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Holy Fire Burn Area Evacuation Orders Downgraded As Storm Passes Through

LAKE ELSINORE (CBSLA) -- Mandatory evacuation orders for several Riverside County neighborhoods in the Holy Fire burn area were downgraded Thursday afternoon in and around Lake Elsinore and unincorporated Corona.

Just after 7 a.m. county officials upgraded voluntary evacuation orders to mandatory for the following areas: Amorose, Glen Ivy-B, Maitri (Quarry), Alberhill (Pacific Clay), Grace, McVicker-A, Glen Eden, Horsethief-A, Rice, Glen Ivy-A, Laguna-A and Withrow-A.

The orders were downgraded to warnings just after 4 p.m.

Riverside County Sheriff's deputies were going door-to-door notifying residents that they must leave before the heaviest rains moved in early afternoon.

"There's always that possibility, we can't have chaos, we can have a significant incident that can cause severe flooding," CAL Fire Capt. Fernando Herrera said. "And when your life is at risk, you have to take it seriously."

The same region was previously evacuated when storms dropped several inches of rain across the region last November, and then again in mid-January. County Public Works Services crews were out Thursday clearing piles of dirt left by the last storm.

A shelter was open for residents at Elsinore High School, located at 21800 Canyon Drive in Wildomar.

The 23,000-acre Holy Fire broke out in the Holy Jim Canyon area of Orange County on Aug. 6 and then marched east into Riverside County towards Lake Elsinore. It destroyed 18 homes in Orange and Riverside counties and forced thousands of people to flee.

Forrest Gordon Clark, 51, a resident of Holy Jim Canyon, has been arrested and charged with sparking the blaze.

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