San Diego County Fire: These schools are closed

The following North County schools and school districts will be closed Friday because of the Lilac Fire, the County Office of Education announced early this morning.

Due to forecasted high Santa Ana winds and possible power outages, the following school districts will be closed on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017:

Bella Mente Montessori Academy (charter school)

Bonsall Unified School District

Carlsbad Unified School District

Classical Academy and Classical Academy High School (charter schools)

Coastal Academy (charter school)

Epiphany Prep: Escondido campus (charter school)

Escondido Charter High School (charter school)

Fallbrook Union Elementary School District

Fallbrook Union High School District

Guajome Park Academy (charter school)

Heritage K-8 (charter school)

Julian Union Elementary School District

Julian Union High School District

Momentum Learning juvenile court and community schools (operated by SDCOE: Youth Day Center, Breaking Cycles North County, Innovations Academy of Empowerment, North County Technology Academy

Mountain Empire Unified School District

North County Academy (SDCOE-operated school)

North County Trade Tech High School (charter school)

Oceanside Unified School District

San Marcos Unified School District

Scholarship Prep

Spencer Valley School District

Vista Unified School District

Warner Unified School District

Cal State San Marcos and Palomar College will also be closed Friday because of fire, smoke and high winds associated with the Lilac Fire, according to the County Office of Education.

Bonsall High School, Bonsall Elementary and Sullivan Middle School were evacuated shortly after the Lilac Fire started Thursday near Interstate-15 and State Route 76, with students bused to the Fallbrook High School gymnasium for pickup.

While Bonsall schools are in the path of the fire and were subject to mandatory evacuations, other backcountry campuses face possible power outages due to high Santa Ana winds, said Music Watson, a spokeswoman for the County Office of Education.

Oceanside schools were shuttered in recognition of the danger posed by the fire, which was blazing west from its ignition point, as well as high winds and smoke, according to the district’s website.

Cal State San Marcos closed its campus Thursday afternoon through Friday. The university is not at risk, but shut its campuses to accommodate students affected by the fire, spokesman Eric Breier said in a statement. Both the main San Marcos campus and its Temecula facility would be closed, he said.

All Palomar College campuses will be closed as well, including the college’s main campus in San Marcos, its back country and Marine Base locations.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we are closing our sites at Fallbrook, Bonsall and Camp Pendleton,” the college stated on its website.

MiraCosta College closed its Oceanside campus Thursday afternoon, but said it was weighing whether to close the school Friday.

This story was updated at 8:30 a.m. Friday to reflect additional closures.