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“We are cautiously optimistic that we will have the fire fully contained in 72 hours,” said Phil Rawlings, Fire Captain with CAL Fire.ÂÂ
Finally, we have some good news on the Santiago Fire, courtesy of US Forest Service and The Register. Today, fire officials are saying the 27,521 acre blaze may be 100 percent contained within the next three days. However despite the good news, the canyon areas of Orange County are still under mandatory evacuation order, and fire officials are warning residents that once they come out they will not be allowed back in. Residents who disregard the mandatory evacuation order cannot be arrested inside their property lines, but once residents step off their property officials can arrest them on suspicion of looting.
OK, now back to the fire. The fire along the ridgeline near Silverado is still burning, but it has not descended into town. Flames are estimated roughly to be about three miles up Maple Springs road from the checkpoint at the end of Silverado Canyon Road, about 3,000 feet above Silverado. Fire officials have said that they are seeing “up-canyon” winds during the day that tend to push the flames away from town. To the northeast, the fire is still moving toward Riverside County but had not crossed the county line overnight. Air drops of flame retardant have reinforced about 2.5 miles of fire lines near the county line, but firefighters still need to draw another ten miles of fire lines to insure that the fire does not move any farther east.
Stay tuned here at The Liberal OC for the latest updates on the fire. As soon as we have new information, we’ll share it with you. We’ll continue to provide news and information on the fire until this fire is fully contained and no longer posing a threat.