San Diego Fires Update #10

Welcome to Day 4 on the outskirts of Hell. El Cajon, Alpine, and Lakeside all appear safe at this point this morning.

New dragons were born overnight on the Marine base at Camp Pendleton. The largest, called the Horno Fire, grew quickly to over 6,000 acres and has forced the closure of I-5, the main connection between San Diego and Los Angeles. The Marines are fighting at least two other fires on the base.

The Witch Fire turned her attentions to the east last night, moving towards Santa Ysabel and Julian. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for all of Julian and the small communities north of Cuyamaca State Park. The Witch Fire and the Poomacha Fire at Palomar Mountain have merged; an even fire officials had feared. The Harris Fire also looked east towards Barrett Lake. Lyons Valley appears to be at risk but that is just my speculation as I have not seen any reports confirming this.

Evacuees are returning to the beach communities (Del Mar and Solana Beach), Chula Vista, Scripps Ranch, and parts of Poway. The air is heavy with smoke but at least in my corner of El Cajon we are not having the rain of ash we suffered during the Cedar Fire in 2003.

The San Jose Mercury News has a good, brief overview of the major fires of Southern California. There have been scores of other, smaller, blazes as well.