Firefighters from Santa Barbara and Montecito Fire departments watch as steam rises after a helicopter dropped water on a hot spot on the remnants of brush fire in Wood Canyon in the hills below Soka University in Aliso Viejo, CA on Sunday, June 3, 2018 . The Orange County Fire Authority estimates the fire burned 150 acres. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A helicopter from the Fresno County Fire Department makes a water drop of the remnants of brush fire in Wood Canyon in the hills below Soka University in Aliso Viejo, CA on Sunday, June 3, 2018 . The Orange County Fire Authority estimates the fire burned 150 acres. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Firefighters put out hot spots at a brush fire in Wood Canyon in the hills below Soka University in Aliso Viejo, CA on Sunday, June 3, 2018 . The Orange County Fire Authority estimates the fire burned 150 acres. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The burn area of a brush fire in Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park’s Wood Canyon is visible as a firefighters work to put out the remaining hot spots in Aliso Viejo, CA on Sunday, June 3, 2018 . The Orange County Fire Authority estimates the fire burned 150 acres. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Firefighters put out hot spots at a brush fire in Wood Canyon in the hills below Soka University in Aliso Viejo, CA on Sunday, June 3, 2018 . The Orange County Fire Authority estimates the fire burned 150 acres. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)



A brush fire that raced through Wood Canyon on Saturday and threatened hillside homes reached 40 percent containment on Sunday, June 3, and by early evening, all evacuation orders in Laguna Beach were lifted, officials said.

On Monday, classes will be canceled at Top of the World Elementary School as fire crews will still be staged in the area and many families and staff continue to be impacted by the fire and evacuations, officials said.

All evacuations were lifted at 6 p.m. In all, 1,500 residents had been evacuated on Saturday, said Jordan Villwock, the city’s emergency operations coordinator. By early afternoon Sunday, that number had shrunk to 300 homes and 600 residents.

The Orange County Fire Authority revised its acreage estimate to 150 acres.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. Investigators are on scene and OCFA is asking residents to call Crime Stoppers if they think they spotted suspicious activity around the time the fire started, Thanh Nguyen, fire captain of the incident management team said.

Aliso Fire: Helicopters have mapped the fire perimeter and have updated the fire acreage to 150 acres with 10% containment. Media can reach the #AlisoFire PIOs by calling 657-216-0406. — OCFA PIO (@OCFA_PIO) June 3, 2018

Retweeted Laguna Beach PD PIO (@LBPD_PIO_45): Here is the map of the Laguna Beach area still in evacuation protocol. Please remain patient as we continue to work to ensure your safety. That still is and remaining our #1 priority. pic.twitter.com/mUFdOz4Ras — OCFA PIO (@OCFA_PIO) June 3, 2018

Evacuations of more than 2,000 homes in Aliso Viejo were canceled Saturday night.

Wood Canyon is part of Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, which borders several Orange County cities.

Aerial fire crews on Sunday were monitoring flare-ups and hot spots. In all, more than 400 firefighters were in or around the canyon, officials said.

“Because a thick underbrush is currently smoldering in some areas, ground fire crews need to extinguish those areas from the ground and maintain access to the area,” Villwock, of the city of Laguna Beach, said in a statement.

Residents in the Top of the World neighborhood seemed calm on Sunday afternoon, though some still did not have access to their homes.

Barbara Brown, 66, was out walking her 7-year-old golden retriever, Nate, along Alta Laguna Sunday.

A 20-year resident in the hilltop community, Brown purchased a home that survived the massive 1993 Laguna Beach Fire. She wasn’t concerned about the Aliso Fire, thanks to the firefighters, but did say she has researched fire retardants to apply to her wooden eaves.

The fire doesn’t have her thinking about moving, but she does get a bit nervous when the winds kick in, she said.

“It’s a fabulous community,” she said. “I can walk out the front door and be right on a trail, or be right by the beach. It’s a great lifestyle, as long as we don’t burn down.”

Ritchie Wilson, 88, has lived in the community for more than 40 years, he said. He was evacuated on Saturday, but was allowed to return to his home Sunday morning.

He was also evacuated during the 1993 fire and said those events get residents to think about planning better in case another fire starts.

However, the thought is fleeting, he said.

“You get the idea and then you forget,” he said. “I love living up here. I was quite happy to get back home.”

Some Laguna Beach residents decided to ride it out overnight.

“We didn’t evacuate,” said Ken Sadler, who described his Top of the World neighborhood as “kinda like a ghost town” on Sunday morning.

“The fire was getting really very close,” he said. “We were in the backyard … and saw it heading over the last ridge.

“We headed to the front door and as we did, about half a dozen firefighters were coming into our front door and wanted to get into our backyard. At that point we decided to stay.”

Now, he said, “The firefighters pretty much assure us they got a handle on this … Helicopters are hitting hot spots out there but they believe they’ve got the upper hand.”

Crews made progress overnight, said OCFA Batallion Chief Mike Summers, as the erratic winds that drove the fire through Saturday afternoon and evening finally died down, and as a marine layer set in.

“It’s starting to burn off,” he said Sunday morning. “We used that through the night to our advantage.”