All Evacuations Lifted In Saddle Ridge Fire Areas
Around 100,000 people were evacuated at the height of the fire.
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Around 100,000 people were evacuated at the height of the fire.
The 2019 wildfire season had been relatively quiet in Southern California until a strong Santa Ana wind event hit the area Oct. 9 sparking a number of brush fires that grew as wind gusts increased and relative humidity decreased.
Cal Trans has announced that I-5, I-210, I-405, and the 118 and 14 freeways are open, as is the northbound 5 truck route.
A 350-acre wildfire that broke out shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday was now 75 percent contained with no homes or other structures threatened, fire authorities said.
Authorities are warning residents affected by recent area wildfires to beware of business owners seeking to take advantage of the emergency.
Authorities confirmed one person has died in the Sandalwood Fire, but would not say yet whether it was a man or a woman. Residents of the Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park, where several structures burned down, say they believe an 89-year-old woman who went missing during the evacuation has died.
More than 75 lost their homes. At least one woman lost her life.
The 4,700-acre Saddle Ridge Fire has forced mandatory evacuations, closed several freeways and sent thousands seeking shelter.
As the deadly and devastating Saddle Ridge Fire continued to burn in several communities, so did the question of what started the fire.
The slow traffic, Stacey Butler reported, had some drivers pulling off the road and deciding to nap.
It was a nightmare out there and drivers didn't mince words.
Fire officials say the Saddle Ridge Fire has grown to 4,700 acres as of daybreak Friday, after initially being reported as a 1-acre blaze at 9 p.m. Thursday. One man has died of a heart attack amid the wildfire, which damaged 25 homes.
He worked in front of the camera from 1967 through 2019 with no signs of slowing down.
The 4,700-acre Saddle Ridge Fire has forced the evacuation of more than 12,600 people Friday morning in the San Fernando Valley, shut down several major freeways and closed dozens of schools and universities.
Suspect, 47, was allegedly living in Houston under an assumed name.
