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At least 24 homes have destroyed in Anaheim, Orange and Tustin and more have been damaged. Fire officials noted that numbers could change. About 5,000 structures are threatened. Firefighters managed to get the fire 5 percent contained as of 9 p.m. Monday.
California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Orange County on Monday afternoon, along with a number of other California counties facing fires, in addition to emergency declarations issued earlier in the day.
There has been one minor injury to a firefighter.
The fire, labeled the Canyon Fire 2, started near Coal Canyon and the 91 Freeway - near where the Canyon Fire started several weeks ago. That fire burned east toward Corona, while this fire is burning west toward Anaheim, Anaheim Fire's Daron Wyatt said - at a much higher rate due to high winds, burning in hours the number of acres that the first Canyon Fire took a week to burn.
The fire has been driven by winds with gusts up to 40 miles per hour. Strong daytime winds kept firefighters from directly attacking the fire from the air. As winds died down in the evening, helicopters equipped with night vision took off for nighttime water drops. "We're going keep the fight going all night long," said OCFA Captain Larry Kurtz. "There's not going to be a lot of sleep tonight." Low humidity also drove the fire's speed during the day. Humidity was expected to increase slightly overnight, slowing the fire's growth, officials hoped.
Comment: See also this report from a month ago: Anthrax kills at least 42 hippos in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania