Norte Fire Reaches 80 Percent Containment as Crews Hunt Buried Hot Spots Ahead of Rain
Containment climbed from 60 percent on Sunday evening to 80 percent by Monday afternoon while the fire held at 570 acres. Crews are now hunting heat buried under quiet ground with infrared drones, and suppression repair is planned before thunderstorms reach the coast Wednesday night.
Containment of the Norte Fire reached 80 percent on Monday afternoon, up from 60 percent on Sunday evening, while the burned area held at 570 acres. Cal Fire posted the new figure at 4:33 p.m. on Monday on the incident page it maintains for the Orange County Fire Authority, the agency with jurisdiction over the fire in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.
The assignment has grown with the work. The incident page now lists 583 personnel on the fire, with 67 engines, 11 helicopters, 13 crews, one dozer and one water tender. On Sunday morning, 467 firefighters were assigned. The fire started at 11:33 a.m. on Friday near Portico Del Norte and Eminencia Del Norte in San Clemente, and its cause remains under investigation.
The job has changed from stopping spread to finding heat that is still alive under quiet ground. In a statement posted on Monday night, the fire authority said crews are locating and extinguishing hot spots so the fire cannot rekindle and threaten the communities around it, and warned that hot spots can smolder underground for weeks or even months before returning wind carries the heat back to the surface. Drones carrying infrared cameras are finding heat that crews cannot see from the ground and directing firefighters to the spots that need attention.
The damage count stands at seven homes damaged or destroyed, unchanged since Sunday. The two firefighters taken to hospitals on Friday with heat related injuries are recovering at home, ABC7 reported on Monday. Evacuation shelters closed on Sunday, and two closures remain in force: Via La Mirada stays closed to vehicle traffic north of Esperanza so crews can keep working, and the burn scar itself remains closed until further notice as an active fire hazard area.
Also planned this week is suppression repair, restoring ground disturbed by firefighting to help reduce erosion. The timing matters because the weather is about to change. The Weather Channel forecast for Laguna Beach calls for thunderstorms on Wednesday night, with a 90 percent chance of rain and about 0.65 inches expected, followed by scattered thunderstorms on Thursday. Rain falling on a fresh burn scar can loosen soil and debris on the slopes above the neighborhoods the fire threatened last week.
Federal help for the response is already in place. California secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the first hours of Saturday, and the governor's office said local, state and tribal agencies that responded can seek reimbursement for 75 percent of eligible suppression costs. The grant covers response costs; it is not a payment program for homeowners.
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