Wildfire — San Bernardino County Mountains, California

2020-09-05 to 2020-09-30 · San Bernardino County Mountains, California

Event narrative

The El Dorado wildfire started at approximately 10:40 AM on September 5th, scorching 22,680 acres over a 23 day period into parts of the San Bernardino and Riverside County Mountains. The fire forced road closures (including State Highway 38) and the evacuations of Oak Glen, north Yucaipa, Mountain Home Village, Forest Falls, and Angelus Oaks communities. There were 4 residences damaged, 5 residences destroyed along with 15 other structures destroyed. 13 firefighters were injured as well as one fatality while fighting the flames. The fire is expected to be fully contained by mid-December. CalTrans started repairing the road and surrounding areas in early October and expects the project to be completed by late Spring 2021.

Wider weather episode

A very strong upper level high pressure became positioned over California along with an offshore flow in Southern California resulting in record very hot temperatures. September 5th and 6th were the hottest and several all-time highs were broken. The Valley and the El Dorado wildfires also started on Saturday September 5th, which scorched parts of the mountains.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 920774. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.