Norte Fire Hits Six Homes, Burns 570 Acres in Orange County

Updated 07:15 UTC. Cal Fire put the Norte Fire at 570 acres at 7:27 p.m. on Friday, October 16, up from 465 acres earlier in the afternoon. No containment was listed as of 9:20 p.m., and CNN put the figure at 570 acres with zero percent containment on Friday evening. Fire activity had eased by the end of the day, and Deputy Incident Commander Mike Yeun said evacuation orders would remain in place through the night while crews worked on hotspots and tried to keep the fire inside its current footprint. The count of homes damaged or destroyed stayed at six, and the two firefighters taken to hospital were reported stable.

Updated 04:57 UTC. California has secured federal help for the Norte Fire. Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant for the fire. The grant lets local, state and tribal agencies apply for reimbursement of 75 percent of eligible fire suppression costs. The governor's office said the state had already sent extra help to Orange County on Thursday, October 15, including five fire engines, a bulldozer, a water tender, a helicopter and 45 firefighters and support staff, and that the State Operations Center is activated to coordinate resources statewide. The grant does not change conditions on the ground: the fire is still listed at 465 acres with zero containment, and evacuation orders remain in place.

Updated 03:07 UTC. The injury count rose on Friday night. Officials said two firefighters were taken to hospital with heat related injuries, up from the one heat exhaustion case reported earlier in the evening, and CNN reported the two were stable. Fire Chief TJ McGovern said about 16,000 residents were under evacuation orders by Friday night, covering roughly 4,600 homes in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. Spokesperson Steve Concialdi said crews had knocked down a majority of the fire, but it was still listed at zero percent contained, and McGovern said the goal overnight is to keep the fire within its current footprint. Concialdi said crews expect to be on the fire for a number of days, watching for new starts from embers in the Santa Ana winds. Officials have not said how the fire started, the Associated Press and CNN reported.

Updated 01:18 UTC. Orange County Fire Authority Division 3 Chief Mark Backoff said six homes have been damaged or destroyed by the Norte Fire, up from the four homes officials said had been impacted earlier on Friday afternoon. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion, and no other injuries have been reported. Backoff said crews are still engaged in the fire fight and more resources are on the way, CNN and the New York Post reported.

A brush fire that broke out late Friday morning in Orange County grew to 465 acres in about three hours, hit four homes in San Juan Capistrano and forced evacuation orders across parts of San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

The Norte Fire was reported just after 11:30 a.m. near Portico Del Norte, according to the Orange County Fire Authority and the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Santa Ana winds pushed it to about 50 acres by noon and 250 acres by 1:12 p.m., with zero containment at that point. Cal Fire put the size at 465 acres at 2:41 p.m.

Four homes hit, five zones ordered out

Just before 2:30 p.m., county fire officials said four homes off Via La Mirada in San Juan Capistrano had been impacted by the fire. Aerial footage from CNN affiliate KCBS showed multiple houses burning on Friday afternoon. Officials urged people to stay away from the area while crews attacked the fire from the ground and the air.

Evacuation orders cover five zones: SJC04, SJC05 and SJC10 in San Juan Capistrano, and SCL12 and SCL13 in San Clemente. Nearby areas sit under evacuation warnings, and the zones are listed on the Orange County Sheriff's website. Sheriff's deputies went door to door in the order zones to tell people to leave, Sgt. Lizbeth Gwisdalla told CNN.

Shelters are open at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center, 25925 Camino del Avion, and the San Clemente Community Center, 100 Calle Seville. The Capistrano Unified School District dismissed ten schools early and canceled sports and after-school programs. USA Today reported the fire also forced the cancellation of Friday night's football game between San Clemente and Mission Viejo, one of the most watched matchups of the local season.

The newest fire in a hard two days

The Norte Fire is the newest of several fires that have broken out since Thursday, when the first strong Santa Ana wind event of the season reached Southern California. The National Weather Service in Los Angeles said critical fire weather conditions will run through Saturday, October 17, with heat advisories and high wind warnings in place on Friday.

South of the Norte Fire, the Henderson Fire on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton has burned 2,080 acres with no containment and closed Interstate 5 again on Friday. Near Malibu, the Bryson Fire has burned more than 100 acres and forced evacuations of its own. Utilities have cut power to more than 167,000 customers across California to lower the risk of new fires starting from power lines.

Wind gusts near the Norte Fire reached 25 mph on Friday afternoon. CNN reported the winds should start to ease near the coast around 7 p.m. local time, but Santa Ana winds stay elevated through Saturday before easing over the weekend.

What happens next

The last containment figure officials gave was zero percent, at 250 acres, and the fire was still growing when Cal Fire gave the 465 acre figure. Crews will keep working the lines around homes in San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente while the winds last. People in the warning zones should be ready to leave on short notice and follow the evacuation orders on the sheriff's website.