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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (KABC) — An expected lawsuit alleges the destructive Norte Fire that broke out in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano on Friday was caused by a San Diego Gas & Electric equipment failure.
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Bridgford Law, a firm that specializes in wildfire cases, filed a complaint on Monday on behalf of a San Juan Capistrano resident who had to evacuate.
According to the complaint, San Diego Gas & Electric reported an outage on its website at 11:31 a.m. on circuit 197, which is northwest of Eminencia Del Norte in San Clemente.
Two minutes later, the Orange County Fire Authority reported the start of the fire.
The utility’s equipment is within 100 to 200 feet of Cal Fire’s approximate ignition site, the complaint alleges.
Strong winds quickly pushed the fire toward San Juan Capistrano, where seven homes were damaged or destroyed. The fire eventually grew to 570 acres.
“This fire meets all of the hallmarks of a utility-caused fire, in our opinion,” said attorney Richard Bridgford. “Based upon what the experts are telling us and based upon the information that we have available, we think there is an extremely high probability that it was caused by the utility.”
In a statement, San Diego Gas & Electric confirmed the outage in San Clemente on Friday and said it is cooperating with OCFA. The utility noted that the cause of the outage remains under investigation. It said smoke and ash from fires can cause electric outages, and there is currently no basis to conclude that there is a connection between its facilities and the ignition.
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Crews continue to monitor for hot spots
Firefighters are continuing to monitor the Norte Fire in San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente after the blaze that destroyed several homes Friday reached 75% containment.
All evacuation orders have been lifted, and the two firefighters who were injured are recovering at home.
Although smoke is no longer visible in the area, fire crews are working around the clock to locate hot spots and prevent the blaze from reigniting.
The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) is using its robust drone program with 20 operators to search the charred hills above San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente. The drones are equipped with thermal imaging cameras that can detect hot spots and provide their exact locations to crews on the ground.
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“Just because you don’t see smoke in the air, our job is essentially about 25% done on the incident with regards to drone operation,” said Dan Dufrene, OCFA’s air operations program manager.
OCFA crews have been hard at work since the fire broke out shortly after 11:30 a.m. Friday.
“They can go out and find those hot spots that are buried sometimes in the ground — that can stay dormant for weeks — and they’re actually digging those areas up and confirming that they’re completely out,” Dufrene said.
The work continues as residents return to their neighborhoods.
“Our whole neighborhood came together and rallied,” San Juan Capistrano resident Scott Peterson said.
Peterson lives on Via La Mirada and was home with his daughter when the fire began moving quickly toward his neighborhood. The flames eventually reached his fence.
“I was on the phone with my wife, who was out of town, and we’re both looking at the cameras, and then our tree back here caught fire, and I just told her, ‘That… the house is gone,’” Peterson said.
He watched in real time as firefighters ran into his yard.
“We just saw one of the firefighters running through our backyard with a hose and put it out, and then there’s two firefighters, and they were just scrambling, and they were going back and forth all day, like, they did an incredible job for how fast this thing moved and saved our house, saved multiple neighbors’ houses,” Peterson said.
Peterson and his family are now paying it forward by delivering air scrubbers to neighbors. They remain displaced while awaiting air quality testing but are grateful they have a home to return to.
“To be able to still have our house here because of what they did is just incredibly grateful,” Peterson said.
OCFA asked residents to avoid flying personal drones in the area because they could interfere with firefighting operations.
The agency said it hopes to eventually upgrade its drone program so drones can deliver water and extinguish hot spots without assistance.
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