Norte Fire in Orange County 80% contained; lawsuit alleges SDG&E caused blaze

The Norte Fire, which burned 570 acres across San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, has reached 80% containment as of Monday, according to mynewsla.com. Firefighters continue to extinguish hot spots to prevent rekindling and protect nearby communities, with the Orange County Fire Authority noting some smoldering areas may persist for weeks or months.

The fire began around 11:30 a.m. on Friday near Portico Del Norte, driven by strong Santa Ana winds, as reported by multiple sources including mynewsla.com and hanfordsentinel.com. The blaze destroyed several homes, particularly in San Juan Capistrano, where seven homes were damaged or lost.

A lawsuit filed by Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian on behalf of a San Juan Capistrano resident alleges that San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) caused the fire due to an equipment failure. The complaint points to an outage reported by SDG&E at 11:31 a.m. on Circuit 197 in San Clemente, just two minutes before the fire was reported, with the ignition site located near the utility lines, as detailed by foxla.com and abc7.com.

SDG&E has stated it is cooperating with the Orange County Fire Authority and that the cause of the fire and outage remains under investigation. The utility also noted that smoke and ash from fires can cause electric outages and that there is currently no confirmed connection between its equipment and the fire's ignition.

Firefighting efforts include 583 personnel, 67 engines, 11 helicopters, and air tankers from across the state, according to Cal Fire and mynewsla.com. Drones equipped with infrared cameras are also being used to detect heat spots that could reignite the fire.