San Diego County fire prompts thousands of home evacuations
A rapidly-moving brush fire, agitated by dry conditions and high winds, led San Diego County in Southern California to order the evacuation of 5,000 homes on Tuesday.
The fire, located southwest of Rancho Bernardo, was sparked around 11:00 a.m. local time, according to NBC 7 news.
As of 4 p.m., the fire had burned 800 acres and caused thousands of families to leave or prepare their homes for later evacuation orders, though no homes have been burned yet, according to reports.
San Diego public safety officials said about 5,000 homes were evacuated at the height of the emergency.
#BernardoFire 5200 homes in the county and 300 in the City of San Diego. No structures lost.
— SDFD (@SDFD) May 14, 2014
County officials say there is about five percent containment of the blaze thus far, the Los Angeles Times reported.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer tweeted that he was "closely monitoring the fire situation from the city's Emergency Operations Center.”
