Wind Propels Wildfire to Edge of El Toro Base

The stubborn wildfire that has darkened the sky over south Orange County for days flared up again Wednesday afternoon, as wind-born embers jumped the Foothill Transportation Corridor and threatened to spread to the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The fire gained new life when a sudden thunderstorm with winds gusting to 50 mph churned over the Santa Ana Mountains and pushed the fire southwest.

Marine firefighters lit a back fire on the El Toro base to clear dead vegetation in the fire’s potential path, said Lt. Col. Russ Brooks. Nearby, Orange County firefighters extinguished small blazes the floating embers touched off in Lake Forest.

In Foothill Ranch, firefighters also used back fires to steer wind-fed flames that moved within 30 feet of houses, momentarily threatening half a dozen homes.

“This makes us think how lucky we were yesterday,” said resident Jock Thompson, 43, as smoke billowed near his house and blew southward over the Marine base. “People in Irvine probably think Foothill Ranch is burning.”

The Foothill Transportation Corridor was closed as was a section of Irvine Boulevard from Bake Parkway to Sand Canyon Avenue--most of it cutting through the El Toro base.

No evacuations were ordered, but Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Garry Layman said authorities were concerned that the spreading flames could move farther south of the tollway, endangering base housing and homes in east Irvine.

“It’s more a fear of what can happen,” he said. “There’s not much you can do when the winds are gusting.

Fire officials had reported the fire 65% contained, and said it posed little threat to buildings. But as an afternoon thunderstorm formed over the Santa Ana Mountains, high winds fanned the flames and sporadic lightning strikes had fire officials worried that more wildfires could break out.

“When the storm came through it stirred up some of the ashes and it blew up the fire,” Layman said. “It’s a very erratic wind.”

A Scary Forecast: More Thunderstorms

Weather forecasters said conditions would be ripe through the weekend for more thunderstorms, which could mean a tense weekend for firefighters.

“It’s not good,” Layman said. “That’s what started this [fire].”

The fire was one of several that erupted across Southern California this week, including one that destroyed 39 homes and 35 other structures in Juniper Flats in Riverside County. Two smaller Orange County fires were extinguished after burning 95 acres in Holy Jim Canyon and 900 acres in Carbon Canyon.

The Santiago Canyon fire exceeded 7,000 acres, but firefighters were hemming it in between fire lines and the Foothill Transportation Corridor. From a distance, the thick pillar of smoke gave the illusion of a volcano at the edge of the Cleveland National Forest.

While no buildings were damaged, residents along La Perla in Foothill Ranch spent a restless night as firefighters worked to keep flames from moving from the hillsides into the subdivision.

“Things got pretty tense,” said resident Judy Elmore, 45. “I felt pretty secure until the winds started to pick up.”

Layman said five firefighters suffered slight injuries, including one who was stung by a scorpion. All were treated at the scene and returned to work, he said.

A high-pressure system stalled over Southern California wasn’t expected to drift eastward until early next week, keeping daily highs in the mid-90s in fire-prone inland areas, said Kevin Stenson, a meteorologist for WeatherData, which provides weather information to The Times.

As the high-pressure system moves on, Stenson said, tropical moisture related to Hurricane Isis--which passed over Baja California on Wednesday--will flow into Southern California. Stenson said that could dampen the risk of wildfires. But it could also lead to more thunderstorms and more lightning strikes like the ones that started the Carbon Canyon and Santiago Canyon fires.

Smoke Forces Closure of Several Businesses

On Wednesday, smoke and fear of fire caused several businesses near the fire to send employees home.

At Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. in the 9700 block of Irvine Boulevard, workers were dismissed at 3:30 p.m. “as a precaution,” a security official said.

Said one Toshiba employee: “The smoke was coming through the air-conditioning system. There was smoke everywhere. My eyes were burning, and I got a sore throat.”

Irvine police Sgt. Dick Bowman said, “We weren’t telling anyone to evacuate, but they might have just felt uncomfortable with the smoke nearby.”

Nearby at South Pacific Image Inc., a small computer graphics firm, six anxious employees were sent home when the smoke began to interfere with their work.

“The smoke was coming through the air conditioning,” said David Elliot, vice president of operations. “People were concerned and were getting a little anxious, and there’s no point in having people here if they’re uncomfortable.”

Elliot said the smoke inside the building “was not unlike sitting in your living room and turning on the fireplace and closing the flue.”

At Automotive Engineering and Design, on Alton Parkway at Irvine Road, the smoke blew in through an opened back door and ashes fell onto clay molds of automobiles.

“The wind picked up and boom, it was like immediate,” said owner Leonard Dodd Sr. “It was pretty intense down here for awhile. It was pretty amazing. It was all smoke and ashes, and now my building is filled with smoke and leaves. The winds picked up to around 40 mph and sort of blew everything in instantly.”

At Sea Tree Nurseries Inc., a wholesale grower in Lake Forest, flames destroyed 200 trees and damaged 300 more, said Jacinto Munoz, production manager. As the fire approached, his crews scrambled to move tractors, fork lifts and other equipment out of the way.

James A. Shadforth, vice president, estimated the company’s loss at $45,000 to $50,000 in trees and supplies such as lumber, stakes and irrigation tubing.

Approaching Flames Quite a Spectacle

Traffic was heavy in the Foothill Ranch, Portola Hills and Lake Forest areas Wednesday as homeowners and the curious tried to get close to the fire. Many spectators slowed and stopped to stare at the giant smoke cloud that billowed from the hillside.

People climbed to the roofs of their businesses, scrambled up hillsides, drove slowly through neighborhoods and parked on the side of any road with a view of the fire as it made its way down the mountains.

At Foothill Ranch, Pete Lugo, 33, canceled a trip to Las Vegas and joined neighbors in what became an all-night vigil Tuesday. They watched as flames moved within a few hundred yards of the neighborhood, filling the night air with crackling sounds before it died out under fire hoses.

“The top of it almost looked like a tornado,” Lugo said.

He was particularly concerned about a gazebo behind his house.

“I’ve got a lot of wood,” he said. “Mine would be the first one to go.”

Concerns over the spread of the fire led Sarah Lieske, 34, to send her two children to stay with grandparents in Lakewood on Tuesday night.

“When [the fire] first started coming down, I was freaked,” Lieske said.

In Santiago Canyon, Tony and Janice Beasley evacuated their family, seven horses and a cow, spending the night camping south of Cook’s Corner.

Fire official had told them that if the fire reached their home, it probably could not be saved. The fire didn’t reach that far, however.

“This was our third fire but it was our worst,” Janice Beasley said. “It’s an experience I never want to have to deal with again. Some of our neighbors stuck it out but we had too much livestock to take the chance.”

The fires weren’t the only tests to nerves. Thunder and lightning Wednesday afternoon spooked children and horses at the Santiago Equestrian Center, about two miles north of Cook’s Corner.

“We’re OK; we’ve had thunder before,” said Ruthanna Bridges, owner of Bridges Training Stables, as she tried to reassure young students that they were a safe distance from the fire despite a steady rumble of firetrucks along Santiago Canyon Road.

“Just watch the fireworks and listen to the show,” she told the children.

Bridges spent part of Wednesday moving about 40 horses back to the stable after lodging them overnight at the Serrano Creek Ranch Equestrian Center in Lake Forest. She moved another nine horses to stables on the El Toro Marine Base. About 50 horses remained at the stables.

“It was pretty scary here around 10 or 11 [a.m. Tuesday],” said Francisco Flores, foreman at the Santiago stables, who spent the night in his car at the stables in case an evacuation was ordered. “The fire was moving fast this way.”

Times staff writer Greg Hernandez and correspondents Jason Kandel and Chris Ceballos contributed to this story.

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Tracking the Fire’s Footsteps

More than 800 firefighters have battled a steadily progressing blaze above Foothill Ranch since Monday night. Tracing the path of the Santiago Canyon fire:

Point of Origin: Lightning sparks blaze at 9:36 p.m. Monday

11 a.m. Tuesday: 2,600 acres

11 p.m. Tuesday: 6,600 acres

7 p.m. Wednesday: 7,000 acres

*

Spot Fire

3:45 p.m. Wednesday: 5 acres burn on base

Bulldozer fire break

Sources: Christine Lampe, Dennis Shell and Garry Layman, Orange County Fire Authority