A wind-whipped wildfire that tore through a Southern California city, burning at least two-dozen homes and prompting a local state of emergency, signaled a dangerous start to the state’s fire season, the local fire chief said Thursday.
Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the blaze, dubbed the Coastal Fire, occurred well before the hot, dry Santa Winds typically fuel the region’s more destructive wildfires.
“This is a fire that was driven by winds that happen up here every day,” he said. “Humidities were 70 percent or better. This was a normal day. Yet we burned 200 acres very quickly and lost 24 homes. That is not something that we see ever.”
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“It is a dangerous new normal,” he added.
As of Thursday afternoon, roughly 900 homes were under evacuation orders and 550 firefighters were working to contain the blaze in and around Laguna Niguel in Orange County, roughly 50 miles south of Los Angeles, local fire officials said.
No control lines had been dug around the fire, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Local officials declared a state of emergency Thursday, freeing up resources and assistance for residents.
No injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire, which broke out Wednesday afternoon in Aliso Woods Canyon — an area Fennessy described as “extremely steep” and dry — remains under investigation.
