Cove trails closed

Crystal Cove State Park has closed nearly all of its land to the public because of airborne soot from regional wildfires, park officials said Tuesday.

The park, on the coast between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, closed its entire backcountry area early Monday morning, locking the gates to more than 2,000 acres of wilderness. The beach area remained open to the public, although peace officer Joel Yamasaki said turnout had been low for the past two days.

On Tuesday, the one entrance on Coast Highway that leads to the backcountry was locked, and Yamasaki said the trails had been posted with signs informing the public that the park was closed.

“We’re going to remain closed as long as the red-flag conditions are implemented,” he said. “It’s going to be evaluated, obviously, day by day.”

Lynn Fails, the park’s special events and film permit coordinator, said Crystal Cove would be hit financially by the closure because it would lose the business of regular customers who paid a $10 daily admission fee.

“We have a lot of people who are regular users, hikers, bikers and campers,” she said. “They count on us.”

According to the California State Parks website, 16 parks are closed throughout Southern California due to the wildfires. Crystal Cove is the only state park closed in Orange County, with the rest in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties.

Tuesday marked the third day of wildfires in Southern California. The Newport Beach and Costa Mesa fire departments deployed teams to join others in battling the Santiago Canyon fire. Both departments brought in reserve trucks and engines and staffed their stations with firefighters who had been scheduled to take the day off.

As residents fled their homes around San Diego, hotels around Newport-Mesa filled to capacity Monday and Tuesday.

Ernie Montalvo, assistant general manager of the Holiday Inn in Costa Mesa, said his staff had bought 500 cases of bottled water for evacuees who might have had soot in their lungs.

The hotel, which offered reduced room rates for evacuees, ran out of space Tuesday and provided a list at the front desk of other area hotels.

Air quality was a concern throughout the region. The County of Orange Health Care Agency urged residents to stay indoors as much as possible and drink plenty of water.

The Assn. of American Universities canceled a news conference scheduled Tuesday at the Balboa Bay Club, while UC Irvine postponed outdoor activities honoring its Student Center’s reopening.

The Orange County Fairgrounds, which served as a shelter for evacuated animals Monday, remained crowded Tuesday as more pet owners arrived. Doug Lofstrom, vice president of events and facilities at the Fairgrounds, said at last count the area held 124 horses and 30 small livestock animals.

While many residents throughout Newport-Mesa avoided the outdoors, some areas of the beach filled with surfers who took advantage of the tall waves created by the Santa Ana winds.

Newport Beach Lifeguard Captain Brent Jacobsen said the surfing scene died down around noon Tuesday when an ocean breeze halted the inland current.

About surfers who braved the soot in the air to catch a mammoth wave, he added, “You can’t stop them.”

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].