Canyon Fire rapidly grows to 2 500 acres, 500 homes evacuated, California

The Canyon Fire was reported on September 25, 2017 at 20:02 UTC (13:02 PDT) 8 km (5 miles) southwest of the city of Corona, Los Angeles County, California along highway 91 in Coal Canyon. Steep and rugged terrain, critically dry fuels and high heat enabled the rapid spread of fire which grew to 809 ha (2 000 acres) overnight. This is one of 26 active wildfires still burning in the United States.

As of early Wednesday (UTC), September 27, the fire is 15% contained, it burned over 1 011 ha (2500 acres). More than 900 personnel currently assigned and more expected to arrive.

Mandatory evacuations have been put into effect for Dominguez Ranch, approximately 500 homes. The evacuation center is located at Corona High School. 

Santa Ana conditions are expected to slowly weaken through Wednesday, September 27. Gusty northeast winds will continue during the morning hours, with southwest sea breezes arriving in the afternoon. Direct and indirect line construction continues around the perimeter. Control objectives are to keep the fire east of the Hwy 241, south of the 91, west of Green River and Foothill, and north of Eagle Truck Trail.

Orange County Type 3 Incident Management team has transitioned to CAL FIRE Team 6, a Type 1 Incident Management Team, as of 11:30 PST on Tuesday, September 26. The incident is now in Unified Command with OCFA, CAL FIRE, Anaheim Fire, Corona Fire, and USFS.

Estimated containment date is October 03, 2017.

Featured image: Canyon Fire, California on September 26, 2017. Credit: Greg Lee (via Twitter)