SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.
A brush fire that started late Friday morning in the hills above San Clemente exploded to 465 acres by mid-afternoon, burning homes in neighboring San Juan Capistrano and forcing evacuation orders across both cities as Santa Ana winds drove flames through dry brush faster than crews could build containment around them, officials said.
The Norte Fire was reported just after 11:30 a.m. near Portico Del Norte and Eminencia Del Norte in San Clemente, according to the Orange County Fire Authority, which is leading the response in unified command with the Orange County Sheriff's Department. CAL FIRE lists the cause as under investigation.
The growth was relentless. In its 12:30 p.m. update, CAL FIRE put the fire at 50 acres with structures threatened, and said crews were "aggressively attacking the fire from the ground and air," urging the public to "continue to avoid the area." By the time CAL FIRE issued its 1:39 p.m. incident update, the fire had quintupled to 250 acres with zero containment. As of 2:41 p.m., CAL FIRE put the fire at 465 acres — more than nine times its midday size in barely two hours — and firefighters had not established any containment.
Homes burned in San Juan Capistrano
The fire reached into neighborhoods early Friday afternoon. In an update just before 2:30 p.m., the Orange County Fire Authority said four homes off Via La Mirada in San Juan Capistrano had been impacted. Aerial footage from KTLA and KCBS showed multiple houses burning as the fire moved through the area, and the full extent of the damage was still coming into focus Friday afternoon.
MyNewsLA reported accounts from the scene of at least eight structures burned, in an area generally bounded by Avenida Calita, Via La Mirada and Via De Agua in San Juan Capistrano, with flames seen burning through roofs. Officials had not released a confirmed damage total, and the numbers they have given so far — four homes confirmed impacted — are a floor, not a final count. There were no reports of injuries as of mid-afternoon, and CAL FIRE's incident page listed no fatalities.
Evacuations, shelters and what residents should do
Evacuation orders — the mandatory kind, meaning residents must leave — were in effect Friday afternoon for five zones: zones SJC04, SJC05 and SJC10 in San Juan Capistrano, and zones SCL12 and SCL13 in San Clemente. Surrounding neighborhoods were under evacuation warnings, meaning residents there should be packed and ready to go if orders expand. The Orange County Sheriff's Department maintains the live evacuation map, and it is the authoritative source as zones change.
Evacuation shelters are open in both cities, at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center, 25925 Camino del Avion in San Juan Capistrano, and the San Clemente Community Center, 100 Calle Seville in San Clemente, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. Officials urged people who are not evacuating to avoid the area entirely, both to keep roads clear for engines and crews and because traffic on surrounding streets, including approaches to the 5 Freeway, was heavy through the afternoon. Residents across Orange County can sign up for emergency alerts through Alert Orange County, the county's notification system, and anyone in an ordered zone who has not yet left should leave now rather than waiting for conditions to change.
The fight, and the weather driving it
Crews attacked the fire on the ground and from the air, with engines, hand crews and water-dropping helicopters working the flanks and additional strike teams summoned as the fire grew, according to the Orange County Fire Authority and MyNewsLA. Earlier in the afternoon, authorities said structures off Via Entrada in San Clemente were actively threatened. The fire is burning in steep, rugged terrain between the two cities, and officials said wind and terrain together accelerated its spread.
The weather is the story underneath the story. The Norte Fire is burning in the first significant Santa Ana wind event of the season, with temperatures in San Clemente reaching about 95 degrees Friday afternoon and gusts near the fire reaching roughly 25 to 30 mph, stronger in the mountains. The National Weather Service warned that critical fire weather conditions would persist through Saturday, with red-flag warnings in effect across parts of Southern California into Saturday evening. CNN reported that winds were expected to remain elevated into Friday evening before beginning to ease in areas closer to the coast around 7 p.m., while the Santa Ana pattern itself peaks Friday and lingers through Saturday. Across the region, utilities have also cut power to tens of thousands of customers during the wind event to reduce the chance that electrical equipment starts another fire.
The disruption reached well beyond the evacuation zones. The Capistrano Unified School District dismissed students early at ten schools, including San Clemente High School and San Juan Hills High School, MyNewsLA reported. Friday night's football game between undefeated San Clemente and Mission Viejo — one of the most anticipated games of the season in Orange County — was canceled, USA Today reported, as was the Capistrano Valley Christian game. San Clemente coach Jaime Ortiz told USA Today that several of his players' families were among those evacuating.
One fire in a region full of them
The Norte Fire is not burning alone. North of Malibu, the Bryson Fire — a separate blaze in Los Angeles County that ignited Thursday afternoon near Encinal Canyon Road and Mulholland Highway — stood at about 147 acres and 17 percent contained in Friday's update from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, with the Getty Villa closed, evacuation orders and warnings in place and one firefighter treated for minor injuries. Farther south, the Henderson Fire at Camp Pendleton burned roughly 1,400 acres on Thursday and briefly closed Interstate 5 before lanes reopened and its evacuation order was lifted Thursday evening. None of the three fires is connected to the others; what they share is the same wind.
What happens next
Firefighters will keep attacking the fire from the ground and air into the evening, working to protect homes ahead of the flames and to build the first containment lines where the terrain and wind allow. The next official updates are expected to bring a revised acreage figure, a damage assessment as teams can safely enter the burned neighborhoods, and, if crews get lines to hold, the fire's first containment number. Until then, the figures in this story are as of the times noted — 465 acres and zero containment as of 2:41 p.m. — and they will change. Evacuation orders will be lifted zone by zone as officials judge areas safe, and residents should wait for that word rather than returning on their own. This is a developing story.
