Yesterday the wildfire known as the Silverado Fire in Orange County, California expanded from a few acres early in the morning to about 4,000 acres as of 1 pm local time. Since then the fire has continued to grow and has now consumed more than 11,000 acres. Here’s what the line of flame looked like last night:
The #SilveradoFire is burning close to thousands of homes in Orange County and producing smoky skies over SoCal… from #Air7HD @abc7 #abc7eyewitness pic.twitter.com/kxeTmuHR50
— Chris Cristi (@abc7chriscristi) October 27, 2020
One of my close friends lives less than a mile from the evacuation zone and told me all he heard all day yesterday was the sirens of emergency vehicles. This morning the Orange County Fire Authority tweeted out the updated totals for the Silverado Fire:
#SilveradoFire Update:
14 helicopters
11,200 acres
More than 750 firefighters
5% contained
10-15 mph winds with ridge top gusts reaching 35 mphResidents under evacuation order:
70,000 Irvine
6,000 Lake ForestFootage taken at Crean Lutheran HS and La Perla in Foothill Ranch pic.twitter.com/t2SbCvmaSo
— OCFA PIO (@OCFA_PIO) October 27, 2020
That tweets puts the number of people being evacuated at 76,000 (up from 60,000 yesterday) but news reports put the number at 90,000.
Soon after it started, the Silverado prompted orders by officials for residents of Orchard Hills to leave their homes. By the end of the day more than 90,000 residents in Irvine and more in Lake Forest were under evacuation orders.
On Tuesday morning, authorities said, Silverado, Modjeska and Trabuco canyons along Live Oak Canyon Road were under evacuation warnings. Part of Mission Viejo was also warned that residents there may need to evacuate.
Two firefighters were gravely injured yesterday while fighting the fire, suffering severe burns. Their names have not been released yet but their ages are 26 and 31:
•65% of the first handcrew firefighters body was covered in second and third degree burns.
•50% of the second handcrew firefighter’s body is covered with second and third degree burns. #SilveradoFire
— OCFA PIO (@OCFA_PIO) October 26, 2020
In addition to the Silverado Fire, there is a second fire expanding just north in Yorba Linda. It’s been dubbed the Blue Ridge Fire. It has already consumed 8,000 acres:
A fast-moving vegetation fire between Riverside and Orange counties has entered its second day and gobbled up 8,000 acres so far as it threatens homes in Yorba Linda, fire officials said Tuesday morning, Oct. 27.
So far, firefighters had not contained any of the Blue Ridge fire, which has damaged 10 homes in Yorba Linda, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
Some images and video of the Blue Ridge Fire starting yesterday:
#BlueRidgeFire is reaching Box Canyon area, my little neighborhood. Pls send prayers for all of Yorba Linda. It’s going to be a critical few hours ahead of us to see where the wind takes this fire. Thankful for all the firefighters working tirelessly to battle Mother Nature. pic.twitter.com/VBLqoizJoH
— d$ (@devonmorones) October 27, 2020
Incredible video of a fire retardant drop from a large plane:
Slightly more activity at our house today than expected. But I cannot thank you enough to the local fire that has come from land and air to fight this. 🙏🏼 This video capture from our yard by a fire fighter. 💪🏻 #BlueRidgeFire pic.twitter.com/blhPTj0BYn
— Graham Rahal (@GrahamRahal) October 26, 2020
One of the homes burned by the fire yesterday had a Trump 2020 banner out front. Naturally there are horrible people responding to this on Twitter just as you would expect them to.
Flames damage large home at the end of Blue Ridge Dr. in #YorbaLinda but crews were able to save dozens of others as #BlueRidgeFire continues to rage out of control. pic.twitter.com/V2vwASOq1Q
— Leanne Suter (@abc7leanne) October 27, 2020
The firefighters kept working all night:
Your Corona Firefighters worked through the night to protect our city from the Blue Ridge Fire. While there is still much work to be done, the efforts of the CFD have resulted in minimal fire activity on the Corona side of the fire with no current threat to our community. pic.twitter.com/0h5fT3v6y1
— Corona Fire Dept #CoronaFire (@CoronaFireDept) October 27, 2020
The Blue Ridge Fire broke out on Monday and quickly grew to more than 3,000 acres, forcing nearly 5,000 evacuations in Southern California https://t.co/nt7OvncW9R pic.twitter.com/W4Wes3Enak
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 27, 2020
Wind driven flames rip thru the brush behind homes in #YorbaLinda .
Firefighters making a stand saving hundreds of homes in the #BlueRidgeFire .
1100 acres charred & counting.
1 structure burned, 0% containment.
Live report 11pm @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/WmnZPTN5mc— Leanne Suter (@abc7leanne) October 27, 2020
Here’s a local news report from this morning showing the strength of the winds driving the flames:
#BREAKING on @ABC7: This is what @abc7marccr is experiencing in Yorba Linda at the Blue Ridge Fire this morning. Thousands of families are under mandatory evacuations.#BlueRidgeFire #yorbalinda #OrangeCounty #BreakingNews #wildfires pic.twitter.com/Ud9T4LaogZ
— Brandi Hitt (@ABC7Brandi) October 27, 2020
And they’re still at it today:
Crews light a #backfire to burn away fuel near a neighborhood as Blue Ridge Fire burns towards #ChinoHills communities @CBSLA p pic.twitter.com/XwheiQYmyq
— Kara Finnstrom (@KaraFinnstrom) October 27, 2020
There could be updates to this post throughout the day. Hopefully we’ll get some news on the two firefighters in the hospital.
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