Fire strikes close to home
A concerningly large fire has hit close to the Santa Margarita over the past week. The fire, now being named the Jim Fire, occurred in Cleveland National Park, which is located in the large mountain range behind Santa Margarita, which is most clearly visible from the field. Jim fire started on Wednesday, March Second, at 11:30 in the morning.
The fire continued to burn for a few hours after 11:30, leading to over 500 acres of land being burned. Eventually, it was put out before encountering any housing districts or Santa Margarita. The fire was unable to move quickly due to low winds at the time. Firefighters put out the fire overnight on Thursday preventing the fire from spreading the following days as they had high speeds of wind
From the Santa Margarita Campus, a giant cloud of smoke emerged from behind the Trabuco Canyon Mountain Range. Students were confused and scared as they saw the smoke emerging from a seemingly close location. During lunch, around 100 students gathered in front of the vending machines to view the foreboding clouds that lie overhead. For hours, helicopters were seen flying back and forth over SM dropping buckets of water to put out the fire. Fortunately, the fire was still miles away but appeared closer. No sports practice or after school activities were cancelled due to the fire.
The fire Jim Fire was named after the Holy Jim Trail which is a trail that it burned down in Cleveland National Park. Jim fire has now been put out and was mainly contained in Orange County. Parts of the fire did slightly cross into Riverside County. In conclusion, the Jim Fire lasted for 2 days burning 500 acres of land, but has been put out without affecting any residential or commercial areas.
