LOS ANGELES — An unseasonable heat wave and gusty Santa Ana winds fueled a brush fire that forced thousands of people to flee an affluent Orange County coastal community on Thursday, stoking fears that dangerous blazes could become more common in dry winter months.
The Emerald fire broke out around 4 a.m. in the wilderness area between Laguna Beach and the community of Emerald Bay near Coast Highway. Thick clouds of smoke blanketed the entire beachside town as residents from Irvine Cove and Emerald Bay, two exclusive gated communities with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean, packed up their cars and fled in the dark.
Minutes earlier, dozens of Orange County sheriff’s deputies had raced to the neighborhoods to wake sleeping residents and urge them to leave. Deputies made announcements via loudspeaker from their patrol cars and knocked on doors as the ridge line above the neighborhoods glistened.
