Fire crews in Riverside County were battling a fast-moving wildfire Thursday night that prompted officials to issue mandatory evacuations.  

The “Macy Fire” was first reported around 5:45 p.m. near the intersection of Orange and Macy streets in El Cariso, an unincorporated community in Lake Elsinore, according to a Riverside County Fire Department post on X, formerly, Twitter.  

Fire officials said the approximately 50-acre brushfire was burning at a rapid rate of spread and that additional equipment and crews had been requested.  

Just before 7 p.m., flames were able to jump Highway 74, prompting officials with the California Highway Patrol to shut down both directions of the highway between San Juan Capistrano and Lake Elsinore, City News Service reported.  

In an update at 8:30 p.m., officials reported that the fire had grown to 134 acres and was 0% contained.  

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for all properties: 

• South of Grand Avenue 

• East of Fairview Street 

• West of Highway 74 

Elsinore High School, located at 21800 Canyon Driver in Wildomar, was serving as a temporary evacuation center, officials said.  

A photojournalist with Inland News, a news video service, reported that at least three structures have been destroyed by the flames. KTLA has not yet confirmed that information with RCFD.

A night-flying helicopter, according to CNS, was requested to make water drops to help crews on the ground. Firefighting aircraft restricted to daylight hours were forced to leave the area.  

So far, no injuries have been reported. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.  

The home of 999 Happy Haunts will once again welcome visitors after months of renovations.

Officials for the “Happiest Place on Earth” announced Thursday that Haunted Mansion will reopen next week with its “Nightmare Before Christmas” overlay.

Haunted Mansion Holiday will return on July 29, several weeks ahead of the typical time when the Eerie Estate transition from summer frights to fall festivities. Its early return will give guests the chance to return to the spooky labyrinth alongside Jack Skellington, Sally, Zero and other iconic characters from the Tim Burton-produced holiday classic.

“The attraction will don décor inspired by [the film],” a Disneyland spokesperson said. “At the center of the frightful fête’s ballroom scene is the gingerbread house, with an all-new design for this year.”

Haunted Mansion has been closed for refurbishment since January and crews are working to create a new retail shop next to the attraction exit and an expanded outdoor queue with “enhanced theming.”

The area that surround the attraction is prone to getting crowded and congested as it spills into a busy walkway connecting some of the most popular areas of the park.

While work continues on the reimagined outdoor space, Disneyland will only provide a virtual queue for those brave enough to enter.

Guests will need to use the Disneyland app to request to join the queue. Requests open to guests twice per day at 7 a.m. and noon.

New Orleans Square has experienced a transformation to coincide with the re-theming of Splash Mountain to the “Princess and the Frog”-inspired Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which is set to open later this year and will likely be one of the busiest attractions at the park.

For continuing updates about refurbishments and closures at Disneyland, as well as information about the Haunted Mansion Holiday virtual queue, guests can visit Disneyland.com.

Do you swear that it wasn’t this hot back in the day? It certainly feels that way.

To test that hypothesis, we asked Climate Central, an organization of scientists and journalists who study climate change, to analyze summer temperatures in Los Angeles dating back to 1940. We compiled it into a table (below) so you can look and see if the summers when you were young were as hot as the ones we are experiencing now.

For just about everyone around the world, the suspicion is that it’s gotten hotter since the days when you used to play at the park or attend summer camp. Just this past Sunday, the Earth recorded its hottest day ever. That record was broken again on Monday. A slight temperature drop on Tuesday made it the world’s second-hottest day.

In Los Angeles, the difference over the decades is stark when you focus on the average low temperatures. Eighty years ago, summer low temperatures tended to be in the 50s, making for cool mornings and evenings. Now, on average, lows only get down to the mid-60s.

Health experts warn that warmer and warmer nights can be dangerous because they don’t give people’s homes or bodies enough time to cool off.

The average high temperature has also trended upward over the years. The hottest summers in recent history appear to be 2006 and 2018 when the average high temperature between June and August topped 85 degrees. Only time will tell if the summer of 2024 will beat those records, too.

Use the searchable table below to see how hot summers used to be when you were born or when you were growing up, and see how it has changed since then.

Having trouble seeing the table above? Click or tap here to open it in a new window.

The planet has been on a “hot streak” since April 2023, Climate Central says, where month after month has seen record-breaking global temperatures.

Of the 230 cities analyzed by Climate Central, 95% of them have seen summers grow hotter since 1970. The “urban heat island” effect can also make it feel even hotter in certain neighborhoods.