The out-of-control Line Fire in the San Bernardino Mountains grew to 20,553 acres on Sunday evening with no containment — more than five times its size on the previous morning. Evacuation orders soared along with the number of people threatened by the blaze.
Residents watch the fire on Base Line and Aplin St. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
A hare crosses the street on Base Line in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Backfire seen from Base Line and Aplin St. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
A backfire made by fire crew to protect the houses is seen on Westwood Ln. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Residents watch the fire on Base Line and Aplin St. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Fire crew seen from Base Line and Aplin St. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Residents watch the fire on Base Line and Aplin St. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
A backfire seen from Base Line and Aplin St. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
A water helicopter is seen flying over Base Line in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Backfire seen from Base Line and Aplin St. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
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Residents watch the fire on Base Line and Aplin St. in Highland on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
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According to San Bernardino County spokesperson David Wert, by 4:24 p.m., an estimated 23,200 people were under evacuation orders. Another 94,000 were under evacuation warnings.
Cal Fire late Sunday estimated the total number of homes and structures at risk at 36,328.
“There are massive amounts of fuel in areas that are around and threatened by the fire,” Cal Fire spokesman Rick Carhart said Sunday afternoon. “The terrain is a real problem in some of the those areas. Some of those areas, it’s almost impossible to do a whole lot of preparation work because you couldn’t stand there if you wanted to, much less get in there.”
With steep, “treacherous” terrain with no access, “this fire definitely has the potential to continue to grow,” he said.
Carhart said he was unaware of any property damage tied to the fire. There were three firefighter injuries, but details were not available.
The fire that started Thursday largely burned in grass up to 2½ feet tall and chaparral up to 6 feet. It generated massive volumes of smoke.
The fire was so intense on Saturday that it created its own storm clouds. The National Weather Service recorded thousands of lightning strikes, including over 280 ground strikes.
Thunderstorms and lightning strikes had created “havoc” for firefighters, according to Carhart.
“They’ll get wind shifts that just happen in a matter of moments,” he said.
Sunday morning, the air was clear at Noble Creek Park in Beaumont, upwind of the Line Fire. The park was closed to the general public, having been converted to the base camp for firefighters battling the four-day-old Line Fire. The towering plume of smoke to the west darkened as the day went on.
Firefighters and first responders dug in for a long siege. Staff set up meal facilities and arranged for hotel accommodations for fellow fire firefighters, some of whom had come from as far away as Merced to battle the blaze.
West of the fire, at a temporary evacuation site in Immanuel Baptist Church in Highland, everything was sepia-toned on Sunday, sunlight filtering through a thick haze of wood smoke.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory. Inland Empire residents, along with parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties, were warned to stay inside if at all possible.
As as result, some school districts canceled classes on Monday.
Between 65 and 70 people evacuated from the Line Fire slept at Immanuel Baptist on Saturday night, according to Ricardo Tomboc, the Red Cross shelter supervisor. The shelter was feeding 35 to 40 more people, he said.
He slept the night at Immanuel Baptist. Technically.
“Well, it depends on how you define sleep,” he said. He got “about three hours.”
King said he normally doesn’t evacuate. But times are changing.
“We can get 300-foot flame lengths, just like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “One minute the fire is a couple miles away, next thing you know — boom — it’s on ya.”
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
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