Fires Threaten Yorba Linda

Yorba Linda, California - The fires started this morning, we are all aware of that now. But no one expected it to grow so exponentially, so very, very fast. By the time I was headed toward Yorba Linda on the 91 freeway around 12:30 pm Pacific time, I could see two distinct clouds of thick, black smoke billowing from two fires, as Brea began to burn, and Yorba Linda's blaze gained potency.

I work at the Big 5 Sporting Goods located on Yorba Linda Blvd and Village Center Dr., and actually veered off the 91 to take the 57 freeway up so that I could drop off my youngest daughter at the babysitter's. At about 1 pm as I exited the 57 northbound, the radio station announced that the 57 was closing at the Lambert and Tonner Canyon exits as a result of the speed of the fire burning through Brea. The black smoke grew heavier as I headed up the hill on Yorba Linda Blvd through the city of Placentia and into Yorba Linda. When I arrived at the store, visibility was extremely poor, with the winds whipping the Yorba fire smoke and the Brea smoke together, and swirling sheets of ash swept from the hill behind the shopping center.

With the exception of one family who ran in to buy Heelys of all things, there were no shoppers, and we were waiting for the okay from the supervisor to shut the store down and get out. We let some of our staff go who lived nearby. We got the okay soon after to shut down and we all left the store after we locked up the firearms to prevent looters from arming themselves. There is a hill behind the shopping center and to the east, and on the other side of it is the 91 freeway. The hill was on fire, and you could clearly see flames leaping up in blotches, up to the top of the freeway. This was at about 2:30 pm. Huge columns of flames could be seen roaring up and the glow reached into the black ashy clouds rolling down, as giant homes you could normally see perched on top of the hill from the freeway roared like they were gassed. Folks were evacuating in a pretty orderly fashion; traffic was thick down from Yorba Linda back into Placentia and Fullerton, but moving, and very little traffic was headed in the opposite direction.

At this time I'm some distance away in my apartment, and I have not heard if the store is still untouched. One of the part-time staff who lives near the store reported about 6:30 pm this evening that the flames were coming very close down the hill behind the store and that at that time, no fire fighters were visible in the area. Tomorrow, if Yorba Linda isn't closed, I'll be heading back up to check on the store and any of the staff we can get ahold of, depending on whether, or how contained the fire is. With the water issues they've been having, I don't think it will be open tomorrow. I do not expect the store to be there when I am finally able to check on it.