Wind a risk as California fires keep tens of thousands away
LOS ANGELES • Crews tried to beat back two out-of-control wildfires in Southern California on Tuesday that have kept tens of thousands of people out of their homes even as another round of dangerous fire weather raises the risk for flames erupting across the state.
Fierce winds that drove twin fires through brushy hills near cities in Orange County a day earlier were expected to pick back up, although not to the earlier extremes, according to the National Weather Service.
Southern California Edison reported to regulators that it was investigating whether its equipment might have sparked the Silverado fire near the city of Irvine. With utility equipment blamed for several destructive fires in recent years, Edison was among the utilities in California that deliberately cut power to customers to prevent equipment from being knocked down or hit with debris in the winds and sparking wildfires.
Irvine residents had to evacuate after a fire broke out early Monday, while later and a few miles away, another blaze, the Blue Ridge fire, sent people fleeing from the Yorba Linda area. More than 90,000 people were under evacuation orders.
One home was damaged and crews protected hundreds more as winds pushed flames down ridges toward neighborhoods. There was little containment of the fires.
Forecasts call for Santa Ana winds to keep blowing over much of Southern California, with some of the strongest gusts howling through Orange County, where the major blazes are. The winds were expected to be lighter than a day earlier and die down by nighttime.
The gusts were so strong Monday that they toppled several semitrucks on highways and forced firefighters to ground their aircraft, though they got back up by late afternoon and were expected to fly Tuesday.
Two firefighters, one 26 and the other, 31, were critically injured while battling the larger blaze near Irvine, according to the county’s Fire Authority.
October and November are the worst months for fires, but this year 8,600 wildfires in the state have scorched a record 6,400 square miles and destroyed about 9,200 homes, businesses and other buildings. There have been 31 deaths.
The Silverado fire burns along the 241 State Highway Tuesday in Irvine, Calif. A fast-moving wildfire forced evacuation orders for 60,000 people in Southern California as powerful winds prompted power to be cut to hundreds of thousands to prevent utility equipment from sparking new blazes.