ORANGE COUNTY

Silverado Fire Breaks Out in Wealthy Southern California Suburb, Forcing 60,000 to Evacuate

Two firefighters sustained severe burns on at least half of their bodies as the blaze scorched over 4,000 acres with zero containment Monday afternoon.

A wildfire broke out Monday nearby Irvine, the affluent Orange County city, forcing 60,000 people to evacuate and severely injuring two firefighters by mid-afternoon. The Silverado Fire, named for its source in the Silverado Canyon area, started early Monday morning and had burned over 4,000 acres with zero containment by 3 p.m PT. Fanned by unusually high winds, the fire jumped Highway 241, a major freeway that served as a protective fire break, and forced several road closures. Twenty-thousand homes were evacuated and 500 firefighters were working on the scene, per Orange County Fire’s public information officer. A second Orange County fire named the Green Fire also broke out in nearby Yorba Linda, with CNN reporting that nearby UC Irvine was forced to suspend almost all on-campus operations due to hazardous smoke and ash in the air.

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