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Border 2 Fire

1,832 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 6 days ago by ontherocks
Pro Sandy
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Started yesterday about 2pm on Otay Mountain just east of Chula Vista. I could see the first smoke from it when I was leaving my office on Coronado. Called my wife who was in our backyard near the base of the mountain. She couldn't see anything yet. Within a few minutes, it blew up to several acres.

This was the view driving home.



Fire department responded with helicopters, airplanes, and dozens of trucks.

It is on the other side of a lake from Chula Vista in a wilderness area, so no immediate houses or structure, other than communication towers, under threat.

Last night was a pretty view from our house.





This morning, woke up to see that it blew up to over 4,000 acres, but 10% contained. Mayor said that they had 2 helicopters working it over night, airplanes striking this morning after sunrise, and 20 trucks on Otay Lakes Road where the fire is threatening to cross and come around the lake. CalFire has almost 700 people working it and currently 10 helicopters, 23 trucks, 8 dozers, and 16 water tenders assigned.

Hard to see much of the fire this morning because the smoke is thick and the fire has burned down the mountain.







Our neighborhood is under "ready" on the "ready, set, go" scale of evacuations. Across the street is on "set," so we have a few bags packed, but will be alright.

Before anyone says "vacuum your forests!" here is what the area looks like.







It is rugged desert chaparral brush.
Joseph in Cypress
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My daughter and son-in-law are nearby there too. Based on my recent visits to the area three things are very apparent:
1. That area only receives 14" of rain per year so it is basically a desert
2. Not really a Forrest. Just a bunch of scrub brush and houses built all over the hills in the area.
3. Once something catches fire, the brush will burn quickly and then you add in the wind making it a tinder box

Joseph George '92
Pro Sandy
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Sunrise was pretty this morning through the smoke.





Got a run in despite the smoke. Someone through a smoke bomb at me. Pretty weird, but could have been related to a small fire someone started behind a school. Luckily fire truck was on it in 5 minutes.



Fire has grown during the day, up around 6,500 acres now. Looks like it is climbing peak 1,750. That separates the wilderness from civilization. The is a fire road up the peak, hopefully firefighters are able to hold it there overnight.





Ash has been falling all day at my house. .Everything is covered.
Watchful Ag
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Serious question, hope this doesn't come across as rude, but when I hear "vacuum your forests" I take it as a general reference to field management practices (e.g., prescribed burns in your case).

Do you all ever use burns to keep the fuel levels relatively low?
Pro Sandy
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Fire growth minimal overnight. Around 6,625 acres. Still only 10% contained, but the fire burned up to a lake and most of the perimeter is wilderness. The two lines that encroched on civilization held. There's an RV park out there and looks like they saved that too. Fire burned right up to it. So far, no loss of life or structure.

This is peak 1,750, which was the last line between the fire and a bunch of industrial parks and the prison (home of the Menedez Brothers.) There is a fire road up and over it, looks like that break worked.



Best part, rain this morning

Pro Sandy
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Watchful Ag said:

Serious question, hope this doesn't come across as rude, but when I hear "vacuum your forests" I take it as a general reference to field management practices (e.g., prescribed burns in your case).

Do you all ever use burns to keep the fuel levels relatively low?
The vacuum your forests was in reference to Trump many years ago saying California should rake their forests like Finland.

Yes, CalFire does prescribed burns. There is a bill in Sacramento to expand CalFire to increase year around hiring for things like wildfire prevention.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB252

But there are some issues. With Otay Wilderness, it is incredibly difficult to get into. Rugged terrain with a few fire roads and one dirt road. Otay is mainly BLM with a mix of FWS and State so can't blame just California. With places like Palisades, these canyons are in towns and neighborhoods and you can't do burns in them.

Brush management for those areas, no, we have not done close to what we need to. San Diego for instance just had an audit and found San Diego has been slow to revamp how it monitors and removes flammable brush on city-owned land, despite a 2023 audit saying the city's efforts are poorly coordinated and not comprehensive enough.

Brush management is considered a crucial strategy to help prevent the kind of large wildfires that have devastated the Los Angeles area in the last week and that destroyed thousands of San Diego County homes in 2003 and 2007.


https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/01/15/san-diego-must-overhaul-brush-management-to-prevent-wildfires-a-2023-audit-found-its-made-little-progress-since/

I took some Cub Scouts out for a day and we did fire reduction work in a canyon behind a neighborhood. Hard work that was slow going.







So if you are counting on the government, good luck. Best to have defensible space around your house.
firethewagonup
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Left CA in '94. The first best thing I did in my life.
Gigem Aggies
ontherocks
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