Fast-moving fire breaks out in San Diego, forcing evacuations

A fast-moving brush fire broke out around 1:30 p.m. Sunday in San Diego’s Penasquitos Creek area, east of Interstate 15, swelling to 131 acres with zero percent containment by late afternoon.

Staging near Sorrento Valley Boulevard and Vista Sorrento Parkway, firefighters immediately launched an aerial attack while crews planned for structure protection as the flames burned in a canyon ringed with houses, reported the Times of San Diego.

Within an hour of the fire starting, response efforts scaled up to include four fire engines, seven brush rigs, two helicopters, fixed-wing Cal Fire aircraft, two bulldozers, and a Type 3 Strike Team, with San Diego police providing traffic control and street closures in the area.

Evacuation orders were issued around 3:30 p.m. for areas near the flames, with a temporary evacuation point established at Mandell Weiss Eastgate Park, 4161 Eastgate Mall.

Lil Nover, a resident in the area, told Fox San Diego that she witnessed the fire start and slowly begin to spread through the canyon. 

“I thought they had a handle on it, but just a few minutes ago the whole hillside was on fire,” Nover said. “It’s kind of like a false sense of security — all of a sudden another patch will pop up.”

Nover has since evacuated alongside her daughter and cat.

Authorities are also urging nearby residents to be ready to evacuate, while the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

As of about 5:45 p.m., the fire was 15% contained.

Deputy Chief Eddy said crews are hoping to stop the forward rate of spread in the next hour and will work through the night to eliminate any hotspots.

The fire comes on the heels of the Timber Fire that tore through Big Sur earlier this week, exploding to nearly 4,000 acres by Wednesday as roughly 1,000 firefighters battled flames threatening homes and tourist sites.

The blaze burned through 3,774.6 acres and was only 5% contained by Wednesday afternoon, with the greatest concern along its southern and western edges near scattered homes around Partington Ridge Road.

The closure is also threatening Big Sur’s peak tourist season. The owner of famed Nepenthe restaurant told Business Insider that every day the restaurant remains closed results in between $70,000 in lost sales.

Other Big Sur’s tourist destinations are under threat, including luxury resort the Ventana Inn and the Henry Miller Memorial Library.

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