San Juan Capistrano : Cause of Brush Fire Remains a Mystery

Investigators from the Orange County Fire Department were without answers Friday as to what touched off a potentially disastrous brush fire in San Juan Capistrano on Thursday afternoon.

One firefighter was injured and 35 acres of chaparral, wild growths of bamboo and an abandoned orange grove were swept by flames that apparently started in the dry Trabuco Creek bed, sending up a lofty cloud of smoke that for a while darkened much of downtown San Juan Capistrano just after 1 p.m. Thursday.

The origin of the blaze was near the end of Alipaz Street at the creek, according to Fire Department spokesman Pat Antrim, then it spread into a nearby grove of old orange trees on the creek’s west bank, coming to within a few yards of expensive homes on Alipaz, Aguacate Road and Paseo Don Jose.

Antrim said an ocean breeze--and the work of 100 firefighters--helped keep the fire away from residential neighborhoods and from hundreds of horses stabled on the creek’s east bank.

The injured firefighter, John Lamb, was in good condition Friday at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo. A hospital spokeswoman said Lamb fractured his right ankle when he fell while battling the fire.