Mandatory evacuation orders issued for Holy Fire burn area

Rob McMillan Image
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Mandatory evacuation orders issued for Holy Fire burn area
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued Wednesday for zones in Lake Elsinore's Holy Fire burn area amid a new Southern California storm.

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. (KABC) -- Mandatory evacuation orders were issued Wednesday for zones in Lake Elsinore's Holy Fire burn area amid a new Southern California storm.

The areas under the mandatory order include:

-Amorose

-Alberhill

-Glen Eden

-Glen Ivy A

-Glen Ivy B

-Grace

-Horsethief A

-Horsethief B

-Laguna A

-Maitri

-McVicker A

-Rice

-Withrow A

The following zones remain under a voluntary evacuation warning:

-Alvarado A

-Lakeside A

The mandatory order is impacting nearly 5,000 residents. An evacuation center is open at Elsinore High School, located at 21800 Canyon Drive in Wildomar.

Riverside County officials said at-risk areas are subject to debris flow with little to no warning.

Meantime, officials are worrying about an evacuation burnout, which is when people are simply tired of having to leave their homes yet again.

Preparations are hard on the pocketbook when you're responsible for 11 horses like Sue Engelhardt on Brookstone Lane.

"It's expensive to move everybody, each evacuation, because you have to get new hay, pay for the fuel... we have to go get hotel rooms and everything else, so it's $1,000 every evacuation, so it's not cheap," she said.

And some horses, because of their age, don't handle the evacuations well. Some even stop eating, Engelhardt said.

Some decide to stay up through the night with the animals if the animals are too stressed to leave.

Lake Elsinore resident Shannon Akins said she's packed up and ready to go, just like the last dozen or so times they've been told to leave.

"I'm a continuous go-bag. I have four or five bags by my front door, and I just live out of those bags," Akins said.

The rain is expected to continue through Wednesday night and Thursday, which will see the heaviest downpours out of the whole system. The Inland Empire is expected to be hit the hardest between noon and 2 p.m. on Thursday.

There are also voluntary evacuation orders for the Cranston Fire burn area in Idyllwild, something that hasn't happened since Oct. 1.

For more information, call (951) 940-6985. For help with animals, call (951) 358-7387.