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Warm temperatures, low humidity and withered brush fed a wildfire in the rugged Orange County hills that charred 155 acres Wednesday as crews hustled to stop the spread of the flames. In neighboring Riverside County, firefighters continued to battle the Bogart fire, which grew to more than 2 square miles. The Holy fire started in the early morning just east of Trabuco Canyon in the Cleveland National Forest, according to Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz. By late Wednesday, the blaze was 5% contained.

 

Work is well under way on new artificial turf playing fields at Leo Mullen Sports Park in Encinitas, and kids should be able to play on the new surface soon if all goes as planned. Part of the project’s $1 million price tag is being covered by a $171,248 water rebate from the Metropolitan Water District, and in order to receive that money, the city has to have the construction activity “substantially complete” by Sept. 6. “We actually think we’ll get the project done before that,” said city Public Works Director Glenn Pruim.

A drone whirred to life in a cloud of dust, then shot hundreds of feet skyward for a bird’s-eye view of a vast tomato field in California’s Central Valley, the nation’s most productive farming region. Equipped with a state-of-the-art thermal camera, the drone crisscrossed the field, scanning it for cool, soggy patches where a gopher may have chewed through the buried drip irrigation line and caused a leak. In the drought-prone West, where every drop of water counts, California farmers are in a constant search for ways to efficiently use the increasingly scarce resource.

A North Tustin senior housing project got derailed. Affordable housing for low-income residents in Orange was waylaid for several months. A water pipeline for south Orange County has been held up for four years. And a Santa Ana homeless shelter ended up going elsewhere. All four projects – serving the elderly, the poor, the homeless and the thirsty – ended up in court facing accusations they were potential environmental threats. The would-be environmentalists in these cases included neighboring businesses, neighborhood associations and a mining company serving the oil and gas industry.

Just a year ago, California drought conditions were at their worst. The Sierra snowpack was at a historic low, we experienced record-high temperatures, and our state encountered its first-ever mandatory conservation measures issued by Gov. Jerry Brown. Earlier this year, while rainfall and snowpack in Northern California helped to replenish state reservoirs, the much anticipated El Niño presented a disappointing outcome by bringing minimal drought relief to Southern California. Because we rely on importing water from hundreds of miles away for almost two-thirds of our water supply, our water supplies are vulnerable to water shortages that may occur elsewhere.