The Norte Fire grows to 570 acres with no containment, six homes damaged or destroyed and two firefighters injured, as 16,000 people stay under evacuation orders

The fire did not slow down when the sun went down, and neither did the orders to leave.

The Norte Fire, which broke out around midday on Friday near Portico Del Norte in San Clemente, reached 570 acres by Friday evening, the Orange County Fire Authority said, with zero percent containment, as of October 17. Six homes in San Juan Capistrano have been destroyed or damaged. Two firefighters suffered significant injuries and were stable in area hospitals, officials said on Friday night. Evacuation orders covered five zones across San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, about 4,600 homes and 16,000 people, and officials said the orders would remain in place through the night while crews worked to keep the fire inside its current footprint.

Deputy Incident Commander Battalion Chief Mike Yeun said crews stayed in place overnight, attacking hotspots and working to increase containment, with the safety of residents and firefighters the first objective and getting people home the second, once it is safe. Fire Chief TJ McGovern said progress had been made against the fire by Friday evening, but conditions remained volatile, and a spokesman said most of the fire had been knocked down while wind was still blowing hard on the ridge where homes were hit. Television footage on Friday afternoon showed houses burning in San Juan Capistrano.

The Norte Fire is one of several burning at once in Southern California, and Cal Fire listed ten active fires across the state on Friday night. In San Diego County the Henderson Fire had reached 2,079 acres and was 20 percent contained, and the Bryson Fire stood at 147 acres and 39 percent contained, threatening more than 7,200 structures, as of late Friday. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County lost power as utilities cut lines to reduce the chance of sparks in the wind.

The wind is still the deciding fact. Santa Ana gusts were reported between 35 and 55 miles an hour on the coast, with unseasonably high temperatures and low humidity expected to persist into Saturday night. The strongest winds were forecast to ease first near the coast, and until they do, the men and women on the Norte Fire are holding a line around neighbourhoods that have already lost six homes and are being told, patiently and repeatedly, not to go back yet.