Three major wildfires continued to burn in southern California on Wednesday, but cooling temperatures offered firefighters some hope for relief after a triple-digit heatwave had blanketed the region for several days.
The smoke from the wildfires affected air quality, with darkened skies and smoky clouds visible from parts of San Diego. Some of the clouds were created by the fires themselves.
Airport Fire
In Orange County, the Airport Fire charred cars and left a wake of rubble and ash while flames pushed east and over mountains into neighboring Riverside County.
At least five firefighters and two residents have been injured in that fire, which burned nearly 35 square miles by early Wednesday, said Orange County Fire Capt. Sean Doran.
The fire has slowed in some hillside areas affected by previous wildfires and sped up in others, zipping across newly-grown grasses, he said, adding that firefighters had been focusing on the eastern side of the blaze in Riverside County.
“That is where the fire has been pushing,” Doran said.
Evacuation orders were issued with additional warnings in effect for several Riverside County areas near the fire zone, generally in areas north of the San Diego County line, west of Interstate 15, east of the Orange County line, and south of Bedford Motor Way
Dozens of structures have also been destroyed. In El Cariso, which is an unincorporated Riverside County community of 250 people, an Associated Press photographer saw at least 10 homes and several cars engulfed in flames.
The fire reached the community along Highway 74 Tuesday afternoon when some residents scrambled to evacuate on the road clogged with fire trucks and firefighters, and the sky turned dark and smoky and began raining embers and ash.
“There was no more exit, you had to drive through the flames to get out,” Ryan LaMothe, whose home was destroyed by the Airport Fire, told KTLA5 from a Temecula hotel.
The Airport Fire also burned some communications towers on Santiago Peak, although so far officials said they do not have reports of the damage disrupting police or fire communication signals in the area.
Bridge Fire
The Bridge Fire, aided by high winds and low humidity, has burned around 40 homes and cabins in the villages of Mount Baldy and Wrightwood, and flames damaged lifts at the nearby Mountain High ski resort, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.
The fire exploded tenfold to more than 48,000 acres in 48 hours, becoming the largest in the state. By Wednesday afternoon, the three fires had blackened over 105,000 acres of scrub, brush and forest, an area a third the size of Los Angeles.
“In recent history, this is the fire that has been the most dramatic over a single day period,” Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Fred Fielding said of the Bridge Fire, as flames burned on a nearby hillside.
Line Fire
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday that a Norco man suspected of starting the Line Fire on Sept. 5 in Highland had been arrested and charged with arson. He was held in lieu of $80,000 bail.
Evacuation orders were expanded Tuesday night as the fires grew and included parts of the popular ski town Big Bear. Some 65,600 homes and buildings were under threat by the Line Fire, including those under mandatory evacuations and those under evacuation warnings, nearly double the number from the previous day.
Three firefighters were injured in connection with the blaze, authorities said.
Residents along the southern edge of Big Bear Lake were told to leave the area, which is a popular destination for anglers, bikers and hikers. As of late Tuesday, the blaze had charred more than 54 square miles of grass and brush with 14% containment, according to Cal Fire. It blanketed the area with a thick cloud of dark smoke.
The fire affected key radio towers, including communication channels for those responding to the fire.
Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency and said he had secured federal funds to fight the fires.
California is only now heading into the worst of the wildfire season, but the state has already seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of 2023.
In Northern California, a fire that started Sunday burned at least 30 homes and commercial buildings and destroyed at least 40 vehicles in Clearlake City, 110 miles north of San Francisco.
Other major fires were burning across the western United States, including in Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada, where about 20,000 people had to flee the Davis Fire outside Reno.
This story was updated on Sept. 11, 2024 at 2:15 p.m.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
