Crews knock down most of the Norte Fire and evacuation orders shrink to about 12,200 people, but officials warn the wind is not done

The second day of the Norte Fire looked different from the first. The fire that ran through the hills between San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano on Friday, burning six homes and sending about 16,000 people out of their neighborhoods, stopped growing on Saturday. It held at 570 acres, and containment reached 5 percent as of Saturday morning, as of October 17.

By Saturday afternoon, evacuation orders in San Juan Capistrano covered about 12,200 people, according to Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Steve Concialdi, and officials were weighing when residents could go home. A majority of the fire has been knocked down, Concialdi said, while warning that homes are still impacted and the wind is still blowing. The work for the day was to keep the fire inside its current footprint, Chief TJ McGovern said. Six homes were destroyed or damaged, and two firefighters suffered significant injuries and were stable in area hospitals. The Santa Ana winds that drove the fire had eased to gusts of about 17 miles per hour on Saturday and were expected to diminish later in the weekend, though crews warned that embers on the wind could still start new fires.

The Norte Fire was one of three burning at once in Southern California. Near Malibu, the Bryson Fire had burned about 150 acres and was 52 percent contained, with more than 7,000 structures in areas under evacuation orders or warnings on Friday and no damage reported. At Camp Pendleton, the Henderson Fire had burned more than 3,000 acres and was 35 percent contained as of Saturday morning, according to Cal Fire, burning in a remote section of the base with no active threat to people or buildings. Utility companies shut off power to tens of thousands of customers during the wind event over fears that equipment could spark new fires.