Wildfire Near Santa Clarita Grows to 1,000 Acres, Forcing Evacuations

The Bouquet Fire in the Angeles National Forest went from 20 acres to 1,000 in about three and a half hours on Saturday.

A wildfire northeast of Santa Clarita grew to 1,000 acres by early Saturday evening, forcing evacuations in the Angeles National Forest canyons around it.

The Bouquet Fire started at 3:19 p.m. near Bouquet Canyon Road and Quarry Road, and it didn't wait long. Nine minutes later it covered 20 acres. At 3:31 p.m., Cal Fire's incident log flagged a threat to structures and power lines. By 3:59 p.m., crews were calling for more engines. The fire had hit 100 acres by then.

ABC7 reported the fire at 710 acres within a couple of hours, citing forest officials. It kept going. By 6:55 p.m., ABC7 reported, the Cal Fire incidents page had it at 1,000 acres. That's 50 times the size it was nine minutes after it started.

The Los Angeles Times reported 843 acres along the way, and KTLA carried the 1,000-acre figure.

Accounts of when it began don't line up. ABC7 and the Times put the start at about 3 p.m. The state's page lists 3:19.

Fox 11 reported an earlier first call, around 2:30 p.m. That call came from the 34800 block of Bouquet Canyon Road, with flames moving north through light to medium brush.

The difference between the two kinds of alerts is the difference between packing and driving. Cal Fire's page calls an evacuation order an immediate threat to life, says the area is closed to the public and puts the rest in capitals: "This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW." A warning means a potential threat, but the same page says anyone who needs extra time to get out, or who has pets or livestock, should go now anyway. The Globe's August guide, Warning, Order, Lifted: The Seven Words L.A. Uses to Tell You to Leave, covers the rest of the county's evacuation vocabulary.

By ABC7's evening update, orders covered three Los Angeles County zones:

• LAC-E018
• LAC-E030-B
• LAC-E031-A

Warnings covered eight more:

• LAC-E016
• LAC-E017
• LAC-E019
• LAC-E020
• LAC-E021
• LAC-E029
• LAC-E030-A
• LAC-E031-B

Bouquet Canyon Road was closed at Vasquez Canyon Road on Saturday evening, ABC7 reported, citing the California Highway Patrol's Newhall office. Fox 11 reported that incident commanders had also asked for the road to be shut at Spunky Canyon Road and Texas Canyon Road, and for law enforcement help moving people out.

It's a Forest Service fire, not a state one. Cal Fire's page names the Angeles National Forest as the agency in charge and, as of its 4:16 p.m. update, listed no incident management team. Fox 11 reported engines, hand crews and aircraft working the fire. The cause is under investigation.

The evacuation map kept changing all afternoon. The first alert in Cal Fire's log, at 3:52 p.m., was a warning for four zones. Nineteen minutes later, two of them had become orders and a third zone had joined them. By evening, 11 zones were on the list: three where people were told to leave now, and eight where they were told to be ready to go.

Source: abc7.com, retrieved October 4, 2026. Other sources: fire.ca.gov, foxla.com.

From the Handbook: Evacuation Warning vs. Order in L.A. County: All Seven Terms, Decoded