Santa Clarita residents were allowed to return home Sunday night after the Bike fire erupted in the early afternoon, threatening homes and forcing evacuations.
L.A. County and Angeles National Forest firefighters reached 68% containment on the 170-acre fire by 7 p.m., the county Fire Department wrote on X. An hour later, all evacuation orders and warnings were downgraded to advisories.
Around 1:20 p.m., smoke was visible in the rugged hills along the southeast side of the city, a Watch Duty user reported. About an hour after, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department ordered nearby residents to evacuate as the fire grew.
L.A. County set up an evacuation shelter at College of the Canyons and two animal shelters, one at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, for large animals, and another at the Santa Clarita Valley Animal Care Center, for small animals.
The U.S. Forest Service and the L.A. County Fire Department deployed aircraft, including two Super Scoopers, to fight the blaze, the Angeles National Forest said in a Facebook post. By 4:45 p.m., crews had gained the upper hand and began increasing containment.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel brought rain and gnarly ocean conditions to much of Southern California, damaging homes in Newport Beach and flooding the Coachella Valley. However, preliminary readings from the National Weather Service recorded no rain in Santa Clarita.
Fire weather, including Santa Ana winds, is forecast across the region starting Thursday.
