Hundreds flee fast-moving fire in California
ORANGE, California (AP) -- Authorities evacuated at least 200 homes as a fast-moving brush fire scorched 300 acres of parched hillside Sunday and crept into backyards, Orange County fire officials said.
The fire, stoked by hot dry winds and fueled by dry chaparral, quickly doubled in size in an unincorporated part of Orange County and threatened homes here and in Anaheim Hills.
Police were going door to door to warn residents to evacuate, said Anaheim city spokesman John J. Nicoletti.
"There is a lot of fire personnel out there and they are doing the best they can, but the weather is not in their favor," said Lynnette Round, an Orange County Fire Authority spokeswoman.
At least one home in Anaheim's Hidden Canyon neighborhood was on fire and many others immediately threatened, Nicoletti said.
Authorities believed the blaze began with a vehicle fire, Round said. More than 200 firefighters were on the scene, but winds as high as 35 mph were complicating firefighting efforts, authorities said.
The area, like much of Southern California, is under a red flag alert, indicating a high fire danger. A prolonged drought has left the chaparral-covered hills highly combustible.
