Brush fire at Camp Pendleton grows to more than 1,500 acres

A brush fire at Camp Pendleton has burned more than 1,500 acres and forced evacuation of a military housing area and the base hospital, officials said early Sunday.

The fire is listed at 15% contained. More than 200 firefighters battled the blaze through the night.

The fire broke out about 12:45 p.m. Saturday in the Lake O’Neill area of the sprawling base. The hospital overlooks Lake O’Neill.

Some 230 residents from the O’Neill Heights housing area were evacuated to the Paige Fieldhouse.

Minor damage was reported to four buildings, but there were no injuries.

Patients at the 61-bed base hospital were transferred to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside and the Naval Medical Center San Diego after a power outage at the building, 12 miles from the main gate of the base.

By 6 p.m., 17 patients had been transferred to the San Diego hospital and five to Tri-City, officials said.

Later in the night, the base hospital reopened. But the transferred patients remained at the new locations.

No cause for the blaze has been determined.

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tony.perry@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATsandiego