LOS ANGELES, CA – The Norte Fire burning in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano was 92% contained Tuesday evening as crews shifted to repairing suppression damage and extinguishing hot spots, according to CAL FIRE’s incident page for the fire.
The fire started at 11:33 a.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at Portico Del Norte and Eminencia Del Norte in San Clemente and has burned 570 acres in Orange County. The page’s latest update, posted at 5:24 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, lists 583 personnel, 11 helicopters, 67 engines and 13 crews assigned.
The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) has jurisdiction over the fire. The page lists six homes as damaged or destroyed and says the cause remains under investigation.
Thousands of residents who were evacuated have returned to their homes. “Crews continue extinguishing remaining hot spots and strengthening containment lines,” the page states.
Fire spread quickly in wind-driven conditions
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in a statement released Oct. 16 that the fast-moving fire ignited just after 11:30 a.m. in the San Clemente area, south of San Juan Capistrano. At that point the fire had burned about 465 acres and threatened nearly 13,000 people, with evacuation orders in place for 4,000 homes.
The fire grew from about 10 acres to 250 acres in roughly an hour as Santa Ana winds pushed it into San Juan Capistrano. At the peak, about 16,000 residents from roughly 6,000 homes were under evacuation orders.
OCFA Fire Chief TJ McGovern described the fire at a Saturday news conference as a wind-driven event. “Due to weather and topography, this fire moved fast,” he said.
The governor’s office said Newsom had directed five fire engines, one bulldozer, one water tender, one helicopter and 45 additional firefighters and support personnel to be pre-positioned in Orange County on Oct. 15.
Evacuation orders lifted Saturday evening
The OCFA announced Oct. 17 that evacuation orders for San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano would be lifted at 6 p.m. The authority said Via La Mirada would stay closed north of Esperanza to vehicle traffic so emergency crews could keep working.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s Norte Fire resource page states that all evacuation orders have been lifted and all shelters are closed. It also says the burn scar is an active fire hazard area and is closed until further notice.
The sheriff’s page lists a public information hotline at 714-628-7085 for residents with questions.
Six homes damaged or destroyed, no residents injured
The CAL FIRE page lists six homes as damaged or destroyed. The OCFA reported six to seven homes, mostly on Via La Mirada in San Juan Capistrano.
Officials have confirmed that no residents were injured. According to initial reports, two firefighters were hospitalized with significant injuries and were in stable condition.
Crews repair dozer lines and hillsides
With the immediate threat to neighborhoods past, crews in the hills around San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente are working on suppression repair. Heavy machinery and dozer lines cut into the hillsides during the emergency response must now be repaired.
Scott Hatch, an OCFA wildland resource planner, said crews are undoing the impact of their own work. “We’re fixing the damage that we caused during suppression efforts,” Hatch said. “It could include dozer lines; it could include other things like fencing.”
Crews are shredding heavy branches and brush left behind during containment work. They are also staking straw wattles, long rolls of straw, into exposed hillsides to slow water runoff ahead of upcoming rainfall.
“Erosion can occur with any sort of rain, and so really the goal is to dissipate any rain droplets, whether that be from a light rain or a heavy rain,” Hatch said.
Drones and infrared scan for hot spots
OCFA crews are working shifts of 12 hours or more to make sure the fire is fully extinguished. Firefighters are using drones and infrared technology to scan the burned areas for heat sources that cannot be seen with the naked eye.
OCFA Fire Capt. Wayhowe Huang said hot spots can reignite even when a fire appears to be out. “So that’s why we’re still out here,” Huang said.
OCFA Capt. Steve Concialdi said Monday that crews expected to remain at the fire for several more days. “We don’t want rekindling,” he said.
Some San Juan Capistrano residents have delivered food and drinks to crews working in the area.
Federal grant covers 75% of eligible suppression costs
Newsom announced Oct. 16 that California had secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the fire. The grant provides 75% reimbursement of eligible suppression costs, the governor’s office said.
FEMA said in a news release on Oct. 19 that it approved the grant after the state’s Oct. 16 request. The agency said the fire was threatening approximately 4,000 homes in and around San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano at the time of the request.
Lawsuit alleges utility equipment sparked the fire
A homeowner filed a lawsuit Oct. 19 alleging that equipment owned by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) sparked the fire. The suit alleges that the utility reported a distribution line outage within 100 to 200 feet of the ignition point at 11:31 a.m.
SDG&E has said that smoke and ash from fires can cause outages and that there is currently no basis to conclude its facilities are connected to the ignition. The claims in the lawsuit are allegations and have not been established.
Burn scar remains closed
The cause of the Norte Fire remains under investigation, and officials had not announced a finding as of Oct. 20.
Containment stands at 92%, and Via La Mirada remains closed north of Esperanza. The burn scar is closed until further notice.
