had to make only a few calls to find the condo.
"The thing I learned is: leave early! It's less stress," he said. "You don't think it is going to reach you, so you want to stay. But live and learn."
--Jill Leovy
The Santiago fire has ravaged 17,800 acres and is moving north toward rural canyons at the edge of Cleveland National Forest. Containment is unchanged at 30%.
Mandatory evacuation orders remain in place at Silverado, Williams and Modjeska canyons, and voluntary evacuations are in effect in the foothill areas of Lake Forest.
Santiago Canyon Road is closed between the 241 toll road and Cooks Corner. Foothill Ranch, Porter Hills and Silverado elementary schools are closed, as are all schools in Laguna Beach.
--Seema Mehta
As firefighters began their third day on the line against the Santiago fire, Chip Prather, fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, warned commanders during a briefing this morning about the dangers of fatigue in the field.
"Don't get complacent. That's what's going to kill somebody," Prather said.
He added that watching a dozen firefighters Monday deploy their emergency fire-retardant tents as a blaze overtook them on a hillside in Santiago Canyon was "an emotional time. I don't want to see that" again.
Prather also told his staff that they shouldn't expect any more resources for the time being.
"What you see is what you're going to have," he said.
Fire crews will focus on saving lives and then property. And if the rest turns into a "moonscape, I apologize to the environmentalists, but that's the way it's going to be," he said.
-- Mike Anton
> Sixty-one teenage boys living in Joplin Youth Center for juveniles in Trabuco Canyon were evacuated about 6 a.m. to Santa Ana's Youth Guidance Center.
The boys, mostly ages 13 to 15, will stay in the center's gym, where bunkbeds have been set up to resemble the Joplin dormitory.
They could be at the center until Saturday, said Vicki Mathews, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Probation Department.
Joplin Youth Center has been untouched by fire as of 10 a.m., Mathews said.
-- My-Thuan Tran
The Santiago fire, which has been threatening Lake Forest, has been amped up by a microclimate of erratic, shifting winds caused by typical offshore Santa Ana winds colliding with onshore blasts from the coast, said Rich Witesman, incident commander for the Orange County Fire Authority.
The blaze has charred more than 15,000 acres. Containment, last reported at 30%, remains unchanged because the fire has grown so much and firefighting conditions are extremely hazardous.
"There's a lot of hard work ahead of us," Witesman said. "We've had a rough 12 hours."
The firefighters' objective today is to keep the flames north of Portolo and south of the the main divide, east of the 261/241 and west of Trabuco Creek. The temperature is up 10 degrees, to 90, with low humidity.
-- Mike Anton
About 3,000 residents in eastern Orange County were ordered to evacuate their homes as the Santiago Fire was traveling north toward Modjeska and Silverado canyons, about 15 miles east of Irvine, said Christy Romero, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Department.
About 870 homes are threatened in the canyon areas including Williams Canyon, Santiago Canyon at Hangman's Tree, and Joplin Boys Ranch -- all of which are under mandatory evacuation.
The fire has burned through 15,800 acres and is 30% contained, with more than 500 firefighters working the blaze, Romero said. She said two helicopters were dropping water this morning. No structures have been damaged, she said.
Four firefighters suffered minor injuries Monday, Romero said.
-- Tami Abdollah
Foothill Ranch, near Irvine:
The Ruffs stood in their backyard in Foothill Ranch, looking casual as fire raged about 100 feet away, flames shooting 40 feet in the air. Four or five firetrucks were parked on the street out front.
"I panic really easily, and I'm not even panicking," said Linda Ruff. "We've packed up the cars and have our four cats ready to go, but I see it as exercise. And I'm going to get exercise again when I unpack everything and take it back into my home."
The father, Robert Ruff, a geologist, said he expected such fires this year. His private geology firm had handled a few landslides in the last year, a tipoff to the bone-dry conditions to come.
"I was expecting fires," he said, "I just wasn't expecting them here."
-- Tony Barboza
Kris Concepcion, Orange County Fire Authority battalion chief, said in a briefing that he understood that Los Angeles and San Diego counties were in exactly the same situation as Orange County, "but despite that we're fighting the fight regardless and at this point we're not expecting more help."
In the morning, Orange County already had 500 firefighters, and that number stayed the same throughout the day. The county also had 2 water-dropping helicopters; no fixed-wing aircraft was used because the winds were too erratic and dangerous. The only help the county received was from Corona and other cities within Orange County. "This is simply a matter of supply and demand and the supply is greater than the demand and it's not going to be met at this point."
"OC fire officials have asked for more resources and they're just not going to get them," Concepcion said. "We have asked for additional resources but they have not come because there's such a critical draw down. It is a little frustrating."
"But we understand what the priorities are, and we understand what the circumstances are throughout Southern Calfiornia right now even though our operation center is still requesting more help."
Asked what his resources would have been if this were the only fire in Southern California, Conception said, "I guarantee you it would easily be 1.5 times the resources we have right now with fixed-wing aircraft and probably two more helicopters."
"Frequently firefighters had to go to or use old-school tactics, we're talking about hand tools, shovels, picks and a lot of manual labor. They were working very hard and that's because we couldn't have the aerial resources and it was just too windy and too dangerous to fly."
-- David Reyes
Lake Forest:
As flames roared down a gully narrowly seperating Foothill Elementary School and Whiting National Forest about 5 p.m., as many as 50 spectators stood within 30 feet of the fire taking pictures of the inferno.
One man wearing a bandana posed for his girlfriend as black smoke and embers rose skyward amidst the popping of dry bush burning next to the school.
Trisha Wuich, 32, creative arts coordinator at nearby Saddleback Church, had spent the day watching the fire from her office window. Her curiosity got the best of her, however, and now she stood within feet of the conflagration, taking cell-phone videos to send to her husband.
"I probably shouldn't do t | |
