UPDATE: 5:40PM – All Bear Valley Unified School District classes will be cancelled at all school sites for tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1st, for the safety of students and staff.
UPDATE: 5:30PM – An Evacuation Order has been issued for Angelus Oaks. Seven Oaks and Barton Flat areas are already under an Evacuation Order.
UPDATE: 12:00 PM – An Evacuation Warning has been issued for the communities on the south portion of the Big Bear Valley including the communities of Big Bear Lake, Moonridge, Sugarloaf and South Erwin Lake.
Big Bear News – Big Bear, CA – UPDATE: 8:30am – The fire grew yesterday to 43,251 acres remaining at 80% contained. Highway 38 is closed in addition to Highway 330. Highway 18 is fully open. The Line Fire made a run up the Santa Ana river drainage on Sunday. The last few days of above normal temperatures have dried out both the vegetation and moisture from the air. Firefighters had expected some movement along the open line in this area however, fire behavior exceeded expectations. The dry vegetation, steep slopes and wind aligned yesterday to create conditions for the rapid fire spread yesterday.
Due to this rapid fire growth, Evacuation Orders were issued for the Barton Flats and Seven Oaks areas. Evacuation warnings are in place for Angelus Oaks and the southwestern side of Big Bear Lake from the dam to Wildrose Lane.
Although work continues in throughout the fire, the Santa Ana River drainage is the priority for today. Additional crews and equipment are focused in this area. Four night-flying helicopters are assigned to the incident and were actively dropping water in the drainage last night.
The San Bernardino National Forest is now in unified command with San Bernardino County Fire, CALFIRE San Bernardino and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Office. Additional crews, equipment and air resources have arrived and more will be coming today.
The closure orders for the Forest remain in place.
UPDATE: 7am: An Evacuation Warning was issued from Big Bear Dam to Wildrose Lane along the South Shore in Big Bear Lake early Sunday evening. Angelus Oaks was also issued an Evacuation Warning. A Warning is to alert residents that there is a possibility of an Evacuation Order to follow which is a mandatory order and to give those who need more time to prepare to leave.
An Evacuation Order was issued for Seven Oaks and Barton Flats area including all campgrounds and cabins in the area. The fire grew yesterday to 43,251 acres remaining at 80% contained. Highway 38 is closed in addition to Highway 330. Highway 18 is fully open.
The Line Fire burned actively in the Santa Ana river drainage and produced most of the smoke yesterday. Firefighters are directing the fire down to the Santa Ana river. Burning material is rolling downhill to the drainage and burning back upslope to the black area. Crews and aircraft are focused on this area.
The second area with active fire is the Bear and Siberia creek drainages. Crews have been able to put in line in a critical portion of this area. This area has been a challenge due to the extremely steep terrain. A heli-spot is being built which will allow firefighters to be inserted to build line and access the fire when possible.
