Southern CA homeless encampment fires spark dangerous wildfire in dry chaparral
Sandy Eggo County struggles to put out three wildfires that started in homeless bivouacs. NBC 7 San Diego reports.
Three fires that broke out in San Diego last week started in homeless encampments, the San Diego Metro Arson Strike Team (MAST) confirmed to NBC 7 on Thursday.
Those fires were the Friars Fire in Mission Valley, the Center Fire in Rancho Bernardo and the Gilman Fire in La Jolla, according to MAST Capt. Pat Buckley.
A brush fire near Fashion Valley Mall raced up the hillside towards homes, damaging one building. NBC 7’s Shandel Menezes reports.
The blaze, dubbed the Friars Fire, was reported just after noon on the 7000 block of Friars Road, a densely populated area of Mission Valley that includes the popular shopping destination where Nordstrom is located.
The first crews arrived within six minutes, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue, whose spokesman, Jose Ysea, told NBC 7 later in the afternoon that the flames had charred 15-20 acres by the time firefighters had put it out.
Two people — one a resident and the other a firefighter — suffered minor injuries in the fire, according to Ysea, and both were brought to the hospital for treatment.
The Bernardo Fire, which started before 9 a.m. on Wednesday near Bernardo Center Drive and Camino del Norte, was, thankfully, under control within hours, reports NBC 7's Jeanette Quezada.
On Jan. 22, firefighters responded to a brush fire on a mountainside in Rancho Bernardo that threatened homes and injured one person, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
The so-called Center Fire, which was also referred to as the Bernardo Fire, started around 8:55 a.m. near Bernardo Center Drive and Camino del Norte.
By 11 a.m., the fire had grown to 7 acres with no containment, but fire crews appeared to have an upper hand on the blaze, and some resources were being dispersed. By 1 p.m., containment was at 50%. All evacuation orders and warnings were lifted a little more than two hours later, San Diego police said.
The fire was burning near schools. RB Kinder Care was evacuated, and Turtleback Elementary School had students sheltering in place. The Poway Unified School District evacuated students from Rolling Hills Elementary and said they kept students at other campuses indoors as a precaution.
The so-called Gilman Fire sparked around 2:30 p.m. near Gilman Drive and Via Alicante, not far from Interstate 5 and UC San Diego.
About 3 acres were burned before crews stopped the fire's forward progress around 4 p.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Read the whole thing here.
Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity
We prize letters from our thoughtful readers. Typed on a Smith Corona. Written in longhand on fine stationery. Scribbled on a napkin. Hey, even composed on email. Feel free to send your comments to us at opportunitynowsv@gmail.com or (snail mail) 1590 Calaveras Ave., SJ, CA 95126. Remember to be thoughtful and polite. We will post letters on an irregular basis on the main Opp Now site.