FIRES TO MERGE OVERNIGHT: EVACUATIONS IN RANCHITA AND SAN FELIPE AREAS AMID "EXTREME" FIRE CONDITION

[nadinbrzezinski]

Last edited Wed Aug 15, 2012, 11:23 PM - Edit history (2)

Photo from today.

August 14, 2012 (San Diego's East County) 9 p.m. -- Multiple fires in the Vallecito Lightning Complex have scorched 5,925 acres, with only 10% contained, Cal Fire's Roxanne Provaznik reports. Firefighters have 22.7 miles of containment line to construct.

A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for Ranchita and the San Felipe area off Hwy 78. An evacuation center is set up at the Warner Springs High School. Hard road closures are in place for San Felipe and Montezuma Road, County Highway S22 and Palm Canyon Drive. Evacuations of Ranchita and homes adjacent to S22.

The Wilson and Stewart Fires are expected to merge overnight. Further incident expansion is expected as thunderstorm winds and diurnal nighttime fire spread continues. Extreme terrain, continuous fuels without recent fire history are causing extreme fire behavior. Fires are difficult to access and most of suppression requires substantial hand crew work.

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/10723

SAN DIEGO -- Hundreds of firefighters worked by ground and air Tuesday to contain four lightning-sparked East County blazes that have blackened thousands of open acres and led to the evacuation of several small rural communities in the path of the flames.

The so-called Wilson, Stewart, Cooper and Vallecito fires scorched a total of more than 2,350 acres since erupting Sunday and Monday, according to Cal Fire. The latter was burning southeast of Julian, while the others were located east and north of the historic former mining

http://www.10news.com/news/31352924/detail.html

TEMECULA, Calif. -- Riverside County fire officials said a brush fire near the community of Aguanga has surged to 1,800 acres, damaging three structures and forcing mandatory evacuations in the rural area.

The blaze -- dubbed the Buck Fire -- was reported shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday at Sage and Buck roads. Approximately nine homes have been evacuated, and Cal Fire said mandatory evacuations were ordered for residents north of Sage Road, south of Stanley Road, east of Benton Road and west of Reed Valley Road.

http://www.10news.com/news/31357200/detail.html

Update to the present conditions.

[Beaverhausen]

1. It's been so hot and dry I'm surprised there aren't more

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. At the risk of annoying certain folks (not on DU)

this is starting to look like October in August, without the santa anna winds, only good thing.

We have been literally sitting on the edge deciding whether we go or not. Well tomorrow morning we will decide on this. (Night driving on those roads, did it on Thursday, not today)

[kestrel91316]

3. Weather Underground says my area (San Fernando Valley) is

going to have daytime highs late next week of only 70F. I, for one, think they are smoking crack. We're still in our nearly 3 week long heat wave of 105-114F.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. The cooling trend is expected

but...

it's been hotter than hades.

[kestrel91316]

5. I just can't fathom how it's even possible that we could have ONLY

70F here in the middle of summer. IT'S THE FREAKIN' VALLEY - hell on earth, hotter than Palm Springs half the time.

[pinboy3niner]

6. No, you're in the 90s next week

A cooldown!



http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA0776?par=roadrunner&site=www.roadrunner.com&promo=0&cm_ven=roadrunner&cm_cat=www.roadrunner.com&cm_pla=WeatherPage&cm_ite=CityPage

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. It's been all the way to the upper 80s and 90s on the coast in San Diego County

today it got to over the 100 Fahrenheit in the mountains, and beautiful thunder heads.



If I go photograph any of these suckers, long pants, tactical boots, and Nomex... trust me, don't envy the fire fighters

[cherokeeprogressive]

16. What mountains got to over 100 degrees? Certainly not the San Bernardinos. It was 82 here today.

Even though San Bernadino itself was 104, it was only 82 here.

Which mountains?

[PufPuf23]

7. The Strategy on the Fort Complex is already to back off to

secondary containment lines and burn out a good portion of Red Buttes Wilderness and nearby other National Forest lands on CA-OR border of the Klamath and Rogue River NFs.

The ICS Teams have led gutless, expensive, and ecologically incompetent landscape level fire suppression stratagies more often than not in the past 20 years in the Klamath Mountains. Shameful.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3117/

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Point your compass rose way south

but yup, that is now a debate in that field.

For more useful info on temecula fire

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/10715

Evacuations in Ranchita, 40 miles or so to the South East

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/10712

And here is more, with a map of area for the fires on the San Diego side of the line

August 14, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – The Vallecito Lightning Complex southeast of Julian near Vallecito has charred 2,352 acres and is now 30% contained. Cost to suppress this fire is $805,000. Two fires are also continuing to burn near Scissors Crossing northeast of Julian. The Wilson Fire has burned 1,400 acres and is 5% contained. The Stewart Fire is 0% contained and has burned 600 acres so far, Cal Fire reports.

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/10705

[PufPuf23]

12. Not exactly a new debate rather decades of common sense.

I know Julian and the vegetaion and topography. There will be more human infrastructure damaged and media.

The fire I mentioned is newer and likely to cost more in suppression and monetary and ecological damage plus time and risk to recovery but without the media coverage or direct human infrastructure damage of a southern California fire.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Absolutely true

and this one, per their own released maps, is in some pretty bad topography by the way... listening to scanner, and I will leave it at that.

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. More like a 30 year old debate. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

10. News last night reported multiple fires in NoCal, too (Lake County)

I know someone on one of the prison firefighting crews who has been very busy. When asked if he needed anything, he said, "Candy bars."

Candy bars on the FIRE line? No, it turns out that when they get called out they often miss meals and may not get a chance to eat in the field for a while. So he likes to munch on a few candy bars while being transported to a fire.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I got water in the truck

thanks for the tip, next of these I will load it with candy bars too.



I was thinking of that, quite honestly.

[cherokeeprogressive]

20. A few years ago during the Butler 2 fire in the San Bernardino Mtns my wife took 4 cases of Snickers

bars to the guys staged at the Snow Valley Ski Resort, along with probably 10 cases of bottled water.

The letter they sent her after the fire was out is one of her most prized possessions.

She got the idea for the candy bars from a retired Battalion Chief we know.

[pinboy3niner]

23. Good for your wife!

When you really want to help someone, it's best to learn from them about their needs.

[shintao]

14. Just a Reminder of why we pay taxes & decent wages to Fire Fighters

Like soldiers, fire fighters are screwed over until we need them. If this fire was in Texas, Perry would want your to pray that it goes out. If this were in Obion, Tennessee, if you had not pre-paid for fire service, your land would burn until it reaches a paying customer. If this fire had been 911, NY would deny you health care benefits for injuries. IF you were a fire fighter in any red state, you might be fighting the fire with reduced wages and with billions owed on their borrowed benefits.

So my hat is off to America's finest!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Agreed. they deserve more than our thanks

good pay, and good benefits should be part of it, as well as a secure retirement.

[Care Acutely]

18. HOLY ALL-CAPS BATMAN

this summer, the whole world is on fire.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Copied and pasted headline exactly as written

in caps



It is the paper style guide.

[Brickbat]

21. It's a newspaper for deaf people.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Updated: Fire claims 1,800 acres east of Temecula, two firefighters injured

Update @ 10:03 p.m.: One civilian is reported to have been transported from the scene by air ambulance with serious burns.

It is possible that at least one or two more civilians have been injured, according to a report from the scene.

Update @ 8:37 p.m.: According to a Riverside County Fire Department reported, “two firefighters have been transported with minor injuries” to area hospitals.

http://www.swrnn.com/2012/08/14/updated-fire-claims-1800-acres-east-of-temecula-two-firefighters-injured/

[Beaverhausen]

24. Oh no! I'm planning to go to Temecula this sunday for wine tasting.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Buck Fire East of Temecula 40 Percent Contained

Last edited Wed Aug 15, 2012, 11:55 PM - Edit history (1)

Lightning started a wildfire in a rugged, rural area that left a resident hospitalized with serious burns and destroyed four structures east of Temecula, fire investigators determined Wednesday.

About 400 firefighters Wednesday continued to battle the brush fire that had prompted mandatory evacuations, which were lifted at 6 p.m. Wednesday, the Riverside County Fire Department announced.

The blaze, previously estimated at 3,000 acres, was determined to be 2,681 acres by more accurate mapping, the department announced at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Buck-Brush-Fire-Temecula-Sage-Aguanga-Wildfire-Firefighters-166243136.html

I actually considered making my way there... since I was sort of close, but had a deadline to meet and all that... so instead drove to Julian to get to a wife hot spot and some food.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Update, Marine Corp joins the fight

Aug. 15, 2012 (Miramar Naval Air Station) – Today, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) has been requested by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to assist with the wildfires burning in eastern San Diego County."

3rd MAW will provide eight helicopters, a mix of CH-53 Super Stallions and CH-46 Sea Knights, for use with CAL FIRE under the Defense Support of Civil Authorities process. These assets will be used in conjunction with CAL FIRE aerial resources to shuttle firefighters to the firelines and for water dropping. Joint training is conducted annually by the two organizations to prepare for such firefighting emergencies. The last training was conducted in May 2012.

The CH-53 Super Stallions belong to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadrons 462, 465 and 466, Marine Aircraft Group 16, and are stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The CH-46 Sea Knights belong to Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron 164, Marine Aircraft Group 39, and are stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton.

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/10726

Yes, I came back earlier today from this mess. Waiting for the story to run, will post link.

Short and sweet, they made their stand near Ranchita and when I left, it was working.

And I am anywhere from exhausted and real exhausted.