Part of the Lampano family's Thanksgiving feast was spent on a sidewalk.
Residents of the Hunter's Creek were forced to evacuate their homes Thursday after a 50-acre brush fire reportedly sparked by a resident disposing of bonfire embers threatened about 30 homes.
"We're just starting [to eat]," Edgar Lampano said. "There's food here. We're trying to get everyone else to eat."
After about two hours, residents were allowed back in their homes, giving a little extra thanks this year that their homes and families were safe and sound.
Paul Moriarty's family was one of many forced to evacuate as the fire inched closer to their backyard.
"I said, 'You don't have time to do your hair, you don't have time for anything, grab the baby, grab the kids, let's get in the car, let's get out of here," Moriarty said.
"I definitely thought I was losing my house today," he said.
Desperate to protect their home, he said he grabbed his own hose with help from his son.
"I immediately got up on my roof and got my hose. My older son handed me the hose because the embers were coming that quickly," Moriarty said.
"It just caught fire real quick and everything went up, mostly because the wind just pushed it out here," resident Kelly Kipp said.
Orange County Fire Rescue said they got a call about the brush fire at about 1 p.m. Thursday. They said 25 to 30 mph winds pushed the flames south.
"This fire was being pushed by a pretty strong breeze, so it moved pretty quickly from even that first 911 call," said John Mulhall of Orange County Fire Rescue.
"We worked really hard to make sure that we got hose lines and nozzles in place behind the homes so the homes were protected. That was our first and foremost priority."
Firefighters said a resident admitted he sparked the fire accidentally while disposing of embers from a bonfire.
"Now that you know everybody's safe, you can go back to enjoying everything and make sure everybody's OK," Kipp said.
