Carbon Canyon Wildfire Awareness Fair This Saturday!

The Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council, an organization dedicated to promoting prevention of and preparedness for fire, is holding its annual Wildfire Awareness Fair this Saturday, 5 May from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center in Brea.

The free event will feature vendors providing information on public safety, firewise and waterwise landscpaing, fire protection products (such as chemical foams used on structures), children's activities (including face painting and a native plant project), a live animal exhibit and more.

Sponsors, in addition to the Council, are the cities of Brea and Chino Hills, the environmental group Hills for Everyone, California State Parks, the Brea Fire Department, the Chino Valley Fire District, CalFire (the state fire agency), Myers and Sons Hi-Way Safety Company, and State Farm Insurance.

For those people living in the 3,000+ houses within the Carbon Canyon area and those outside, there is plenty to learn about and from at this important event.  While it has been 3 1/2 years since the major Freeway Complex fire that ravaged the Brea portion of the Canyon, the threat of fire is nearly always present and anyone who lives in proximity to areas that are prone to wildfires will benefit greatly from attending.

More information on the Council and its activities can be found here.

Carbon Canyon Fire North of Olinda Ranch

A view of the fire north of Carbon Canyon near Olinda Ranch taken from Sleepy Hollow at 4:45 p.m., 7 July.

At around 10:30 this morning, a grass fire broke out in the vicinity of Olinda Ranch in Brea and has caused a closure of Carbon Canyon Road (State Highway 142) at Valencia Avenue on the Orange County side and in Sleepy Hollow on the Chino Hills side. 

One report from the Orange County Register quoted someone in the area as saying the fire started along the highway and spread northward into the hills.  The paper also stated that, while firefighters initially thought they had the fire under control somewhat quickly, the blaze reignited and headed north and east toward Olinda Village. 

This view was taken from a ridge on the north side of Carbon Canyon Road looking northwest from the Orange/San Bernardino County line.  Courtesy of Jim Powderly, Chino Valley Fire District.

New Brea fire chief Wolfgang Knabe has been quoted as saying that there is a contingency to evacuate residents there, if needed, but that, in any case, he expected crews to be there through the night.  Fixed-wing aircraft, moreover, have been deployed to drop material on the fire.

Fortunately, while temperature are in the upper 90s, there is humidity and low winds, which aid in the effort to combat the flames.
As for the road closure, this means that, while residents of Sleepy Hollow east can access their homes, those living in Olinda Village, Hollydale Mobile Home Estates and, perhaps, Olinda Ranch or parts of it, will not be able to reach their houses at this point.

Here is a dramatic view of a fixed-wing aircraft dumping Foscheck, a fire-fighting chemical, on the blaze.  Courtesy of George Ullrich of Olinda Village.

Click here for a NBC-LA web article and here for an Orange County Register Web page.

We'll see if more news is available as the afternoon progresses.

Meantime, for info on the Orange County side, call: 714-990-7732.

UPDATE (7:30 P.M.):  The City of Chino Hills sent an update an hour ago that Carbon Canyon Road (State Highway 142) is expected to be closed overnight and that updates will be provided as early as 5:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.  Evidently, this applies to through traffic in both directions.  Travelers east have been stopped at Valencia Avenue, while those going west can go through as far as Olinda Village before being halted.

Another view of aircraft responding to the fire and within Chino Hills State Park, as pointed out by Hills for Everyone Executive Director Claire Schlotterbeck, who provided this photograph.

Meantime, the fire has evidently scorched over 400 acres, including portions of the rarely-visited sections of Chino Hills State Park that are north of Carbon Canyon Road, and had been moving northeast into Los Angeles County.  The blaze is said to be more than 75% contained.  Notably, the fire was said to have been under control late morning/early afternoon, but then jumped fire lines and leapt out of control after 2 p.m., at which time the acreage burned had only been about 25.  Eventually, 250 firefighters, three helicopters and two aircraft were on scene and responding.  By 7 p.m. the force was down to half the fire personnel and one helicopter.  Expected winds did not materialize, which certainly has helped the effort.  In fact, fire officials hope to contain (not necessarily fully extinguish) the fire by late tonight or early tomorrow morning.  Fortunately, no damage or injuries have been reported and there have been no evacuations.

Here is an updated Orange County Register article link.

Thanks to everyone who has shared information and photographs of this fire as the event has developed over the day. 

If anything, the aftermath of the disaster of November 2008 has led to improved communication and, hopefully, response to fires within the Canyon and highlights the importance of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan and Carbon Creek Egress Corridor Fuel Reduction Project [a.k.a., the cleanup of Carbon Creek of overgrown and fire-prone plant materials that also are diverting the creek and threatening the stability of Carbon Canyon Road]. 

Both of these projects have been developed by the Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council, which had its monthly meeting last night to discuss the status of these ongoing efforts to improve fire safety in Carbon Canyon.