3 large fires hand Southern California painful numbers

The numbers are painful.

Three Southern California wildfires had eaten up 117,546 acres by Friday afternoon, Sept. 20, damaging at least 53 structures and destroying another 242 — many of them homes.

Twenty-four firefighters and civilians had been injured.

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To Carina Hoey, it was “numbing” to think about the trio of blazes.

More than a week ago, she and her family evacuated their home in El Cariso Village, off of Ortega Highway in Riverside County.

“I was looking behind me at the Airport fire and then looking in front of me and seeing the fire (southeast of) Big Bear,” she recalled. “My heart breaks for all of us.”

Her home did not survive.

Evacuation orders continue to be lifted and hundreds are finally returning to their houses as firefighters push the blazes to containment. The devastation that has occurred in recent weeks might even be worse than those dark numbers above.

“We have preliminary numbers,” said Eric Sherwin, a San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman. “The damage assessment teams (are) systematically moving through the affected neighborhoods and getting a full accounting of all structures.”

He was talking about the Bridge fire, which erupted in the Angeles National Forest north of La Verne and Upland, and the Line fire east of San Bernardino and Highland in in the San Bernardino National Forest. He could have been talking about the Airport fire, too, which ravaged Holy Jim’s cabin community near Trabuco Canyon and spread east to El Cariso Village; officials on this blaze haven’t yet provided details on the destruction.

What now?

Orange County was among the municipalities trying to help. For several days through Saturday, Sept. 21, it established a pop-up help center at Saddleback Community College.

The Department of Motor Vehicles was there to help people replace driver’s licenses. The Clerk-Recorder’s Office could help replace birth and marriage certificates and paperwork of property transactions. OC Waste & Recycling provided suggestions on how to clear debris and rubble from burned homes. HOPE Animal Assisted-Crisis Response brought four-legged volunteers to provide comfort to victims.

The county offered a case manager to help victims get such tasks done after the temporary center shut down.

“Everybody has a different need, the reason why they’re here today,” said county spokeswoman Molly Nicholson, seated near the vendors. “Everybody’s got a unique story. …

“We’ve been working around the clock, all of our teams, to make sure people are OK. I would ask the general public for some patience.”

Fire Seasons

In recent years, experts have warned the public that “fire season” is a concept of the past. Now, year long, there is the threat of a massive fire rolling through wildlands.

Before Peter Curran became the wildfire-incident meteorologist for the Orange County Fire Authority, he was a captain in the department.

“We are seeing weather patterns because of global warming and because of these droughts that are really altering our fire reasons,” Curran said. “We’re seeing fire behavior that we only saw very frequently. Fires are burning hotter, fires are moving quicker.”

In the last two years, Southern California received more rainfall than normal, after several years of drought. The vegetation thrived but quickly dried during early summer’s heat.

Kindling — allowing fires to grow quickly.

The Line fire was started, officials say, by an arsonist who was arrested, while the Airport fire erupted after an Orange County public works crew’s heavy equipment tossed a spark into brush. The Bridge fire’s cause remained under investigation.

All three fires saw exponential growth early on, demonstrating the new pattern Curran is talking about. Sherwin described the Bridge fire’s growth as “almost unprecedented.” The Airport fire nearly doubled within several hours on its second day.

Curran also said that California is experiencing fire tornadoes, a whirlwind created by the fire that usually contains flames and ash and can throw out embers.

“We’ve realized that that phenomenon is actually happening almost annually,” Curran said of the the fire tornadoes. “The old guard, the people that have been in the fire service for 25 or 30 years, never saw that.”

Fire services throughout the West have implemented new technology to keep up with these changes, Curran said, such as satellite imagery and infrared thermal imaging. Meteorologists like Curran will continue educating veteran and rookie firefighters on changing weather and fire patterns, using data and knowledge acquired by the recent blazes.

Southern California’s 3 active fires

Sept. 5: Line fire starts near Highland in San Bernardino

Sept. 8: Line fire more than doubles in size; governor declares state of emergency

Sept. 8: Bridge fire begins in the Angeles National Forest

Sept. 9: Airport fire erupts in Trabuco Canyon

Sept. 10: Airport fire destroys 27 so cabins in Holy Jim Canyon and numerous houses in El Cariso Village near Lake Elsinore

Sept. 10: Battalion Chief Michael Martinez rescues woman walking barefoot near the Airport fire flames

Sept. 11: Bridge fire explodes into more than 50,000 acres, becoming largest active wildfire in state

Sept. 12: Crews gain first 5% containment of Airport fire overnight; Line fire exceeds 37,000 acres

Sept. 13: Officials say forward progress of the Airport fire is stopped

Sept. 15: Cooler weather and humidity helps crews battling all three fires

Sept. 16: Containment of Bridge fire jumps from 9% to 25%

Sept. 18: Line fire reaches 50% containment

Sept. 19: Airport fire is 42% contained

Sept. 20: Airport fire is 51% contained, Bridge fire is 49% contained, and Line fire is 53% contained