‘You couldn’t see anything’: Silverado, Blue Ridge fires scorch over 26,000 acres

Many Chapman University students evacuated their homes Oct. 26, as fires and poor air quality threaten neighborhoods in Irvine and Yorba Linda. Photos by JASMIN SANI, The Panther Editor-in-Chief

When she looked back at it, Hilary Lee thought it wasn’t the best decision to pack only one pair of clothes.

Lee, a junior strategic and corporate communication major at Chapman University, was in a virtual meeting for her remote internship the morning of Oct. 25 when her nose caught a waft of smoke. Her brother had probably just burned some food, Lee thought. It wasn’t until 9 a.m., when her phone lit up with an emergency alert from the Irvine Police Department, that she realized her family would need to evacuate.

The Silverado Fire, which has scorched over 11,200 acres as of Oct. 27, erupted in Silverado Canyon at 6:47 a.m., causing over 90,000 Irvine residents to flee. Lee and her family, who live near the intersection of Portola Parkway and Sand Canyon Road, packed up some essentials in a 45-minute daze: laptop, toiletries, a few textbooks and one set of clothes for Lee. They were ready to leave. Then the gravity of the situation hit them.

“There was this orange light reflecting off the houses that were near me,” Lee said. “I remember seeing all that smoke and breathing it all in and that’s when I knew that it was going to be bad.”

Planes dropped fire retardant on the Silverado (above) and Blue Ridge fires Oct. 26.

Approximately seven hours later, another fire – dubbed the Blue Ridge Fire – broke out in Yorba Linda near Kodiak Mountain Drive. The two fires are separated by a stretch of 10 miles and upward of 15,200 acres have been lost in the Blue Ridge Fire, as of Oct. 27. The fire is reportedly pushing north, away from Anaheim and toward the Chino Hills State Park. 

Chapman University sent out a community-wide email alert at 10:26 a.m. Oct. 26, stating that while its Rinker Health Sciences Campus was not in the evacuation zone for the Silverado Fire, those on campus are authorized to leave. Public Safety Sergeant Al Cabrera told The Panther that although the Silverado Fire is 0% contained, there is too much infrastructure the fire would have to jump to reach the Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine.

But as the fire grew in size and evacuations progressed, Chapman announced at 7:02 p.m. it would postpone all in-person instruction at Rinker and restrict access to critical staff. Sarah Shattuck, a senior health sciences major, described struggling to breathe inside her Irvine house at the Great Park Neighborhoods.

“I honestly was expecting (having to evacuate), because I was in my room and it just got really orange really fast,” Shattuck said. “I looked out the window and you couldn’t see anything … it was so smokey.”

Shattuck brought two suitcases with her and evacuated to Orange to live with her college peers for the time being. On Chapman’s main campus, the high-level winds caused an electricity line outside of Bertea Hall to snap around 1 p.m. Orange Police Department Officer Jeff Gray told The Panther the wires caught a now-extinguished tree branch on fire, which prompted the closure of East Palm Avenue between North Orange Street and North Grand Street. Officers were stationed there for at least four hours, awaiting the arrival of electricity provider Southern California Edison to remove the loose electricity line.

A strong campfire scent and flaky particles of gray and black ash hung in the Irvine and Yorba Linda cities throughout the day, carried by strong gusts. Orange County officials released a Red Flag Warning for Orange County mountain and intermediate zones Oct. 25, as a result of Santa Ana winds mixing with the dry brush and low humidity. At midday Oct. 26, the air quality in Orange, Anaheim and Irvine stood in the “Hazardous” category before easing to a “Moderate” rating later in the night.