Foothill Ranch Fire - Firefighters make stand against fire in Foothill Ranch

Flames are heading toward thousands of homes in the community in Lake Forest, in southern Orange County. Four firefighters injured.



The fast-moving Santiago fire crept down Borrego Canyon, a finger of untouched land that bisects the Foothill Ranch community in Lake Forest. Flames licked at the property lines of the hundreds of homes that line the canyon, as residents packed mementos and evacuated.

"We've been through this before," said Karen Royer as she loaded her car. "I believe in God, and I know everything will be good."

Minutes later, a plume of dark smoke billowed over a ridgeline.

"Can I revise that?" she asked. "Now I'm scared."

Stripped of air support because of dangerous winds, Orange County firefighters held their ground this afternoon against an arson blaze that devoured brush-covered hillsides and raced toward thousands of homes in two Lake Forest communities.

Forty-foot-tall flames and smoldering embers bore down on the Foothill Ranch neighborhood, and residents were evacuating as firefighters waged a front-line battle to contain the 15,000-acre fire near Santiago Canyon.

"We have two tough days ahead of us," said Mark Kramer, operations chief for the Orange County Fire Authority. "This is a tough fire in a wilderness area."

The Santiago Fire was deliberately set in three areas next to the 241 toll road about 6 p.m. Sunday, and it grew quickly, fueled by dense vegetation and fierce Santa Ana winds, fire investigators said.

Four firefighters suffered minor injuries, two outbuildings were damaged and one destroyed, but no homes have burned. The fire was 30% contained by Monday morning, but fire officials made little progress during the day.

Nearly 500 firefighters, 94 engines and trucks, two hand crews, two bulldozers, four water tenders and two water-dropping helicopters focused today on the fire's southeastern flank, which crested the last ridgeline separating the wilderness from Foothill Ranch, a community of 10,000 people, and also approached Portola Hills, a community of more than 6,000 people.

Residents on La Solita, La Perla, Pandale and Calle Cabrillo in Foothill Ranch were ordered to evacuate.

Dave Solo, 47, sent his wife and two daughters to a nearby shopping center and was sitting on his porch drinking a $300 bottle of Cabernet and smoking a cigar. He stores his wine collection in his garage and said today may be his last chance to enjoy it.

"There's a fire 30 feet behind my house, and I have oak trees. Things are insignificant as long as I have my family waiting for me," he said. "Life is too short to worry about property."

Then he got into his BMW sedan with cigar in mouth, and drove down the hill toward his family.

Several hundred residents gathered at a park in Portola Hills to watch the billowing black smoke. The atmosphere was a mix of curiosity and fear, with people phoning friends and relatives to make arrangements to leave, discussing what they should pack. But also people were riding their bikes, walking their dogs, snapping photos. Children were playing on swing sets and taking in the view. A nervous anticipation filled the air.

Marcy Cohen, 42, brought her three children to see the spectacle after packing up birth certificates, Social Security cards, loan documents and other paperwork at their home in the nearby Painted Trails community.

"I'm worried because of the fact that it's so windy," Cohen said.

Just outside Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, residents of the Montecito Condominiums at Portola Hills packed their belongings and prepared to evacuate voluntarily. Seeing news coverage of the firefighting efforts in Malibu, they questioned why there weren't more helicopters dousing the nearby flames.

"I just want more helicopters," said Lori Minchey, 47, who has lived in the complex for 15 years. "They need air support to stop this."

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, who toured the area, said the state has never seen so many fires occurring simultaneously. But he questioned why fixed-wing aircraft based in Riverside County were not deployed.