BlueCut Fire closes I-15 and is imminent threat to structures, transportation and residents

The BlueCut Fire was first reported at 10:36 a.m. this morning and has quickly spread to more than 6.500 acres. It is growing so quickly the United States Forest Service cannot accurately define how many acres have been burned so far.

On their incident report the USFS said, “There is imminent threat to public safety, rail traffic and structures in the Cajon Pass, Lytle Creek, Wrightwood and surrounding areas.” They also said an unknown number of structures have been damaged or destroyed.

Currently there are 700 personnel fighting the fire, with “57 engines, 8 crews, 8 air tankers, 2 Very Large Air Tankers (VLATS),” and, “Additional firefighters and equipment on order.”

I-15 is closed in both directions (north and south) between I-215 on the south side of the fire and Ranchero on the north side of the fire, which is on the south side of Hesperia. In effect the Cajon Pass is closed.

The California Highway Patrol has suggested detours: “From the Valley to the High Desert: Interstate 10E to Highway 62N to Highway 247N to Highway 18W; From High Desert to the Valley: Highway 18E to highway 247S to Highway 62S to Interstate 10W.”

Mandatory Evacuations, verbatim from the incident report:

The entire community of Wrightwood
West of I-15, and West of Hwy 395 and west of Summit Valley
North of Bear Valley Rd. and East of Caughlin Road.
North of 138, east of Sheep Creek, south of Phelan Rd. and west of Caliente
Lone Pine Canyon
Swarthout Canyon
West Cajon Valley
Lytle Creek Canyon

EVACUATION CENTERS:
Jessie Turner Community Center
15556 Summit Avenue
Fontana, CA

Sultana High School
17311 Sultana St.
Hesperia, CA 92345

ANIMAL EVACUATION SHELTER:
Apple Valley Animal Shelter (small animals)
22131 Powhatan Road
Apple Valley, CA 92308

San Bernardino County Fairgrounds
14800 7th Street
Victorville, CA 92395

Devore Animal Shelter (small animals)
19777 Shelter Valley
San Bernardino, CA
(800)472-5609

Victorville Fair Grounds (large animals)
14800 7th Ave.
Victorville, CA

SCHOOLS:
Per San Bernardino City School District — Kimbark Elementary School students are being evacuated to Chavez Middle School located at 6650 North Magnolia Avenue, San Bernardino 92407 where they will remain for the rest of the day as a precaution.

Snowline Unified School District is evacuating students from Wrightwood Elementary School. Reunification with parents that cannot pick up their students by 3:00 p.m. will take place at Serrano High School located at 9292 Sheep Creek Road, Phelan CA 92370

Snowline Unified also reports cancellation of bus routes in Wrightwood and the West Cajon Valley. Students on those routes will also be taken to Serrano High School for reunification

Snowline USD Info Line: 760-868-5817/Snowline USD website: snowlineschools.com

And once again the unified command fighting the fire wants to remind people to leave their private drones at home.

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UPDATE: 7 p.m.: The BlueCut Fire has now spread to more than 9,000 acres and the unified command is reporting some firefighters have been “entrapped.” An estimated 34,500 homes and 82,640 people are being affected by the evacuation warnings.

Have your “Go Bags” ready if you’re in the area.

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UPDATE: 10:30 p.m.: The BlueCut Fire has now spread to 18,000 acres. The unified command has updated their incident report in bold:

There is imminent threat to public safety, rail traffic and structures in the Cajon Pass, Lytle Creek, Wrightwood, Oak Hills, and surrounding areas. Please follow the evacuation instructions, as this is a very quickly growing wildfire. An estimated 34,500 homes and 82,640 people are being affected by the evacuation warnings.

In other words: If you live in the area, be prepared to evacuate if you haven’t already. For those seeking alternate routes around the fire, “Oversize and over-length vehicles (buses, RVs, Semis) advised to NOT use SR18 or SR138 , or other mountain roads due to the amount of traffic utilizing these roads with the San Bernardino Mountains.”

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UPDATE: AUGUST 17, 9:30 A.M.: The BlueCut Fire has now grown to 30,000 acres and has zero containment. Over 1,300 people are fighting the fire right now and it is estimated 34,500 homes are threatened and more than 70,000 residents are affected.

The entire community of Wrightwood has been evacuated. In addition, there are more mandatory evacuations ordered:
Wrightwood from San Bernardino County Line to Jackson Lake
West of I-15, and West of Hwy 395 and west of Summit Valley
South of Bear Valley Rd. and East of Caughlin Road.
East of Sheep Creek, south of Phelan Rd. and west of Green Road, including the Desert Front Rd. area.
Lone Pine Canyon
Swarthout Canyon
West Cajon Valley
Lytle Creek Canyon

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UPDATE: AUGUST 17, 6:45 P.M.: The Blue Cut Fire has now spread to 25,626 acres. The down grade of acreage is due to, “more accurate mapping.”

They also report 1,584 people are on the scene fighting the fire. Also notable: the U.S. Forest Service, which has taken the lead in this fire, has not reported any containment whatsoever of the fire, which continues to grow.

They also report mandatory evacuations of Phelan and Piñon Hills south of Phelan Road, from Sheep Creek Road to Green Road, including Desert Front Road area.

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UPDATE: AUGUST 18, 9 a.m.: The USFS has some new information for people near the BlueCut fire:

ROAD OPENINGS
08/17/2016 – 10:15pm, the I-215/15 NB (North Bound) connector will re-open. Shortly there after, the I-15 NB will be fully open through the Cajon Pass.

• #4 lane remains closed between Cleghorn Road to SR138.
• All ramps remain closed at:
o Kenwood Avenue
o Cleghorn Road
o SR138, and
o Oak Hill Road

• Southbound I-15 remains CLOSED until further notice

The fire doesn’t seem to have spread since last night’s update, which was a correction. It is still listed as burning 25,626 acres, but they have not posted any containment of the fire as of yet.

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UPDATE: AUGUST 18, 10 p.m.: The BlueCut Fire is now at 35,969 acres and is 22 percent contained.

Some evacuations have been lifted:

Effective Thursday, August 18, at 6:00 p.m., the mandatory evacuation orders for residents in the areas west of I-15 to Baldy Mesa Road, south of Phelan Road to Whitehaven St. and Praire Trail, affected by the Blue Cut Fire will be lifted.

North and southbound Oak Hills offramps will be opening.

We appreciate all the people who evacuated in this area. The Blue Cut Fire is burning very aggressively and at one time posed a real danger to residents living in these areas.

We ask that residents returning to the evacuation zone exercise caution. Firefighters, engines, and heavy equipment continue to operate in the area. The San Bernardino County Sheriff will continue enhanced patrols through these areas with additional units.

The remaining mandatory evacuations will be lifted as soon as the danger to residents has been reduced.

Further information: Information Call Center (909) 383-5688 or http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4962

Also:

ROAD OPENINGS
08/18/2016 – 10:45am, I-15 North and Southbound is open through the Cajon Pass. Please exercise extreme caution as crews an equipment are still working along the road. Intermittent lane closures are possible as work progresses.

• #4 lane remains closed between Cleghorn Road to SR138.
• All ramps remain closed at:
o Kenwood Avenue
o Cleghorn Road
o SR138

Highway 138 has been closed from Interstate 15 to Highway 2
State Route 2 closed from LA County Line to the 138
Hwy 138 closed between County Line to Summit Valley Rd.
Old Cajon Blvd north of Devore Cutoff
Lytle Creek @ Glen Helen
Beekley Road from Phelan Road to the138
Hwy 138 to Lone Pine Canyon has been closed.

EVACUATION CENTERS:
Jessie Turner Community Center
15556 Summit Avenue
Fontana, CA

San Bernardino County Fairgrounds
14800 7th Street
Victorville, CA 92395

ANIMAL EVACUATION SHELTER:
Apple Valley Animal Shelter (small animals only)
22131 Powhatan Road
Apple Valley, CA 92308

San Bernardino County Fairgrounds (large animals)
14800 7th Street
Victorville, CA 92395

Devore Animal Shelter (large and small animals)
19777 Shelter Valley
San Bernardino, CA
(800)472-5609 or (909)386-9820

SCHOOL CLOSURES:
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Adelanto Elementary S.D.
Apple Valley U.S.D.
Barstow U.S.D.
Helendale S.D.
Kimbark Elementary School
Oro Grande S.D.
SBCUSD bus operations in the Devore area only
Silver Valley U.S.D.
Victor Elementary S.D.
Victor Valley Union H.S.D.

Closed for the rest of the Week
Hesperia U.S.D.
Snowline U.S.D.

And:

Fire will continue to move to the north, northwest and northeast towards Wrightwood, Victor Valley,Phelan, Baldy Mesa and South Hesperia. As the fire crosses the ridge to the west, it will back towards the community of Lytle Creek.

Approximately 34,500 structures remain threatened in the communities of rightwood, Oak Hills, Phelan, Lytle Creek, Baldy Mesa, West Cajon Valley, South Hesperia, and Summit Valley.

Structures are known to have been damaged or destroyed but cannot currently be assessed due to the extreme fire behavior and growth. A Damage Assessment Team (DAT) has been ordered to assist.

The USFS once again reminds everyone to keep their personal drones and other aircraft away from the fire areas.

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UPDATE: AUGUST 19, 11:30 A.M.: According to the latest incident report, the Blue Cut Fire has spread to 37,000 acres and is 26 percent contained. They also said 96 homes were destroyed so far.

There are 1,584 people fighting the fire. Refer to above updates for closure, evacuations and evacuation centers for more information.

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UPDATE: AUGUST 20, 10 a.m.: The I-15 is open in both directions. The Blue Cut Fire is now 68 percent contained.

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UPDATE, AUGIST 22, 6 p.m.

From the San Bernardino County Fire Department Facebook page:

On Aug. 16, exactly one day after firefighters reached 100% containment on the ‪#‎PilotFire‬, the Blue Cut Fire started in the Cajon Pass.

Now, less than a week since it started, the Blue Cut Fire no longer poses a threat to communities. As of Aug. 22, firefighters have contained 89% of the ‪#‎BlueCutFire‬ that has burned over 37,000 acres and destroyed 105 single-family residences. Crews continue to complete and reinforce existing containment lines while assisting with repopulation in the affected communities. All evacuations orders have been lifted. An estimated 34,500 structures were threatened by the fire, prompting the evacuation of over 82,000 people. 

Photos by San Bernardino County Fire Department, unless otherwise noted.