Raging Wildfire in Orange County Causes Mandatory Evacuations

By 9 a.m. Saturday, a large fire in Orange County, California had scorched 1,600 acres less than 24 hours after it had started, prompting mandatory evacuations of homes in Silverado Canyon.

Three firefighters suffered minor injuries but were released from the hospital, reports the Los Angeles Times. Thirty homes were evacuated along Silverado Canyon Road, and the fire was just 10% contained as of Saturday morning, according to the Orange County Register. More than 700 firefighters are now battling the blaze.

Fueled by hot weather and tinder-dry vegetation, the brush fire has spread into difficult-to-reach terrain, firefighters said, burning chaparral and oak trees that “had not burned in several years,” Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz said.

Water-dropping aircraft assisted firefighters trying to hold back flames atop ridgelines near Corona.

The fire was first reported Friday morning at 10:32.

[LA Times]