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Tag: Highway Fire

Highway Fire near Corona, California

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
Map of Highway Fire 1130 pm 4-18-2014
The red squares indicate the location of heat detected by a satellite on the Highway Fire at about 11:30 p.m. April 18, 2015. The locations shown are accurate to within a mile.

(UPDATED at 1:17 p.m. PDT, April 20, 2015)

Riverside County Fire announced this morning that the Highway Fire northwest of Corona, California was holding at 1,020 acres and the Incident Commander is calling it 35% contained. All evacuations and road closures have been lifted.

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(UPDATED at 7:50 a.m. PDT, April 20, 2015)

Riverside County Fire announced Sunday evening that the fire had burned 1,020 acres. The cause was identified as an unattended cooking fire.

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(UPDATED at 2:13 PDT, April 19, 2015)

Riverside County Fire issued information at 11:15 this morning saying the fire has been mapped at 980 acres.

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(Originally published at 8:07 a.m. PDT, April 19, 2015) 

The Highway Fire has burned hundreds of acres in the Prado Basin just northwest of Corona, California. CAL FIRE spokesperson Mike Mohler said the fire is in thick vegetation that has not burned in decades. Approximately 700 personnel are assigned. The fire was first reported at 6:12 p.m. on Saturday.

There are no reports of injuries to firefightes or damage to structures.

All mandatory evacuations have been lifted, including residents of 300 homes on Bluff Road, Homestead Road and Stagecoach Road.

The last official size of the fire provided by Riverside County Fire was 300 acres at midnight Sunday morning, but it may be significantly larger.

Highway Fire
Highway Fire, April 18, 2015. Photo by Crystal Rios.

Update on San Diego County fires

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , ,
San Diego County Fires May 18, 2014
San Diego County Fires at 11:45 p.m. PDT, May 18, 2014

(Originally published at 12:03 a.m. PDT, May 18, updated at 10:12 a.m. PDT, May 18, 2014)

Camp Pendleton Fires

The most recent fire to break out at Camp Pendleton has gone by three names, Combat Fire, Talega Fire, but the latest name is San Mateo Fire. It has burned 1,500 acres in the northwest corner of the base and is listed at 55 percent contained.

The Tomahawk Fire is listed at 6,500 acres with 93 percent containment. The Las Pulgas Fire has burned 15,000 acres and is 42 percent contained.

San Diego County reports that all evacuations have been lifted at Camp Pendleton.

Cocos Fire in San Marcos

The Cocos and Highway Fires are being managed as the San Diego Complex by a CAL FIRE Incident Management Team. CAL FIRE reports the Highway Fire is 100 percent contained at 380 acres, while the Cocos Fire has blackened 1,995 acres (it keeps shrinking), is 85 percent contained, and eight structures have burned.

Other fires in San Diego County

The Poinsettia and Bernardo Fires are 100 percent contained.

More photos taken from military helicopters are at Fire Aviation.

Numerous wildfires in San Diego County

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , , , 3 Comments on Numerous wildfires in San Diego County

(Originally published at 8:50 p.m. PDT, May 14, 2014; Updated at 7:08 p.m. PDT, May 15, 2014)

On Wednesday wildland firefighters were extremely busy in southern California’s San Diego County. We are aware of eight fires that were active Wednesday.

Tomahawk Fire
Tomahawk Fire, from Red Mountain at 12:24 p.m. PDT, May 14, 2014.

After being desiccated off and on for weeks by hot, dry, windy weather, the vegetation was ready to burn. East and northeast Santa Ana winds on Tuesday and Wednesday pushed the fires like freight trains across the hills and through communities. By mid-afternoon on Wednesday the winds decreased, and in some areas were replaced by a slightly cooler breeze off the ocean. This caused the spread of the fires to slow, and gave firefighters a chance, aided by an aerial armada, to move in closer and work the fires.

Fire near San Marcos, screen shot from Fox 5 at 545 pm May 14, 2014
Washingtonia Fire near San Marcos, screen shot from Fox 5 at 5:45 p.m. May 14, 2014.

Considering the number of fires, the dense population, and how stretched thin the fire suppression forces were due to the scope of the emergencies, a surprisingly few number of homes burned.
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