German travelers Luis Widmesser and Lukas Holzer, both 19, were heading to a campground in San Diego on the 5 Freeway on Friday afternoon when authorities blocked off the road and diverted traffic.
The pair, on an 8-month road trip from Canada to Argentina, ended up spending the night in their tent atop their Suzuki outside the San Juan Capistrano Boys and Girls Club, which served as an evacuation center for people forced to leave due to the Norte fires.
“We don’t have such big wildfires in Germany,” Widmesser marveled at the force of nature that upended their travel.
Amid unusual heat and unrelenting winds, hundreds of firefighters worked to contain several small, but destructive fires that ignited across Southern California.
The Norte fire — the most devastating blaze — scorched more than 570 acres in residential neighborhoods in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, damaging or destroying at least six homes. Since the fire broke out Friday morning, it has hollowed out several stately homes on Via La Mirada and has continued spreading west into nearby gated communities.
By Saturday afternoon, the fire was 5% contained, according to Orange County Fire Authority spokesperson Capt. Sean Doran. He said air tankers and firefighting helicopters were critical in the fight to keep the blaze from spreading farther.
“We’re thankful enough that the wind conditions allowed those air assets to continue flying the entire time, which was a gift,” he said. “We’re very grateful to be able to just really capitalize on those air resources because, some really big wind events, you can’t.”
Authorities allowed 3,700 residents who had been under evacuation to return to their homes. About 12,000 residents remained under evacuation orders as of Saturday afternoon. Local officials and the American Red Cross set up several emergency shelters at community centers in San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente to house displaced residents.
Susan Kannakko, 51, who lives on Calle Delgado in San Clemente, said the fire rushed down the hill toward her house Friday without warning.
“It was like out of a movie, when the spaceship comes in, and everything goes black. All the black smoke was billowing in. There were embers in the house. We thought we were gonna lose everything. We were escaping as the fire came over us…. All I could see was flames — left, right, and to the sky.”
In the commotion, she was briefly separated from her 85-year-old mother, who lives with her. Both were safe at an evacuation center in San Juan Capistrano on Saturday.
One of their housemates, Luke Falanga, 30, has a room that faced the fire, so he spotted it before others and warned them.
“All of a sudden the sun changed color, and I thought it was an eclipse,” Falanga said. “It was the smoke. No one saw it coming. My room faces the hill.”
He and a housemate stayed to save the house, even as the roof caught fire.
“We had giant jugs of water and garden hoses,” Falanga said. “We were hopping up on people’s roofs and getting smoldering shingles off with crowbars. If you could give a shout out to Jesus Christ, I’d appreciate it. God really used me.”
San Clemente Mayor Rick Loeffler advised residents to heed evacuations, but stay off local roads unless absolutely necessary, so first responders could move quickly to fight the fire.
“The firefighters have done a great job,” Loeffler said in a statement Friday. “The way the wind’s blowing, it looks like San Clemente right now is doing well. But that can change in a minute.”
Over the past several days, several fires had ignited across Southern California after high temperatures returned and strong Santa Ana winds blustered through the region.
In northern San Diego County, the Henderson fire destroyed at least one building as it swept across more than 3,100 acres near Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps base in Oceanside. The fire, 35% contained, prompted evacuations and road closures.
In the Santa Monica Mountains, the Bryson fire burned nearly 150 acres near the Malibu Country Club, a private golf course. The fire was more than 50% contained.
Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded the work of firefighters for minimizing damage in Malibu.
“Thanks to quick, around the clock work by local and state first responders, the #BrysonFire stayed within its current footprint with no structures damaged or destroyed.”
The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued smoke advisories for several areas across the region, including portions of Newport Beach to San Clemente due to the Norte Fire.
Tens of thousands of residents were still without power Saturday due to the blustery conditions, ongoing fires and precautionary power shutoffs intended to prevent new blazes, according to utility providers. As firefighters made progress on the Bryson fire, Southern California Edison crews were expected to restore power to several communities in Malibu after inspecting power lines and equipment for safety.
Firefighters, however, remained on high alert as strong, easterly winds were expected to persist. A red flag warning, indicating potentially hazardous fire weather, will remain in place through Saturday evening for many parts of Southern California. But forecasters say the most dangerous conditions are likely behind us.
“Luckily, we’re on the backside of the winds right now, so things are going to be trending down for the most part,” said Sam Zuber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in San Diego.
On Saturday morning, temperatures in the fire area were in the mid-80s and winds blew at about 15 mph. But those winds were forecast to continue to die down through the afternoon and into the evening, Zuber said.
Beyond the fire zones, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s office announced that the Los Angeles Fire Department was “predeploying resources” across the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica Mountains, Hollywood Hills, and West L.A. due to the fire risk.
Newsom also announced California had secured emergency disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help provide more resources to suppress the Norte Fire.
“California is taking decisive action to support our firefighters and protect communities as dangerous winds and dry conditions fuel wildfire threats,” Newsom said in a statement. “By securing this federal assistance, we are ensuring our local and state partners have the critical resources they need to aggressively fight the Norte Fire, protect lives and property, and keep Californians safe.”
Ryan Zimmerly, 34, lives with his father on Bonanza in San Clemente, just a half-mile from where the fire was raging. On Friday, a friend called Zimmerly at the frame shop where he works to tell him the neighborhood was on fire.
As Zimmerly tried to get home, he found looky-loos were filming the fire from their cars and slowing traffic to a crawl. “A lot of people were there for the spectacle and not trying to get out of the way, while a bunch of people’s homes were potentially in danger,” Zimmerly said. “You could tell they didn’t live there… It’s maddening.”
He got to the house and grabbed his dog, a flat coat retriever named Missy, his 37-year-old box turtle, named Turds, and some family keepsakes.
“Fortunately our home is okay,” Zimmerly said. “But homes on the other side of the hill got obliterated. Our home is on the lucky side.”
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