Wildfire Is on the Prowl in the Mountains Tonight!

Wildfire Is on the Prowl in the Mountains Tonight!

This morning I drove the 65 miles to town to pick up my cat, Riley, whom I had left yesterday with the vet to have his infected teeth extracted. I could no longer stand his pain that had been getting worse for at least the last two months. On my return I passed through the little town of Pine Valley, and all was peaceful there.

By 1:30 P.M. there was a raging wildfire. It started high up the mountain south of Interstate 8, and a little more than one mile from Pine Valley that sits just north of I-8. The fire had expanded from a small blaze to 100 acres to 1000 acres of an uninhabited wild area in just a few hours. We haven’t had a good rain since about last January, and the brush is as dry as tinder. Many oak trees and the large species of brush are dead or dying. Even with the gentle wind we had today, the fire was spreading rapidly to the south through steep rocky slopes, and the arid chaparral. A reporter on TV said there were firefighters on the ground back in that rugged terrain, and that there were seven aircraft dropping retardant. That sounds like a force that might be able to contain the fire over night – I hope!

 Pine Valley had a very narrow escape from burning up back in the 1970’s, and the community of Lake Morena, about eight miles south of Pine Valley, experiences a number of close calls with fire every few years. During World War II, there was a terrible fire in Hauser Canyon near the site of the present fire, in which 8 servicemen from nearby Camp Lockett in Campo were trapped and burned to death while fighting it. There is a monument to them that has been erected in their memory.

At 5 P.M. the increasing amount of smoke here made me want to see for myself how far away the fire was. I decided to drive to the gas station at the Golden Acorn Casino to make sure I have a full tank if the fire should veer this way. The Casino stands on a promontory where you can get a good view to the west, and view sure was a threatening! The huge cloud of black smoke blotted out the setting sun, creating an eerie reddish glow behind it. I wished I had a good camera to catch the picture on film.

 I heard on the news before I left for gas that another separate fire had just started nearer to Campo in Bell Valley. The wind had been blowing that way so maybe a spark blew that far and set it. The wind has changed since then, and is now a threat to the area north of the freeway, if it makes the jump.

Many, I should say most, of the fires in this area prove to have been started by illegal border crossers, but that usually happens in cooler weather. They start fires to keep warm. But with no thunderstorms, and the fact the fire started a mile away from a house or a road, those illegal foreign intruders are the most likely source of the fire. All the little communities I have mentioned are within 15 miles of the Mexican border, and Campo is only one mile away. They are all on the general path that illegals take to get to an area where they can blend in with the general Latino population.

It is 11 at night now, and the reporter on the news says that the fire is 5% contained. It has not crossed the freeway, and is still at least 15 miles away from where I live. They hope to have it fully contained by tomorrow night, but that depends on the whims of the wind. A firefighter driving a bulldozer was burned when the wind turned the fire back on him as he ascended a steep slope. He has been flown down to the hospital in the city. Meanwhile people in Pine Valley are preparing to load up their horses, other pets, and belongings for evacuation if it becomes necessary.

I just heard a helicopter cruising low, so my dog, Smokey Joe, and I went out into the dark to see what we could see. The western sky glows from the lights of El Cajon and San Diego, but I don’t see that ominous pillar of black smoke, or any reddish glow reflected on clouds. I guess those are good signs. The smoke here is much less than it was, and there is hardly any movement of the air, and those are very good signs. But, I’m afraid the people of Campo, Lake Morena, and Pine Valley will not sleep easy tonight.