Man arrested for arson after Southern California wildfires rage out of control and more evacuations ordered

Trabuco Canyon, Calif. (AP) — A man was arrested on arson charges Tuesday after three major California wildfires filled the skies east of Los Angeles with apocalyptic-looking plumes of smoke during an extreme heat wave, threatening tens of thousands of homes and other buildings.

Evacuation orders were expanded Tuesday evening as the fires spread, affecting parts of the popular ski resort town of Big Bear and the entire Wrightwood community of about 4,500 residents. Authorities urged people to leave their homes.

“There is no property worth risking your life for,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

In recent years, wildfires have occurred regularly in and around Wrightwood, a picturesque mountain village 60 miles east of Los Angeles known for its 1930s-era cabins. Authorities were frustrated in 2016 when only half of residents heeded requests to leave.

Janice Quick, president of the Wrightwood Chamber of Commerce, said a friend texted her that her house was in flames, while another friend watched through her Ring camera as embers rained down on her house.

Quick said she was eating lunch outside with friends late in the afternoon when suddenly pieces of embers the size of her thumbnail rained down on the table, making a clinking noise.

“I've never seen anything like this, and I've seen fires before,” said Quick, who has lived in Wrightwood for 45 years.

Meanwhile, in the San Bernardino National Forest, about 65,600 homes and buildings were threatened by the Line Fire, including those for which evacuations were ordered and those for which evacuations were recommended, nearly double the number from the previous day.

Residents along the southern shore of Big Bear Lake were told to leave the area Tuesday evening, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said. It is unclear how many people were affected in the area, which is a popular destination for anglers, bikers and hikers.

Justin Wayne Halstenberg, 34, was arrested Tuesday on three counts of arson in connection with the Line Fire, including setting fire to a structure or wooded area, according to sheriff's and jail records. Halstenberg is being held on $80,000 bail, the sheriff's office said. It is unclear if he has retained an attorney.

The fire charred more than 130 square kilometers of grassland and bushland and blanketed the area with a thick, dark cloud of smoke. Because of the acrid air, several districts in the area had to close their schools until the end of the week for safety reasons. Three firefighters have been injured since the fire was reported on Thursday, state fire officials said.

In Orange County, firefighters used bulldozers, helicopters and planes to control a fast-spreading blaze called the Airport Fire that broke out Monday and spread to about 3 square miles in just a few hours. The blaze was ignited by a spark from heavy equipment used by public workers, officials said.

By Tuesday evening, the fire had charred more than 30 square miles (75 square kilometers) and was moving uncontrollably over mountainous terrain into neighboring Riverside County, said Captain Steve Concialdi of the Orange County Fire Department. A few cell towers burned down on one peak, but authorities said they had not received any reports that the damage had affected police or fire department communication signals in the area.

Concialdi said the fire spread outside homes in Orange County, but there are 36 recreational cabins in the area. He said authorities do not yet know if the cabins were damaged or destroyed by the fire.

Two firefighters who suffered heat injuries and a resident who suffered smoke inhalation were treated at a hospital and released.

Sherri Fankhauser, her husband and daughter set up lawn chairs Tuesday and watched as helicopters dropped water on a burning hillside a few hundred yards from their home in Trabuco Canyon.

They did not evacuate, although an evacuation order had been in place for their street since Monday. A neighbor helped Fankhauser's 89-year-old mother-in-law evacuate, said Fankhauser. The flames died down last night, but flared up again in the morning.

“You can now see the fire coming over the ridge,” Fankhauser said Tuesday afternoon. “Now it's getting a little more scary.”

She said she trusted crews to get the situation under control and that firefighters would keep her updated.

In Northern California, a fire of less than a square mile burned on Sunday, destroying at least 30 homes and commercial buildings in Clearlake City, 177 kilometers north of San Francisco, authorities said. The so-called Boyles Fire, which was about 50 percent contained by Tuesday evening, forced about 4,000 people to evacuate.

Other large fires raged across the West, including in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, where about 20,000 people had to flee a blaze outside Reno. The uncontrolled Davis fire burned at least one home and threatened dozens more. It originated in Davis Creek Regional Park in the Washoe Valley and spread through dense forest and brush, fire officials said.

An emergency declaration for Washoe County issued Sunday by Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo said about 20,000 people had been evacuated from residential areas, businesses, parks and campgrounds.

More than 600 firefighters in the area held out Tuesday but were bracing for worsening weather conditions Wednesday that could bring dangerously high winds and dry conditions. The National Weather Service in Reno said it was the first time in five years and only the sixth time in history that it had designated the threat as a “particularly dangerous situation.”

All off-duty firefighters in the Reno area were ordered to return to work on Wednesday.

“I've never done that in the 12 years I've been chief,” Truckee Meadows Fire Chief Charles Moore said Tuesday.

CNN's Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.