A brush fire broke out along State Route 241 near Santiago Canyon Road in Irvine, California on Monday, July 13, 2015. The Orange County Fire Authority and the Orange County Emergency Operations Center said that the fire posed serious threat to some of the structures near the Irvine Lake and the Santiago Canyon. So far, three abandoned homes that were formerly known as Irvine Ranch Residences were lost in the fire as reported by Captain Steve Concialdi of the Orange County Fire Authority.
The Orange County Sheriff's Department has confirmed evacuating some 10-15 people and luckily no one was reported to have been injured. The Irvine Lake campgrounds and the other campgrounds near the area, including 15 cabins were all evacuated just in time.
The blaze was reported to the Orange County Fire Authority sometime around 10:45 in the morning. As of 1:15PM 150-180 acres of land had been charred. Only 25% of the fire was contained around 1:45 PM by the efforts of around 200 fire fighters. It needed three air tankers and five helicopters to drop retardants and water to stop the fire. The Orange County Emergency Operations Center set a hotline for people to use for updates on the fire. At present, it has been estimated that 250-acres had been engulfed in the blaze.
The source of the fire had yet to be determined by the authorities but it has been reported that it broke out sometime in the late morning near the 241 Eastern Transportation Corridor and Santiago Canyon Road. This is the most recent of the more than three thousand cases of wildfires that happened in California since the start of the year.
Capt. Concialdi stated. "We're only in July. We're going to have an extremely active fire season. Have a plan, be ready."
California has an average of about 2,250 cases of wildfire through the six months period of the year.
