Deadly blazes hit San Diego County 15 years ago
The first flames were sighted on a Sunday morning, Oct. 21, 2007, at 9:23 a.m. near Potrero just north of the U.S./Mexico border. Three hours later downed power lines sparked the Witch Creek fire east of Ramona. From Oct. 21 through Nov. 16, flames swept through every corner of San Diego county, burning more than 1,700 homes and killing 10 people.
From The San Diego Union-Tribune,
Monday, October 22, 2007:
A pair of wildfires roared through San Diego County yesterday, killing one person, injuring at least 17 others and destroying an untold number of homes and businesses, overwhelmed fire officials said.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued after 11 p.m. in the San Pasqual Valley, home of the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Officials said they had teams standing by to evacuate some of its hundreds of exotic animals if necessary.
Two hours earlier, similar orders were given for the backcountry communities of Ramona and nearby San Diego Country Estates as walls of flames reached up to 200 feet high.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in San Diego County and six other Southern California counties late last night. He is expected to visit the area this morning.
Santa Ana winds blowing up to 60 mph combined with temperatures into the 90s to create in the worst possible fire conditions.
Traffic snarled roads and highways as residents sought to escape what is being called the Witch fire, which ignited at Witch Creek west of Santa Ysabel. Most schools across the fire region were declared closed today.
Smoke and ash blanketed the region as residents as far away as Escondido, Lakeside and Poway were warned to be prepared to evacuate.
The first fire ignited about 9:30 a.m. 45 miles east of San Diego. It tore through steep canyons and parched hillsides between the communities of Potrero and Tecate, Mexico.
The blaze, called the Harris fire because of its proximity to Harris Ranch Road, killed one person and injured more than a dozen others, including four firefighters, officials said. At least four homes were destroyed.
By nightfall, the fire had blackened more than 20,000 acres on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and hundreds of people had fled their homes.
Local officials requested up to 1,000 additional firefighters from around the state. Although reinforcements were rushing south toward San Diego County last night, they were not expected to arrive until early this morning.
“The Witch Creek fire is now the number one concern for the state of California at this time,” said San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman. “The resources are headed this way. We just don’t know when they’ll be there.”
The fire has split into two heads —one headed for Poway and the other for San Pasqual Valley outside Escondido, Jarman said.
Power lines that were apparently knocked down by strong Santa Ana winds are suspected of sparking the fire, which broke out northeast of Ramona about noon.