All evacuations lifted in Sorrento Valley fire as containment efforts continue (original) (raw)
Forward progress was stopped and all evacuation orders were lifted Monday on a fast-moving brush fire burning in a canyon area near homes between Sorrento Valley and Carmel Valley, though containment efforts were expected to continue through the night.
The fire was reported about 9:20 a.m. in the area of Sorrento Valley Drive just east of Interstate 5, San Diego police said.
The fire was 90 acres by late Monday afternoon, Assistant Fire Chief of Emergency Operations Dan Eddy said. Forward progress was stopped just after 3 p.m., and crews had drawn a containment line around 40% of the fire.
Fire officials had warned initially that the blaze had a “dangerous rate of spread,” prompting more than 2,200 homes and businesses to be placed under evacuation orders on both sides of Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve, an area popular with hikers and bicyclists.
By late afternoon, many of the orders began to lift, with the final orders canceled by 8 p.m.
All areas that had been under evacuation warnings were deemed no longer to be under threat.
Firefighters were seen Monday dotting the charred hills while helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropped water and fire retardant on the flames. San Diego Fire-Rescue Capt. Jason Shanley said the fire was in steep terrain, and the winds were heavy.
A drone spotted in the area led authorities to ground all aircraft for about 30 minutes, Eddy said. San Diego police Sgt. Nicholas Link said officers found the drone operator and told him to land it, and the operator complied. Link said he would confer with federal authorities regarding the incident.
Fire retardant drops on a fire burning north of Sorrento Valley Monday. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Shanley said, “If you have a drone in the area, put it down. That is one of the most dangerous things for these pilots, to have a drone in the area.”
“We just don’t want to have any accidents in the air. We can’t afford that right now,” he said. “Time is of the essence, and it slows down the progress that we’re able to make on this fire.”
About 200 firefighters were assigned to the incident, including those from Cal Fire, and more firefighters were expected to join in.
Eddy, the assistant fire chief, said firefighting aircraft were working around power lines in the area, and crews on the ground were dealing with the fire running toward an underground gas line in the hills.
He said Monday afternoon that crews would be at the scene for another 24 to 36 hours, until the fire was fully contained.
“I know everyone wants to get back home, and we will try to get you back as soon as we can,” Eddy said. “But my goal is to ensure this fire is out.”
Eddy said that the topography of the various canyons where the fire first broke out meant ground crews were battling on multiple fronts.
“If you look at the terrain behind us, it’s high, it’s steep and the fire is going through it,” Eddy said. “I have light, flashy fuels at the top of the hill, and at the bottom of the hill, I have thicker, denser brush. The fear is when I put a firefighter in that light, flashy fuel at the top and the bottom brush goes, then we’re in a very bad spot.”
Aside from the more than 2,200 homes and businesses that were under an evacuation order at some point Monday, another 6,380 homes and businesses were under a warning to prepare to evacuate, fire officials said.
Evacuation orders at one point expanded to include homes south of Carmel Mountain Road, bordered by I-5 to the west and Gablewood Way and Evans Wood Way to the east, according to the Genasys evacuation map.
Crews battle the Sorrento fire in San Diego on Monday. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Houses to the east along Sorrento Valley Boulevard and Calle Crisobal had been ordered to evacuate, but that order was lifted around 4 p.m.
A temporary evacuation point has been set for Mandell Weiss Eastgate Park.
Sorrento Valley Blvd has been closed between Vista Sorrento Parkway and Camino Santa Fe, and drivers should avoid the area.
Crews battle the Sorrento fire in San Diego on Monday. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The rapid spread of flames in the canyon wasn’t surprising. The San Diego area has received only 0.47 inches of rain since March 1, nearly 2 inches below normal, says the National Weather Service. “The weather is stagnant right now, and it doesn’t look like we’ll receive any rain soon,” said Paul Steward, a weather service forecaster.
There was at least one report of an explosion heard before the fire started, police Officer Sarah Foster said.
San Diego Gas & Electric has transmission lines in the area. An SDG&E spokesperson said late Monday morning that initial reports indicated none of the infrastructure was affected, but crews were checking. Also, there were no outages as a result of the fire.
A few dozen people came through the designated evacuation center at the park near UC San Diego, sitting quietly on park benches beneath trees and canopies, eating snacks provided for the evacuation or chatting on the phone and with fellow evacuees. Many walked their dogs around the park or carried cat carriers. Pet owners spoke reassuringly to their dogs, who panted and pawed their owners, and to their mewing cats.
Several evacuees said they weren’t very concerned about the fire. They said they got text alerts to evacuate and had enough time to pack essentials, such as their passports, dog food and clothes.
Cathy Jonas, 66, lives on Sorrento Valley Road and saw ashes cover her car on Monday morning. She evacuated with her daughter and son-in-law and met her husband at the evacuation center.
She packed a suitcase with her family’s passports, jewelry, clothes, laptops and prescriptions, as well as dog food and beds. She packed old photos of her grandparents and family from the Philippines that she wouldn’t be able to replace.
She also fetched her neighbor’s two dogs, Milo and Mila, since her neighbor is out of town, in addition to her own Chihuahua mix Archie. “We just wanted to make sure we got the dogs,” she said.
Staff writers Kristen Taketa and Gary Robbins contributed to this report.