Associated Press
CORONA, Calif. — A powerful wildfire swept through the well-populated suburban canyons of Southern California, creeping up to the edges of homes and down to the shoulder of a major freeway.
Fast-moving firefighters, however, were able to beat back the blaze burning in Corona, Anaheim and Chino Hills, keeping damage to a minimum as over 1,000 people evacuated from their homes.
The fire had surged to more than 3 square miles after starting at 1 p.m. Monday. It was 5 percent contained hours later.
Jeff Peterson of Corona arrived at his home of 17 years about two hours after the fire had been burning, and the wind appeared to be blowing it away from his house as he watched it with a neighbor.
Then the wind changed, and so did his mood.
“We just looked at each other and said, ‘it’s time to go get the valuables,’ ” Peterson told the Orange County Register.
Wildfires had burned in the canyons around his house, but never one like this, he said.
https://twitter.com/cnni/status/912625415579152384
“I never thought that we’d see it,” Peterson said. “It was unreal, watching this happen. The flames made so much noise, they sounded like jet engines.”
Peterson and between 1,000 and 1,300 others from about 300 homes, all in Corona, were under evacuation orders.
The damage was relegated to a single warehouse-style building and one big rig that was in flames on State Route 91. That freeway was acting as a fire line blocking the fire’s spread.
But with some lanes closed, traffic was backed up for several miles. The Tuesday morning commute was likely to be extremely difficult.
https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning/status/912640134377541632
Conditions were favorable for the overnight firefight, with temperatures dipping into the 60s and humidity above 20 percent.
Liquid-dropping planes were grounded after dark, but helicopters were making drops on the blaze through the night.
Intense flames could be seen creeping down hills over subdivisions where ash was raining down.
Cora Angeles, 66, prayed and cried as she sat in a park car after frantically fleeing from the flames that raged toward her home. She was able to leave with only important documents, clothes and her 12-year-old granddaughter.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Angeles told the Los Angeles Times. “At least we know we’re going to be alive.”
A huge plume of smoke could be seen over much of Orange County, including by the thousands of fans at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, where a large crowd was watching the Angels play the Chicago White Sox.
https://twitter.com/JimDalrympleII/status/912505882403004416