Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Southern California fire nearly contained

|
|
 
  
A firefighter faces off one of more then 100 homes destroyed is engulfed in flames, after a wildfire burned through in the Montecito area of Santa Barbara County, California on November 14, 2008. A wind-driven brush fire in Southern California has gutted scores of luxury homes and injured 13 people in the seaside celebrity enclave of Montecito, officials said on Friday. (UPI Photo/Jim Ruymen) 
Published: Nov. 17, 2009 at 1:23 PM

RANCHO MISSION VIEJO, Calif., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Southern California have contained 75 percent of a brush fire that burned more than 250 acres in Rancho Mission Viejo, authorities said.

The fire was contained late Monday to Verdugo Canyon at least two miles from any homes and was expected to be fully contained Tuesday by bulldozers and firefighters working through the night, The Orange County Register reported Tuesday.

Helicopters and planes were assisting with water drops that slowed the fire's expansion.

Three firefighters suffered minor injuries while trying to contain the blaze in steep terrain amid heavy brush that had not burned in 40 years, said Capt. Greg McKeown of the Orange County Fire Authority.

A tractor clearing brush may have started the fire when it crashed into a power pole Monday, McKeown said.

Recommended Stories
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional U.S. News Stories
1 of 21
President Obama Signs Smuggling Prevention Act at White House
View Caption
fark
Man breaks into home, then vacuums and folds laundry (possibly with a menacing scowl on his face)...
It's starting to look as if the roles are now reversed - that Obama is Lucy with the football, and...
You're a female air traveler and there's no female TSA agent to screen you? No problem, there's...
Despite their efforts to convince you otherwise, many "foodies" can't, in a blind taste test, tell...
Photoshop this urban underground dweller
Kim Jong Un Dead. I repeat - Un Dead