Firefighters make some progress on Tenaja Fire, mandatory evacuation orders lifted
Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted in Southern California's 2,000-acre Tenaja Fire as firefighters were able to get the fire to at least 20% contained, according to Cal Fire. At the fire's height, about 1,200 homes were threatened, with 570 of those under mandatory evacuation orders, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Conditions were smoky Friday morning, with the potential that unpredictable weather could again flare up the blaze. The fire is burning in steep terrain that is making it hard for crews to reach or to cut fire lines. Shifting winds Thursday afternoon pushed the fire down towards Murrieta neighborhoods, forcing more people to flee their homes.
Two homes were damaged, but none destroyed.
The Tenaja Fire broke out before 5 p.m. Wednesday, starting at 25 acres but quickly spreading with the help of gusty winds. "All of a sudden, it just started taking off!" one witness told CBS News.
Some 800 firefighters, facing 90 degree temperatures, attacked the fire with bulldozers on the ground and water-dropping helicopters from the air.
There hasn't been a fire in those canyons for more than 20 years, so there is a lot of fuel for the blaze, officials told CBS Los Angeles.
Just after 8 a.m. Friday, mandatory evacuation orders were downgraded to evacuation warnings for Montanya Place, Bonita Place, Belcara Place and Lone Oak Way in the city of Murrieta. The same was the case for the Copper Canyon South community south of Calle del Oso Oro between Clinton Keith Road and Murrieta Creek Drive at Calle del Oso Oro.
All residents along Trails Circle in the community of La Cresta were also allowed to return home.