SAN DIEGO COUNTY HAS SEVERAL MAJOR FIRES in progress with no relief expected. The weather reports are for continued winds and dry air through Wednesday.
The fires are moving so rapidly that the FD’s are unable to make any attempt to save individual homes. All resources are being directed to setting up fire lines to prevent incursions into the populated areas. In many cases, even that is impossible. In most instances the fires will only go out when they either run out of fuel or reach the ocean.
The two major fires in San Diego Co. are the Witch Creek fire and the Harris fire. A new fire was just reported a little more than an hour ago at the La Jolla Indian Reservation.
1,200 National Guard troops are arriving to assist with law enforcement duties. The San Diego (City) Fire Department committed about 450 firefighters and 98 trucks to the fire.
As this is being written, two more towns have been ordered to evacuate: North Jamul and Indian Springs.
The Union-Tribune reports:
The so-called Witch Creek Fire, which started Sunday with a transformer explosion near Highway 78 and Bandy Canyon Road and eventually destroyed about 70 homes, merged yesterday with another fire that started about the same time in the San Pasqual Valley, fire officials said.
All together, more than 145,000 acres have been scorched, and about 500 homes have been destroyed, along with 50 “outbuildings” ‘ and 100 commercial buildings, according to the California Department of Forestry, or Cal Fire.
Seven firefighters and one civilian have been reported injured.
With strong winds expected again today, some fire officials warned that the conflagration could prove more disastrous than the 2003 Cedar Fire that charred 280,278 acres and killed 15 people.
Among the hardest-hit areas is northern Rancho Bernardo, where as many as 300 homes went up in flames Monday, according to a group of firefighters taking a break at a strip mall on West Bernardo Drive last night.
We’ll be posting updates throughout the day.
Witch Creek – Poway photo gallery
Click thumbnails to view Haffey/Zuma Press photos
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