Updated October 27, 2020 | 5:33 p.m. PDT
In a briefing late Tuesday afternoon Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 15,200 acres, and 2,500 homes have been evacuated; 10 homes have been damaged. Some of those evacuated areas will be repopulated soon, the Chief said.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Blue Ridge Fire, including the most recent, click here.)
An Incident Management Team from CAL FIRE, Team 6, will assume command of both the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires Tuesday night.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department website has the latest information about evacuations.
The two fires had access to 14 helicopters and a variable number of fixed wing air tankers Tuesday.
Updated October 27, 2020 | 11:37 a.m. PDT
Updated October 27, 2020 | 11:10 a.m. PDT
Monday at 9:57 a.m. Orange County fire authorities said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 8,000 acres, and 10 homes had been damaged. Approximately 1,000 personnel are assigned to the fire.
At about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday firefighters requested on an immediate need basis three Very Large Air Tankers, four Large Air Tankers, and four S-2 Air tankers. An “immediate need” request is usually reserved for circumstances where there is an imminent threat to lives or property. Requesting eleven air tankers at one time, however, is not common.
At 10:20 a.m. Tuesday the SCE weather station in the Santa Ana River area recorded 20 mph winds out of the northeast gusting to 31, with 9 percent relative humidity. The forecast calls for the wind to begin decreasing at noon and by 2 p.m. would be down to 10 mph out of the northeast, with the direction becoming variable between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m., after which it will come from the east or northeast at about 6 mph.
There is a report that the BNSF railroad is sending one of their fire trains to the Blue Ridge Fire. The company has several variations of these firefighting machines that carry massive amounts of water which can be applied using master stream nozzles. We have written about them a number of times on Wildfire Today.
Updated October 27, 2020 | 5:50 a.m. PDT
The Blue Ridge Fire was active throughout the night, but less so than during the day due to a decrease in winds. Those winds began to increase around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning as expected. Flare-ups occurred near Butterfield Ranch, south Chino Hills, Bane Canyon Road, Soquel Canyon Road, and Pipeline Avenue.
Monday at 9:26 p.m. Orange County fire authorities said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 3,000 acres.
Updated October 26, 2020 | 4:57 p.m. PDT
At 4:30 p.m. on Monday Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the fire had burned 1,000 acres, and 70,000 homes have been evacuated.
Three air tankers have been ordered for the Blue Ridge Fire near Yorba Linda. Earlier, all aircraft were grounded because of the very strong winds.
Additional evacuation orders are in effect.
October 26, 2020 | 3:12 p.m. PDT
The fire started in the same general area as the Freeway Fire of 2008 that destroyed 117 structures and 45 vehicles.
Another fire has broken out in Orange County in Southern California — eight miles north of the Silverado Fire. The Blue Ridge Fire (originally named “Green Fire”) is north of the 91, east of Yorba Linda, and near the Green River golf club.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation order at 1:55 p.m. PDT Oct. 26:
Evacuation orders for Yorba Linda- North of the 91 freeway East of Gypsum Canyon, including Bryant Ranch Elementary. Anyone in the affected area should evacuate immediately.
Fire officials said the fire has burned about 700 acres at about 2:30 p.m. October 26.
What is causing these fires? Can the cause be addressed?