CORONA, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on wildfires in California (all times local):
3:45 p.m.
Fire crews are racing the wind at the site of a Southern California wildfire that’s sparked evacuation orders for some 300 homes.
The Orange County Fire Authority says about 1,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders because of the blaze, which erupted Monday south and east of Los Angeles.
Capt. Larry Kurtz says one home was damaged by the fire, which spans Corona, Anaheim and Chino Hills.
The blaze has charred about 2,000 acres of steep mountain country - about 3 square miles. Kurtz says planes and ground crews hope to make progress before late afternoon winds kick up - as they did a day earlier.
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3 p.m.
Firefighters say a grass fire that was threatening homes in the Oakland Hills is now 50 percent contained and has stopped advancing.
Air tankers and helicopters were quickly dispatched along with ground crews to the fire that was reported shortly after noon in the Oakland Hills neighborhood.
CalFire said in a tweet the fire was 50 percent contained, about two hours after crews arrived on the scene.
It said the fire had burned about 20 acres, or roughly a third of a square mile, but that “forward progress stopped.”
Earlier, officials had said that residents in homes closest to the fire were evacuated and about 50 structures were threatened.
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1:20 p.m.
Officials in Oakland say residents were being evacuated from an area near a fast-moving grass fire that was threatening at least 50 structures including several homes.
KNTV reports that the fire in the Oakland Hills neighborhood had grown quickly to about 20 acres in under an hour, or roughly a third of a square mile.
The Oakland Fire Department and Oakland Police Department issued a statement saying they were working together to evacuate residences in the area closest to the fire.
The statement did not say how many people were affected by the evacuation. It asked residents to avoid the area.
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6:30 a.m.
Water-dropping helicopters flew through the night to save homes from a wildfire that surged through suburban canyons in Southern California and forced evacuations.
Officials said early Tuesday that one structure had burned in the blaze spanning Corona, Anaheim and Chino Hills.
At least 500 homes remain under mandatory evacuation orders but authorities are hopeful some residents will be allowed to return later in the day.
The fire swiftly grew to more than 3 square miles after starting just after midday Monday in canyons about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. It was just 5 percent contained late in the evening.
Smoke drifted some 40 miles east to the ocean.
At the height of the blaze flames crept down hillsides to the shoulder of State Route 91.
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