By Sydney Dalske
A vegetation fire near the small town of Aguanga in Southern California has spread across the Riverside county, stoked by Santa Ana winds, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
When the fire was first reported on Monday it was only 14 acres in size, but within 7 hours it had grown to more than 1,200 acres. By Tuesday morning, it was still 0% contained and had completely destroyed 3 structures.
The evacuation orders that began on Monday quickly expanded by this time, evacuated more than 1,100 homes in the area. This means that it had affected approximately 4,000 people. These evacuation orders are still active and officials continue to warn even more residents to prepare to leave.
But the challenge continues as wind speeds climb up to 35 mph around the area of the Highland fire. Firefighters struggle to contain it and fear further increase in fire size. This fire called for at least 310 firefighters at the scene Tuesday morning, according to Cal fire.
The cause of the fire is unknown and it is also unclear how it was able to grow at such a fast speed. But the dry air and strong winds are no help in slowing it. The Santa Ana winds that helped fuel this fire are nicknamed after the Southern California mountain range. These winds are compressed as they gush down the mountain sides and tend to dry out vegetation and risk the spread of wildfires.
But a good side this year is that California actually has had a below average level of acres burned, an approximate 315,000 acres burned compared to the normal 1.5 million. So hopefully this Highland fire that is one of the worst the state has this year can be contained soon.
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