Fire Consumes 2,200 Acres Near Ortega Highway

The dry weather and hot winds that brought scorching heat to Southern California on Sunday also fanned a rash of fires that burned more than 2,200 acres near Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano.

The fires also damaged 21 homes in San Diego and blackened more than 3,500 acres in Riverside and Ventura counties.

About 500 firefighters were mobilized against the Orange County blaze, which moved along the Ortega Highway toward San Clemente, at one point coming close enough to homes that frightened residents loaded up their belongings and prepared to evacuate. The fire was caused by arcing wires touching a tree about 1:10 p.m. near La Pata Avenue, about 6 miles inland.

“At one point it was a threat to homes, but it never reached the point where there was an evacuation,” said Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman Kathleen Cha.

High winds had blown all day across the rolling south county hills, whipping the flames until the fire neared houses, said Fran Hill, whose San Juan Capistrano home was about a mile from the blaze.

“The winds were blowing toward the west, really bad winds,” Hill said. “They were like 50- or 60-mile-an-hour winds all day today. . . . But the wind stopped, which is just incredible, because it’s been blowing since 10 o’clock this morning.”

Hills’ 19-year-old daughter, Kris, said, “Everybody watered down their roofs. Everybody packed up their cars” in anticipation that the fire would reach the homes.

But by about 8 p.m. the fire was “pretty near containment” after long hot hours in the broiling sun by the firefighters, who were aided by two bulldozers and water drops from an air tanker, Cha said.

A 600-acre brush fire in the San Carlos section of San Diego brought more than 150 firefighters to the battle lines. They fought for almost 24 hours before containing the blaze near Cowles Mountain at 2 p.m. Sunday. The roofs of 21 homes were damaged.

The fire, set off when wind forced two high-voltage utility lines together, prompted the evacuation of 150 residents from their homes in the northeastern part of the city. The fire could be seen for miles late Saturday as it burned at the top of the mountain, even after officials declared it largely contained.

Buildings Damaged

A fast-moving fire in Riverside County remained out of control late Sunday, burning more than 1,500 acres, damaging four structures and threatening 20 more, California Department of Forestry spokeswoman Anna Smith said. The fire, fed by 40- to 45-m.p.h. winds, raged in Juniper Flats, between Hemet and Nuevo about 25 miles southeast of Riverside.

More than 300 firefighters attempted to contain the blaze, Smith said. The cause was under investigation.

Two brush fires burned out of control in Ventura County, destroying about 2,200 acres, threatening homes, causing traffic to be rerouted and injuring two people, fire officials said.

The largest of the fires erupted in Simi Valley about 1 p.m. Sunday at Kuehner Drive and the Simi Valley Freeway, Bobbie Barker of the Ventura County Fire Department reported.

The blaze, whipped by strong northeastly winds, burned more than 1,500 acres and threatened several homes, Barker said. No injuries were reported.

Freeway Closed

The Simi Valley Freeway was closed, and traffic was rerouted from Cochran Street in Simi Valley to Topanga Canyon Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley, California Highway Patrol officials said.

Another brush fire that broke out Saturday south of Lake Piru in Ventura County remained out of control as well, having charred more than 700 acres, Barker said. That fire was started by lightning.

One Los Angeles County firefighter battling that blaze suffered a broken wrist; another was treated for heat exhaustion, Barker said.

Elsewhere, Los Angeles County firefighters battled a 100-acre blaze in the Mt. Baldy area next to Angeles National Forest. No containment time was predicted, and the cause was under investigation.

In Los Angeles, a fire erupted in brush shortly after noon in Griffith Park east of Traveltown, Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said. It spread from two to 5 acres in about 30 minutes, but 35 firefighters, assisted by two water-dropping helicopters, extinguished the blaze in less than an hour, Wells said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

In San Dimas, a grass fire burned two acres in Bonelli Park. It took 45 Los Angeles County firefighters about two hours to extinguish it. County spokesmen said no injuries were reported nor were homes damaged from that fire, which broke out about 11 a.m. Sunday.

Times staff writer Carlos Lozano contributed to this report.