Firefighters in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano had the Norte Fire almost fully contained Wednesday and will continue surrounding the 570-acre blaze that destroyed about a half dozen homes and prompted evacuations.
“Containment has increased to 93%,” according to the Orange County Fire Authority, “Firefighters are patrolling the fire perimeter, checking for remaining heat and securing containment lines,” the agency reported Tuesday evening.
The fire started around 11:30 a.m. Friday in the area of Portico Del Norte, the OCFA reported. Fast Santa Ana winds drove it to 250 acres in an hour and destroyed or damaged seven residences.
OCFA Capt. Steve Concialdi said over the weekend that firefighters expected to stay in the area for several days to prevent the blaze from rekindling.
“We’re going to be here for a number of days. We don’t want rekindling,” Concialdi said. “We don’t want those embers to then catch a palm tree or some vegetation in another area or next to homes.”
The wind-fueled wildfire prompted evacuation orders in several neighborhoods in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, including roads off of Camino Las Ramblas down to the San Diego (5) Freeway..
San Clemente Chief of Police Services Justin Chevalier said an estimated 6,000 homes and 16,000 residents initially were under evacuation orders.
Via La Mirada was closed to vehicle traffic north of Esperanza to allow OCFA emergency vehicles to continue working, and motorists were urged to avoid going through the burn scar area.
Hot spots resulting from a wildfire can smolder underground and out of sight or detection for weeks or possibly months, according to the OCFA.
“When winds return, that hidden heat can spark another fire,” an agency statement said. “Drones equipped with infrared cameras help crews identify heat that may otherwise go undetected and direct firefighters to areas that need attention.”
Personnel fighting the blaze totaled 583, according to Cal Fire on Wednesday morning. Numerous firefighting air tankers from throughout the state were flying fire suppression missions as conditions allow. Equipment included 11 helicopters, one water tender, 13 crews, 67 engines and one bulldozer.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
On Monday, a woman whose home was damaged in the fire filed a lawsuit alleging San Diego Gas & Electric equipment caused the blaze. The suit claims the fire sparked near an SDG&E distribution line at Portico Del Norte and Eminencia Del Norte.
SDG&E officials acknowledged in a statement that the company’s distribution line had an outage close to the time the fire erupted Friday morning. However, the utility insisted no basis exists for blaming the distribution-line outage for the wildfire.
