The Bike Fire that erupted in Santa Clarita on Sunday is now largely under control. The Los Angeles County Fire Department reported Sunday night that the blaze was 68 percent contained, with all mandatory evacuation orders and warnings downgraded to advisories. Evacuated residents have been allowed to return home.
The turnaround came fast. At its most aggressive Sunday afternoon, the brush fire exploded from about 5 acres to a reported peak of 275 acres in roughly two hours — later revised by aerial mapping to 172 acres (about 67 hectares). By Sunday evening containment stood at just 12 percent; by night it had climbed to 68 percent.
Mandatory evacuation orders had covered the Sandsouth, Sultus, Woodland, and Nadeu areas, with six more zones under warnings. Officials urged residents to keep monitoring official updates, since evacuation boundaries were changing quickly.
The response was massive: roughly 250 L.A. County fire personnel and about 75 U.S. Forest Service firefighters were assigned to the blaze. Two air tankers and two type 1 helicopters went up first, later joined by Super Scoopers and helitankers, while ground crews cut containment lines with chainsaws through the brush.
Residents credit the crews with saving homes. Dave Lyznick said flames came within feet of his property. "I wasn't sure I was going to have a house to come home to," he said. Bob Kellar, who lived through the Sand Fire that destroyed 18 homes and took one life, said: "I appreciate everyone coming out and doing their best."
Fire Capt. Aaron Katon blamed "erratic winds" — and the cruel irony of a tropical storm that rained everywhere but there. Remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel brought flooding and damaging surf to other parts of Southern California, but Santa Clarita sat in the rain shadow: the mountains caught the rain, and only dry wind reached the fire zone. As Lyznick put it: "What tropical storm? The only tropical storm I saw was on the applications on the phone. I didn't see any rain coming down."
The Bike Fire is not an isolated incident. It is the third wildfire near Santa Clarita in a week: the Bouquet Fire, reported October 3 near Bouquet Canyon Road, burned 1,048 acres and was 83 percent contained as of Sunday; the Danny Fire, reported October 8 about two miles south of Gorman, was held at 150 acres and 96 percent contained.
The cause of the Bike Fire remains under investigation. College of the Canyons served as the evacuation shelter, with animal shelters set up at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds in Lancaster and the Santa Clarita Valley Animal Care Center in Castaic. The immediate threat is passing — but the wildfire season's tally is still being written.