Wind-Driven Bond Fire Explodes In Silverado Canyon Near Irvine, Thousands Evacuated

8 min readDec 3, 2020

NEAR IRVINE (CBSLA) — A 7,200-acre wildfire broke out in Silverado Canyon east of Irvine late Wednesday night amid gusty Santa Ana winds, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

The Bond Fire was sparked by a house fire before 10:15 p.m. in the 29400 block of Silverado Canyon Road, the Orange County Fire Authority reports. The fire quickly spread into the brush and then exploded into a wildfire.

The Bond Fire was pushing west towards the area of October’s Silverado Fire, which burned 13,400 acres and forced tens of thousands of residents in Irvine and Lake Forest to evacuate.

As of noon Thursday, there was no containment. CBSLA reporter Kara Finnstrom described the chaotic scene, saying “the wind was whipping up flames, with embers flying everywhere.” Large dozers and vehicles burned, triggering several loud explosions.

“The wind has shifted, and the fire is just all over the canyon, and there’s the possibility I might lose my house,” Silverado resident Jill Hitchcock told CBSLA Thursday.

Some residents said that because power had been shut off as a precaution against downed power lines, they had little to know cell phone service and did not receive any evacuation alerts.

“I heard screams, like, ‘fire, fire, it’s right here so we have to leave right now,’” resident Jerry van Wolfgang said. “I looked out the window and it was already so big.”

Several structures have been damaged by the fire, according to the OCFA, but the exact number was not confirmed. There was no word of injuries.

OCFA Capt. Thanh Nguyen told CBSLA that early in the morning hours the fire jumped Santiago Canyon Road from east to west.

“We were expecting gusts of up to 70 miles per hour in this area,” Nguyen said.

“We’ve seen the wind change also drastically, so that’s what we’re telling all our personnel to be aware of that constantly changing wind,” he added.

About 500 firefighters were battling the flames. Firefighting aircraft had to be grounded overnight because of the wind conditions, but water-dropping helicopters were back in the skies late Thursday morning.

“So they were able to fly for a portion of the night, but due to the increased windspeed, it was not safe for them to continue doing so,” OCFA Capt. Greg Barta said.

Mandatory evacuations were issued overnight for residents in Silverado Canyon, Williams Canyon and Modjeska Canyon, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. As the blaze spread southwest, more mandatory evacuations were ordered for Foothill Ranch and the Portola Hills area west of El Toro Road and north of the 241 Freeway.

Voluntary evacuations were issued for Borrego Canyon, Baker Ranch, Live Oak Canyon, Trabuco Canyon, Rose Canyon, Cowan Heights, Lemon Heights, Valley Vista Way and Meadow Ridge Drive.

There was also a voluntary evacuation order issued in Lake Forest for the area bordered by Bake Parkway to the south, the city of Irvine border and the Musick industrial park to the west, and the 241 Freeway to the north.

Santiago Canyon Road was shut down from Jackson Ranch Road to the 241 Freeway.

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A Red Cross evacuation point has been established at Santiago Canyon College in Orange. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, officials cannot establish an evacuation shelter, but they are providing people with vouchers to stay in hotels.

The Southland is currently in the midst of a Santa Ana wind event which has prompted red flag warnings throughout the region due to dry, blustery conditions and low humidity which have created ripe conditions for wildfires.

The Bond Fire was burning near the site of the Silverado Fire, which broke out Oct. 26 at Santiago Canyon and Silverado Canyon roads, burned 13,400 acres and forced more than 90,000 people to evacuate. Southern California Edison notified California state regulators that its equipment may have been to blame for sparking the Silverado Fire. No homes were destroyed.

The exact cause of the house fire is under investigation.

Bond fire rapidly jumps through Orange County canyons, forcing more evacuations

A wind-whipped and rapidly spreading wildfire was threatening homes and prompting evacuations in Orange County on Thursday.

As the Bond fire exploded to about 7,200 acres, a mandatory evacuation order was in effect for residents of Silverado Canyon, Modjeska Canyon, Williams Canyon, Black Star and Baker canyons and portions of Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

For the second time in five weeks, Patrick Day packed up his photo albums, clothing and documents and prepared to evacuate. The 51-year-old’s Lake Forest neighborhood of two-story stucco homes was littered with deflated Christmas blowups and tinsel and lights hanging from balcony railings as ash fell like snow from the December sky.

“It’s shocking that fire season is still going on into December. It seems like every time there’s winds, a fire breaks out,” said Day, whose family was ready to leave by 10 a.m. and planned to stay at a friend’s hotel in Anaheim. “So much of the hillside burned in the last fire and there’s so little left to burn, so I’m not so sure how big of a risk there is to my home.”

Officials said multiple structures may have been damaged by the blaze.

“We are in the process of verifying the number involved and the extent of the damage,” the Orange County Fire Authority wrote on Twitter.

The fire was 0% contained as of 9:45 a.m.

Voluntary evacuation warnings were issued for areas spanning from Trabuco Canyon to north Tustin. The latest map of evacuation areas is available here.

A temporary Red Cross evacuation point has been set up in Lot 2 of Santiago Canyon College, 8045 E. Chapman Ave., in Orange. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities said no congregate shelter was available and urged evacuees “to seek safety with family/friends or in a hotel.”

Sepehr Roshan of Pomona was awoken early Thursday morning with a notice that his aunt’s home was in an evacuation zone. She has abdominal cancer and evacuation proved difficult five weeks ago, during the Silverado fire. The air quality did not help her health, so the 53-year-old Roshan drove to Orange County to help his family find accommodations and prepare to leave if needed.

Air quality near the fire took a nosedive Thursday. The Environmental Protection Agency monitoring site Air Now showed Orange, Irvine, Tustin and other areas near the Bond fire hovering in the unhealthy air quality range and advised people to reduce time outdoors and avoid strenuous activities.

“She’s bed-resting right now, but it’s tough. She doesn’t really want to leave her house because it’s her comfort zone,” Roshan said of his aunt. “We made sure all the windows and doors are closed and the air purifier is on at all times.”

Up the street, Donna Budman was monitoring the smoke outside her home of 28 years. The faint sound of sirens and loudspeakers from sheriff’s cars echoed as they patrolled the area.

Her neighborhood has been threatened by wildfire three times since she moved in — twice in the last several weeks.

Budman said she and her family aren’t evacuating. She wants to monitor the threat level but they plan to hunker down in the meantime. Her main worry was making sure the Wi-Fi stayed on so her daughter could finish a final exam for a college course.

“Maybe we have a false sense of security because of last month’s fire burning a lot of the vegetation already, but it’s a good reminder that we need to be ready, and we are,” she said.

Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Thanh Nguyen said crews were battling steep terrain, heavy brush and dangerous fire weather conditions.

“The big challenge we have here is not only the topography, the contour of the hillsides, but the wind,” Nguyen said. “In addition to that, the winds come with low relative humidity. [Humidity] is in the low teens, and that makes the fuels susceptible to burning.”

The Fire Authority reported just after 11 p.m. Wednesday that a structure fire had extended into nearby vegetation, and that firefighters were on the scene, with fire helicopters and a helitanker assisting.

Dangerous fire weather conditions are in effect across wide swaths of Southern California amid dry, gusty Santa Ana winds.

Southern California Edison initiated a public safety power shutof f late Wednesday in advance of what the National Weather Service called a “particularly dangerous situation.” As of midmorning Thursday, more than 50,000 customers were without power, including 1,600 customers in Orange County, 9,900 in Los Angeles County and 24,000 in Riverside County. Nearly 250,000 additional customers are under consideration for a shutoff as well, according to SCE spokesman Ron Gales, including an additional 19,000 in Orange County.

Silverado Canyon blaze sparked by house fire prompts mandatory evacs, scorches 7,200 acres

A vegetation fire in Silverado Canyon, dubbed the Bond Fire, quickly consumed at least acres and prompted mandatory evacuations after it was first sparked by a house fire late Wednesday night.

Orange County Fire Authority crews responded to the 29400 block of Silverado Canyon Road at about 10:15 p.m. and attacked the blaze from the ground and air.

Amid elevated fire danger due to strong winds, the blaze grew to 7,200 acres and was 0% contained as of noon Thursday, according to OCFA.

The blaze forced mandatory evacuations for residents in the Silverado Canyon and Williams Canyon areas as it continued to grow at a rapid rate of speed. Modjeska Canyon is also under mandatory evacuation orders, and residents in the area of Borrego Canyon and other nearby communities were also warned to prepare to evacuate.

BOND FIRE MAP: See areas under mandatory, voluntary evacuation orders

Residents of Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills west of El Toro and north of the 241 toll road were also placed under mandatory evacuation orders. Remaining parts of Portola Hills remained under voluntary evacuation warnings, officials said.

Fire officials urged those under evacuations to heed the orders. The Red Cross established a temporary evacuation center at Santiago Canyon College, Lot 2, located at 8045 E. Chapman Avenue.

Residents in the Lake Forest area are also under voluntary evacuation orders. The order applies to homes from the 241 toll road along Bake Parkway to Musick north to the Irvine border, and from the 241 north to Bake to Foothill Ranch Community Park.

Fire helicopters and a helitanker responded to the scene as the flames engulfed the home that sparked the vegetation fire.

The overnight fight against the flames posed difficulty for crews, who said the fire is “growing rapidly” in a southwest direction.

The blaze also prompted the closure of San Canyon Road, from Jackson Ranch to the 241 toll road, according to OCFA.

Wind-Driven Bond Fire Explodes In Silverado Canyon Near Irvine, Thousands Evacuated

Bond fire rapidly jumps through Orange County canyons, forcing more evacuations

Silverado Canyon blaze sparked by house fire prompts mandatory evacs, scorches 7,200 acres

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