Firefighters lose ground on Santiago fire
The Santiago fire in Orange County expanded overnight, with firefighters reporting this morning that they had lost ground and that containment of the blaze had fallen to 30% from 50%.
Firefighters are now above Silverado and Trabuco Oaks canyons, trying to keep the blaze out, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
The number of homes destroyed stands at 14, according to fire officials. The agency could not say how many homes might now be threatened.
Firefighters made a stand Wednesday, pummeling the fire lines with water-dropping helicopters and setting backfires to consume fuel in the blaze’s path, sparing two rustic canyon communities from the four-day-old Santiago fire.
But late Wednesday night, fire officials announced that the blaze grew to 23,000 acres, and firefighters’ victories hemming it in earlier during the day were undone. The blaze was again threatening Williams Canyon and Hamilton Truck Trail.
“Because it’s a wildlands fire, it’s unpredictable,” said Christy Romero, s spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Authority.
Officials feared that if unfettered, the blaze would again threaten Silverado, Trabuco and Holy Jim canyons by this morning, and possibly enter Riverside County. By nightfall, the fire could approach Corona, Bedford Canyon, and Rancho Santa Margarita, and by late Friday, Dove Canyon and Cota de Caza.
Earlier in the evening, concern was mounting that flames were again creeping toward Modjeska Canyon, where several homes had burned to the ground. Firefighters were setting backfires to consume fuel in the blaze’s path and were dousing homes closest to flames with fire-retardant foam.
Earlier, firefighters experienced victories -- two rustic canyon communities filled with hundreds of homes and cabins had been spared. Allowing the fire to reach Live Oak or Trabuco canyons would have been “a nightmare,” a fire official said.
“You have 200-year-old oak trees covering the roads and no defensible space,” said Craig Daugherty, a division commander overseeing hotshot crews on the front lines. “If we get a fire established in there, it is basically a write-off.”
The Fire Authority announced a $70,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in arson, which is currently threatening 3,000 homes and over the past four days has prompted authorities to ask 43,000 residents to evacuate.
Earlier, investigators from the FBI, Orange County Sheriff’s Department and Fire Authority searched for evidence at Santiago Canyon and Silverado Canyon roads, near the spots where the blaze began Sunday evening.
FBI and sheriff’s officials dismissed a report by the Associated Press that their agencies had raided a home in connection with the investigation.
Firefighters announced Wednesday morning that the blaze threatening canyons in the Santa Ana Mountains was 50% contained -- the first positive news since the fire began. In past days, firefighters had been stymied by erratic winds that fueled the fire and drove it in different directions. But by Wednesday evening, containment was once again down to 30%.
Fourteen homes and eight other buildings were confirmed destroyed, and eight homes and 12 other buildings were damaged. Modjeska Canyon suffered the brunt of the destruction.
Linda and Steve Wheeler had not seen their Modjeska Canyon home since they evacuated at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. Staying at her daughter’s home in Orange, Linda watched the billowing smoke in the distance.
“That smoke could be what’s left of my great-grandmother’s table that I didn’t have a chance to take with me,” she said. “When you feel like your home is likely in danger, all you want to do is be there.”
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited hundreds of evacuees from Orange and San Diego counties sheltered at El Toro High School. Wandering between cots, he rubbed people’s shoulders and urged a 93-year-old man to eat an Austrian cookie for strength.
“Please let me know if you need anything. I will make sure you get the information you need,” he told evacuees who crowded around him seeking autographs and pictures.
Six hundred firefighters, more than 100 engines and trucks, four air tankers and four helicopters battled the blaze Wednesday.
In Modjeska, morning relief turned to afternoon jitters as firefighters and a few residents watched huge balls of fire and smoke race down familiar slopes a few miles above the canyon.
After Fire Authority Battalion Chief Mike Rohde met with exhausted volunteer firefighters, he said the risk to homes was far from over.
The fire was consuming dense chaparral and trees that were more than a century old.
Earlier in the day, crews equipped with picks, shovels and bulldozers attacked the rugged backcountry near Trabuco Creek -- a thickets of dry brush and oak trees.
The goal was to keep the raging fire, which crept down a hillside, from crossing the creek and Live Oak Canyon Road near Cook’s Corner, a biker bar.
Helicopters doused flames with water, and at least five teams of firefighters launched a containment operation.
Most, if not all, were from out of state and unfamiliar with the area. Their maps were so vague, firefighters had to pick up Thomas Guides from local retailers.
The terrain around Trabuco Creek and Live Oak Canyon is steep and partly overgrown with diseased oak trees, making the area prone to fire.
“The whole area in there is scary,” Daugherty said.
“Our goal is to keep it up in the higher country. We’re still nipping and tucking at it. It’s going to be this way all day. It’s all total defense, no offense.”
Contributing to this report were Times staff writers Jennifer Delson, David Haldane, Jason Song, My-Thuan Tran, Dan Weikel, Janet Wilson and editorial assistant Nardine Saad.
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