A 17-year-old girl said she was kicked out of her prom because some of the dads chaperoning the event for home-schooled teens thought her dancing would give the boys "impure thoughts."

Claire Ettinger of Richmond, Virginia, described the ordeal in a post that was published on her sister's blog on Monday.

"The whole situation made me feel violated, walked over and ostracized," Ettinger said in the post.

The night was off to a rough start on Sunday when a prom organizer purportedly criticized her for showing up in a dress that she argued was too short for the prom. Ettinger said in the blog post that her fitted, sparkly dress met her school's "fingertip length" dress code requirement. Still, the event organizer, described as Mrs. D, warned her to "make sure it stays pulled down."

• Rihanna Donates $25K to LAPD After Selfie Fail During Clippers Game

Ettinger said she was amused to find that girls in the ballroom wore dresses much shorter than hers, but because they were shorter than her, their dresses weren't as controversial.

"I have long legs, everything looks short on me," she said she told the organizer.

Mrs. D later plucked Ettinger from the dance floor because "some of the dads who were chaperoning had complained that my dancing was too provocative," she said.

Ettinger's date and the group of friends she arrived with decided to leave with her. She was given a full refund for the prom, but she called out the event organizers for not delivering on a promise to refund her friends' tickets when they decided to leave with her.

The Facebook page for Richmond Homeschool Prom was reportedly shut down after it was inundated with negative comments about the the incident.

Ettinger's family and boyfriend corroborated her story when they spoke to NBC affiliate WWBT. The family said Claire will not be speaking on camera because she is a minor. Her sister Hannah spoke to WWBT and vouched for the teen's story.

"My mom said that it was a hot little thing, but it was definitely within the guidelines," Hannah Ettinger said.

Phone calls to the organizers of the Richmond Homeschool Prom were not returned at the time of publication.

A big rig fire shut down a major route between San Diego and Los Angeles Wednesday.

The California Highway Patrol has closed all lanes of Interstate 5 at the checkpoint due to a SigAlert.

Officers said the fire jumped from the highway to the west side of the interstate.

Watch Live: NBC 7 Chopper is in the North County covering the fire on I-5 and another fire burning near Camp Pendleton.

Check back for updates on this developing story. 

Fire crews on the way to help fight the Bernardo Fire were dispatched to two small fires north of Escondido.

Officials said two small fires broke out along Champagne Boulevard, along an embankment east of Interstate 15 around 7 a.m.

The crews jumped on the fire and kept it from spreading further than 100 feet in each direction.

Firefighters told NBC 7 it was one of those things that had the potential to be a lot worse because of the fuel in the area.

The New York Times' executive editor Jill Abramson is leaving the paper and will be replaced by its managing editor Dean Baquet, the Times said Wednesday.

Abramson, 60, had held her position since 2011 and was the first woman ever to hold the top editorial job in the paper's history. Baquet will become the paper's first black executive editor.

The Times' publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. informed senior editors Wednesday afternoon and the full newsroom soon after, around 2:30 p.m. ET.

The Times reported that the reasons for the switch weren't immediately clear. Politico's Dylan Byers reported that Sulzberger told staff that Abramson's exit had to do with "an issue with management in the newsroom."

Check back for updates.

San Diego County residents looking for updates on a brush fire threatening thousands of homes got a not-so-serious message on the Bernardo blaze's latest status when they turned to the county's website and app for information.

Apparently, the location of the fire as of Tuesday was “in your pants.” At least, that’s according to the notes under the site’s emergency notification map.

San Diego Communications Director Mike Workman said he learned about the problem a short time after it was made public.

He explained that two people were assigned to create a map to use the county’s geographic information system (GIS) once they realized the fire would be a significant emergency.

As they entered coordinates and neighborhood names into the system, an unknown person entered the words “fire in your pants” in the notes field. It was supposed to say “Bernardo Fire.”

Officials soon published a new version over it, so they never had to take the whole map down to fix the issue. They also closed a “portal” into the system that the culprit used to gain entry.

• READ: Bernardo Fire Burns 800 Acres, Prompts Evacuations

Workman said that because officials were dealing with a public emergency, they have not had time to backtrack and identify the user who entered the “offending words.”

When the time is appropriate, Workman said the county will investigate.

However, he was reluctant to say the system was hacked. The GIS system is reportedly not available to the general public, but they do provide a link to people who need to use the system for land use, general plan maps, tracking runoff and more.

Workman thinks steps will soon be taken to prevent something like this from happening again.

Even with the quick fix, a number of Twitter users picked up on the mistake, taking screen shots of the evacuation information and poking fun at it.

@SanDiegoCounty I just checked, and the fire is not in my pants. perhaps it's outside somewhere? #SanDiegoFire pic.twitter.com/pKQYCZr6er

— Project VALIS (@ProjectValis) May 13, 2014

Fires in San Diego! But SDEmergency app says its in my pants?!?!? @ReadySanDiego #fail pic.twitter.com/nVE5Ch9j2f

— Ken Brucker (@sei_ryu) May 13, 2014

As some of the online commenters suggested, Leaving "your pants"  is a hard evacuation order to give.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer declared a local State of Emergency after a brush fire tore through the North County Tuesday.

The declaration will enable the area to receive federal reimbursements for the firefighting efforts, Faulconer said at a news conference Tuesday night.

As of 7 p.m., the Bernardo Fire had burned 800 acres and was 5 percent surrounded, according to fire officials. See map of fire area

However, they said the worst is behind them.

“We believe we have a pretty good handle on it,” San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Javier Mainar said.

• WATCH: Chopper Flyby in Live TV Interview

Over 150 firefighters, 100 San Diego police officers and 130 sheriff’s deputies joined forces to protect North County residents from the Bernardo Fire, which started around 11 a.m. in 4S Ranch.

San Diego County mountains and valleys are under a red flag warning through Wednesday night amid hot, dry and windy conditions.

• Get Severe Weather Alerts Here

“Incredibly wind driven fire like this and we have no structure loss that I’m aware of. We certainly have no loss of life that I’m aware of or injuries that I’m aware of,” Mainar said. “It really is a successful day when you can walk away from something like that in a Santa Ana condition.”

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department issued 5,000 evacuation orders via the AlertSanDiego system. Another 2,400 homes were told to be on alert. Officials did not have a concrete number of how many people were evacuated.

Residents in parts of Rancho Peñasquitos, Torrey Highlands, Santaluz, Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Santa Fe were evacuated. Around 8:15 p.m., the county’s 211 emergency service tweeted that all evacuations had been lifted.

All evacuation orders have been lifted; all road closures have been lifted. Thanks @SanDiegoPD for the info! #BernardoFire

— 2-1-1 San Diego (@211SD) May 14, 2014

• READ: County App Listed Fire as "In Your Pants"

At Wednesday’s news conference, Cal Fire Division Chief Kevin Lawson responded to criticism about confusion regarding evacuations early on.

“Sometimes the reflex time is not as quickly as folks would like it,” Lawson said.

“By the time it was executed, I didn’t have any concerns with it,” he said.

“We’ve come a long way indeed since the wildfires of 2003,” Mainar added.

As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, the fire line was at San Dieguito Road and Via De Sante Fe, according to Rancho Sante Fe Fire Chief Tony Michel.

Yet another brush fire sparked in San Diego’s North County Wednesday amid hot, dry conditions – one of multiple fires burning in the county.

This blaze – in the Bonsall and Fallbrook area – burned at Interstate 15 and State Route 76, near Old Highway 395 and Dulin Road. As of 3:30 p.m., the so-called "Highway Fire" had scorched approximately 600 acres, according to county officials.

At a media briefing Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Bill Gore said deputies had issued approximately 300 evacuation notices to residents in the Bonsall and Fallbrook area. Fallbrook High School, located at 2400 South Stagecoach Lane, has been established as an evacuation center.

At 4:10 p.m., county officials said reverse 911 calls had been placed to nearly 600 residents in the area as part of the evacuation order. Residents were directed to the Pala Mesa Golf Course at 2001 S. Old Highway 395. The safest route to get there is Pankey Road and SR-76 to north I-15 to Mission Road, then south on Old Highway 395 to Pala Mesa Golf Course, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

In the midst of Wednesday’s wildfires, the County of San Diego proclaimed a local emergency. The proclamation, signed at 1:25 p.m., requests that the California Governor proclaim a state of emergency in the County.

• Read: Poinsettia Fire Burns Homes in Carlsbad

By proclaiming the emergency, the County can more easily access state and federal resources as needed to help in fighting the fires. The proclamation states that more than 20 structures, including homes, have been destroyed.

As for the Highway Fire, officials said it was burning in medium fuel and was moving rapidly. It's burning near homes, so some structures are threatened, but no homes have been damaged.

The first evacuations in the area began around 12:50 p.m. with mandatory evacuations for Sullivan Middle School and Rawhide Ranch. Bonsall Elementary School was under precautionary evacuation as well, due to its proximity to the blaze.

County officials said residents who live off West Lilac Road, west of the I-15 are also threatened by this blaze. They were advised to evacuate immediately.

County of San Diego officials said the San Diego County Sheriff's Department made reverse 911 phone calls to residents around 1:20 p.m. telling them to evacuate to the Park and Ride at Highway 76 and Old Highway 395.

Richard Cordova of Cal Fire said that in addition to a full response from local fire crews, crews from Central California are mobilizing to help battle this Bonsall blaze. These resources include five engines, two air tankers and two helicopters.

• Read: Camp Pendleton Fire Prompts Base Evacuations

Cordova said that no resources from the Bernardo Fire are being pulled to fight the Bonsall Fire at this time. That could change as conditions shift, however.

The owners of Rawhide Ranch at 6987 West Lilac Road are in the process of trying to evacuate dozens of animals, and are asking for the public's help. Anyone with livestock trailers is urged to contact the ranch at (760) 445-5000.

Meanwhile, Wednesdays wildfires caused officials to close portions of several San Diego highways. This included SR-76 in both directions between South Mission Road and Old Highway 395 due to the Bonsall Fire.

The northbound off-ramp from I-5 to Palomar Airport Road is also shut down due to the Poinsettia Fire in Carlsbad. Motorists are advised to avoid the aforementioned areas and expect lengthy delays.

San Diego is currently under a fire weather warning, according to the National Weather Service.

Click here for a map of the wildfires burning in the county, which include the Poinsettia Fire in Carlsbad, the Tomahawk Fire in Camp Pendleton, a fire in Oceanside, a fire in Escondido and the Bernardo Fire, which sparked Tuesday.

Stay with NBC 7 for updates on the Highway Fire, as well as the other fires burning in the county.

A fifth blaze broke out in San Diego on Wednesday afternoon, along Bear Valley Parkway in Escondido.

Here is the current list of areas that have been told to evacuate due to brush fires.

In the Highway Fire, Fallbrook-Bonsall area:
Mandatory:
Sullivan Middle School, 7350 W Lilac Road
Rawhide Ranch, 6987 Lilac Road

Precautionary:
Bonsall Elementary, 31555 Old River Road.

AlertSanDiego was used to notify about 598 contacts, including homes, businesses and cell phones, of the evacuation order. Residents were directed to the Pala Mesa Golf Course at 2001 S. Old Highway 395.

In the Tomahawk Fire near Camp Pendleton:
Mandatory:
DeLuz Housing
Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary (also closed Thursday)
O'Neill Heights Housing
DeLuz Child Development Center

In the Poinsettia Fire in Carlsbad:
Mandatory:
Poinsettia Elementary to Carillo Elementary, 2875 Poinsettia Lane)
Aviara Oaks Elementary to Brighten Gardens Senior Center, 2588 El Camino Real
Park Hyatt Aviara
Callaway Golf
LEGOLAND (due to power outages)

Sheltering in Place
Pacific Rim Elementary, 1100 Camino de las Ondas

The evacuation center is now Sears at the mall, not Carlsbad HS 

The City of Carlsbad's Dove Library, Aviara Community Park and Alga Norte Community Park are closed.

In the Escondido Fire:
ALL OCCUPANTS ARE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES

In the Oceanside Fire:

Del Rio Elementary began voluntary evacuation around 1:15 p.m.

Residences on Andrew Jackson St. and surrounding streets

In the San Marcos Fire:

Mandatory:

Cal State San Marcos

 Four major fires burning across San Diego County have closed roads and freeways ahead of the blazes. 

In Highway Fire near Bonsall: 

• Interstate 15 is closed in both directions at State Route 76
• State Route 75 is closed in both directions between S. Mission Rd. and Old Highway 395
• Off-ramps from State Route 76 to northbound and southbound Old Highway 395 are closed

 In Poinsettia Fire:

• Both off-ramps from Interstate 5 are closed to Palomar Airport Road
• Both off-ramps from Interstate 5 are closed at Basilone Road

In Oceanside Fire:

• Andrew Jackson St. and surrounding roads are being evacuated and closed

North County Transit District says the 303,313 and 315 San Luis Rey  bus routes are closed due to the various fires.

Interstate 5 has been reopened in the Camp Pendleton fire. 

More than 8,000 customers are without electricity after several fires and dangerous wind conditions forced San Diego Gas & Electric to turn off power.

In Carlsbad, 2,836 customers lost power amid mandatory evacuations for thousands of residents in the area as a fire destroyed at least three homes and damaged more than a dozen others.

Nearly a thousand customers are without power in Camp Pendleton and Fallbrook after two fires, one in Camp Pendleton and another in Fallbrook, threatened homes.

According to SDG&E, 1,215 customers are without power in the Ramona area, while in Alpine, power was shut off for 250 customers for safety purposes.

Legoland also saw its power shut off, prompting officials to evacuate the park.

SDG&E said customers whose power was shut off were notified in advance via phone.

Because of the fires' impact on what they are calling "major transmission infrastructures," utility officials urged customers to reduce power usage immediately, asking county residents to turn off all appliances and lights that are not being used, as well as turning up thermostats to reduce power consumption.

The estimated time for power to be restored in these areas is either not known or estimated to be as early as 10 p.m.

For the latest information on where outages are occurring, visit SDG&E’s outage map. 

 A new fire has sparked in the North County -- this time in San Marcos, prompting the evacuation of California State University, San Marcos and surrounding neighborhoods. 

Escondido Fire officials say an active vegetiation fire is burning in Coronado Hills, near State Route 78 and Twin Oaks Valley Road. It started around 3:20 p.m. 

The flames spread down the hillside behind the CSUSM campus. Everyone on campus has been evacuated. 

• READ: Poinsettia Fire Destroys Homes in Carlsbad

Evacuations are also in effect for the North San Elijo Hills, Discovery Hills, Discovery Meadows and Coronado Hills areas. 

Heavy black smoke and flames could be seen as the NBC 7 News Chopper flew overhead. 

Check back for details on this breaking news story. 

The Dallas Zoo announced Tuesday the successful birth of a new Asian small-clawed otter pup who beat the odds to survive the first few months of her life.

Tasanee, a single otter pup, was born Jan. 25 but needed help from zookeepers to survive being a lone pup, according to the zoo.

Tasanee is the first female single pup to survive longer than 30 days.

Otters typically give birth to three or four pups at a time, and according to the zoo, the survival rate for single otter pups is extremely poor, "possibly due to their mother's insufficient milk production and lack of stimulation from littermates."

• GALLERY: Adorable Zoo Babies

With her birth, Tasanee's mother, Daphne, became the oldest female otter in the national Species Survival Plan's breeding population to give birth. Her dad, Jimmy, was born at the Dallas Zoo in 2006.

Tasanee weighed a little over 2 ounces at birth and was about the size of a C battery, according to the zoo. Now she's a healthy 2.3 pounds and was introduced to the otters' outdoor habitat last week.

Tasanee means "beautiful view" in Thai, and you can see her in the Betty Moroney Norsworthy Otter Outpost.

More: Dallas Zoo on Facebook: Otter Pup 'Tasanee' Beats the Odds

 A brush fire has prmpted evacutions of homes and a school in Oceanside. 

The fire broke out in the San Luis Rey River riverbed, east of College Boulevard, at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. 

Oceanside officers are evacuating homes along Andrew Jackson Street and nearby roads. 

Del Rio Elementary is also under voluntary evacuation, starting at 1:15 p.m. 

High schools in the area have cancelled their programs at Brooks St. pool for the rest of the day, and the Melba Bishop Recreation Center will be closed once all children are picked up. 

The Libby Lake Resource Center will also be shut down for the day, the city said. 

• READ: Poinsettia Fire Destroys Homes in Carlsbad

On YouTube, resident Rob Fraser posted a video of what he calls a mini tornado caused by strong winds and smoke in the fire. 

 Oceanside resident Ryan Cowen said he saw many engines driving by to respond to the flames as he was evacuated from his home.

He posted a video to Facebook that shows three plumes of smoke burning around the North County. 

Check back for more details on this breaking news. 

Word spread quickly by phone, social media and text as a brush fire jumped around in erratic winds, scorching more than a thousand acres in San Diego's North County.

Those residents, an estimated 5,000 homes, who were notified about the Bernardo Fire Tuesday afternoon praised the efforts of firefighters in controlling the brush fire that winded its way through canyons and burned just feet from backyards and buildings.

• Bernardo Fire: "The Battle Isn't Over"

“Anybody who comes out here and drives around Santaluz to see how close it got to homes, it’s unbelievable,” said Santaluz resident Kara Hansen.

• See Burn Map of Bernardo Fire

She was getting her hair done when she got a phone call telling her about the fire.

Moments after she got to her home, she was able to grab only the family’s passports and two dogs before she heard police on a loudspeaker telling residents to get out of the area.

When she saw thick, dark smoke she thought, “It’s time to get outta here.”

• Camp Pendleton Fire Prompts Base Evacuations

Her 8-year-old son, Jakob, a Willow Grove elementary student, was evacuated by school officials so that added more anxiety for her.

“The biggest concern was finding him,” she said.

• Homes Evacuated as Blaze Threatens Carlsbad

On Wednesday, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer warned residents to be vigilant.

"Obviously the battle isn’t over. We have crews out there that have worked all night and will continue to work all day. We urge everyone to be vigilante. We have a very windy day ahead of us," Faulconer said.

Ben Ma was hosing down the property near his home under construction Tuesday.

He saw the flames from a security camera and rushed to protect the house in Santaluz.

“All of a sudden it moved pretty fast. Next thing you know, we got evacuated. Yeah, it was pretty close,” Ma said as he worked to keep embers at bay.

Fire crews successfully fought back the flames and quickly moved on to the next area threatened

Business owner Jeff Guenzburger heard about the flames from a text and social media.

“Obviously the first thought: your family, your loved ones, that’s the first phone calls you make,” he said.

By the time he made it to the Santaluz home where he lives, he just missed the flames passing by.

“You don’t realize actually how close it is until you get here and see that it’s actually across the street, right in your backyard and kind of a light goes on and ‘Wow, it really was that close,’” he said.

On Wednesday, deputies said they made 22,000 contacts through alerts Tuesday that included sending warnings to residents' email, text messages to cell phones and automated calls to land-line phones.

Of those, 5,000 contacts numbers and emails were in the county and 17,000 were in the San Diego city area.

Not all those contacted were evacuated, officials explained.

San Diego County was under a red flag warning and a high wind warning Wednesday with gusts in the 20 mph range with possible gusts reaching 50 mph around noon.

A menacing brush fire that slithered through San Diego's most exclusive North County communities flirting with disaster and threatening homes, still posed a threat to thousands of residents Wednesday.

As of 8:30 a.m., the brush fire had scorched 1,584 acres of canyons and undeveloped space around neighborhoods of multi-million dollar homes and mansions. While no structures have burned so far, Cal Fire officials warned residents that anyone living in the proximity of the Bernardo Fire should be on high alert.

“The wind is coming up again. We know how difficult, how windy and how hot it’s going to be,” said San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

• Bernardo Fire "Unbelievably" Close to Homes

“The battle isn’t over,” he added, urging everyone to be vigilant and listen for updates.

San Diego Fire-Rescue updated the containment to 25 percent early Wednesday, though the blaze could spread in the face of high winds and record temperatures expected.

"Weather conditions right now give us grave concern," said Cal Fire's Incident Commander Ray Chaney. "We're talking single digit humidties, gusty Santa Ana winds. So, it does put us on edge and that's why we have a robust force of engine companies and air assets on the line today."

"We are prepared for the worst and hoping for the best," Chaney said.

• See Burn Map of Bernardo Fire

There were 12 flare-ups overnight and more were expected Wednesday fueled by the wind.

Just before 9 a.m. an NBC 7 news crew called 911 to report a flare-up along San Dieguito Road at Camino del Sur. The fire burned just a few feet of brush before crews quickly extinguished the flames.

San Diego police officers will be using 211, their Twitter feed and reverse 911 system to spread news of evacuations.

“We ask again that you follow those directions and we will give you the information on where we want you to evacuate,” San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said.

• Camp Pendleton Fire Prompts Base Evacuations

San Diego County Sheriff's deputies made 22,000 contacts to email addresses, cell phones and landlines through their alert system Tuesday. Of those, 5,000 were in the county and 17,000 in the San Diego city area.

Santaluz resident Kara Hansen was getting her hair done when she got a call about the fire. She had time to grab only her family's passports and dogs before leaving to find her 8-year-old son, whose school had been evacuated.

“Anybody who comes out here and drives around Santaluz to see how close it got to homes, it’s unbelievable,” she said.

• Homes Evacuated as Fire Threatens Carlsbad

In additon to fighting the flames, officials are working to ensure areas the blaze has already crossed pose no ongoing danger. Blackened dirt may look safe however firefighters say there may be hot spots beneath. Fire crews will be working to dig the dirt up to look for embers that may be buried up to two inches deep.

Firefighters will be churning the dirt and wetting the dirt down. If winds pick up the dust and dirt, embers can be spread to another area and spark another fire.

“There are a few little areas down along the river bottom that didn’t burn real clean because it’s still a little moist there,” said Barona Fire Chief Ken Kremensky.

Several minor injuries have been reported.  The cause was still under investigation.

• Bernardo Fire Led to Evacuation of Thousands

A high wind warning is in effect for the mountains, foothills and valleys.

“It’s almost the exact same winds you saw yesterday,” NBC 7’s Meteorologist Jodi Kodesh said.

The soft breeze is going to pick up to 25 mph winds on average with gusts possibly reaching 50 mph in some of the valleys around the county, Kodesh said.

Temperatures are expected to range from the 90s along the coast to triple digits inland.

“Everyone should be cautious still,” said Capt. Jay Hausman with the San Bernardo County Fire Department. “It doesn’t take much to push something around.”

“Just because of the conditions that are out there now, I think everybody needs to be a little bit more alert as to what they’re doing and what they’re seeing out there.”

Stay connected with NBC 7's fire coverage by downloading our free app, following us on Twitter or liking our Facebook page.
 

The Poinsettia Fire burned homes and an apartment complex in Carlsbad as it spread Wednesday to more than 100 acres, prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents north of San Diego.

City officials said Wednesday afternoon that three structures had been destroyed and 15 more damaged in the Poinsettia fire, which sparked early Wednesday. County officials list homes destroyed at 30.

As of 4 p.m., the forward rate of spread has been stopped but there was still a threat to structures according to Cal Fire.

The Windsor at Aviara Apartments, located near Ambrosia and Poinsettia lanes, also caught fire later in the afternoon.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for homes from west of El Fuerte Road, south of Palomar Airport Road, north of Aviara Parkway and west to the coast. AlertSanDiego reports it has notified 15,000 homes, businesses and cell phones to evacuate in the city of Carlsbad.

A local emergency has been declared in the County of San Diego due to at least five wildland fires burning, including those in Carlsbad, Fallbrook and Camp Pendleton.

• See Map of Fires Burning in San Diego County

An NBC 7 News crew captured video of two homes along Black Rail Road near Sapphire that burned to the ground.

On Skimmer Court in the Aviara area, NBC 7 caught up with a homeowner who was watching fire crews hose down what was left of his 1960s Weir Brothers custom-built adobe home.

Greg Skaska lived in the home for more than 30 years and said when he realized the fire was threatening the house, he had no time to grab any personal things.

“No time. We had to leave. But it’s okay. I'm alive," he said.

Another home at 1570 Martingale Court off Sapphire Drive caught fire while homes on the right and left of the house went untouched.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” a neighbor, Kevin, told NBC 7. “I feel so terrible for these homeowners.”

Carlsbad Fire Chief Michael Davis said 23,000 phone calls had gone out to warn residents about the fire, a combination of mandatory evacuation orders, information and other calls.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Nick Schuler said the fire is not something crews normally see in June, July, in August, not in May.

“Not only were firefighters trying to engage the fire but doing their best to get people out of their homes effectively and safely,” Schuler said.

• Watch: Brush Fire Forces Thousands to Evacuate

Carlsbad police officers said the Poinsettia Fire sparked around 10:40 a.m. at Alicante and Poinsettia Lane and moved quickly.

Within an hour a line of flames was burning toward El Camino Real near Poinsettia Lane and Jasper Way.

Residents from the Cassia Heights apartments were evacuated. Other homeowners stopped to talk with NBC 7 News crews, describing how they had time to grab just a few things – documents, photos and pets – before fleeing the area.

Two men who identified themselves as Ryan and Adam were going door to door in the area east of Blackrail Road to knock on doors and help people evacuate.

One homeowner was panicked as the palm trees in her backyard were engulfed in flames, they said.

“I ran back inside and went back up to her and said ‘We need to leave right now,’” Adam said. “We were able to get her daughters and dogs out in time.”

Calavera Hills Community Center, at 2997 Glasgow, is being opened as a shelter location. Pets are welcome.

Poinsettia Elementary was evacuated to Carrillo Elementary School at 2875 Poinsettia Lane, San Marcos. Aviara Oaks Elementary and Middle schools were evacuated to the Sunrise Retirement Community on Manzanita Street, Carlsbad.

Carlsbad schools superintendent Suzanne Lovely said police and firefighters have helped move students to safety.

“We were able to safely evacuate three of our schools that were in the path of the fire,” Lovely said.

All schools will be closed Thursday and Friday and will resume on Monday, school officials said.

Westfield Plaza Camino Real is serving as a temporary evacuation point for people and animals according to police.

• Camp Pendleton Fire Prompts Base Evacuations

Park Hyatt Aviara, located just a few miles from where the fire sparked, was under mandatory evacuated. Guests and staff were under mandatory evacuations, a staff member told NBC 7.

Earlier in the day, La Costa Resort said its number one priority is keep guests calm.

LEGOLAND California posted a message to its Facebook page saying the park had to evacuate rides because of power outages caused by fires.

Callaway Golf and Titlelist Golf were evacuated as well, according to employees who spoke with an NBC 7 crew.

The Carlsbad Premium Outlets also closed. 

Interstate 5 southbound and northbound offramps were closed at Palomar Airport Road.

• Bernardo Fire "Unbelievably" Close to Homes

Diane Wood, a Carlsbad resident, said she is about two to three miles from the fire.

“It’s rather threatening. Everyone is coming out of their businesses and looking as the smoke is approaching their area,” she said. “It’s pretty scary."

San Diego Gas & Electric said it has shut off power to some customers in San Diego County for public safety purposes.

About 3,000 SDG&E customers were out of service due to the fire. Crews are working to restore power as soon as it is safe to do so, the utility said in a statement.

For the latest information on where outages are occurring, visit SDG&E’s outage map.

• Bernardo Fire: "The Battle Isn't Over"

Due to the fast-burning fire burning in the Carlsbad, several transmission lines tripped offline.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

A fast-moving brush fire has prompted evacuations on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.

The Tomahawk Fire has burned more than 700 acres and is moving west, according to Camp Pendleton officials.

The fire started around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday near the Naval Weapons Station Fallbrook gate on the east side of base.

Aerial pictures showed black smoke and orange flames burning near apparent storage units. Air tankers and helicopters made air drops onto the flames.

• READ: Poinsettia Fire Destroys Carlsbad Homes

Residents in De Luz and O'Neill Heights housing, students at Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary School, and personnel at the Naval Weapons Station Fallbrook have been evacuated to the Paige Fieldhouse, according to Camp Pendleton officials.

Mary Fay Elementary will also be closed Thursday.

Military students who attend Fallbrook High School will be bused to the Paige Fieldhouse after school, according to Camp Pendleton Scout.

Fallbrook schools will be open Thursday, according to Superintendent Dennis Bixer.

Children at the De Luz Child Development Center have been evacuated and taken to the Fisher Child Care Center.

Personnel in the 14-Area are being asked to shelter in place.

The Naval Weapons Station Fallbrook gate and the Las Pulgas gate have been closed.

• READ: Fallbrook Fire Threatens Homes

Sgt. Matt Klopp hopes the fire doesn't shift toward base.

“Over the gate there, it’s pretty much just open grass,” Klopp said.

Crews from Cal Fire, North County Fire, Orange County Fire and Oceanside Fire are assisting base fire crews.

At 12 p.m. Wednesday, Camp Pendleton was 95 degrees with 2 percent humidity and wind gusts up to 29 mph, according to NBC 7's Whitney Southwick.

• San Diego's Most Accurate Forecast

Brush fires forced the evacuations of homes and schools across the North County Wednesday, including in Carlsbad where several homes were destroyed. See map of active fires in the county

The county has issued a local emergency and is asking the governor to declare a state of emergency.

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