MAIL DISRUPTIONS FROM FIRE
June 20, 2016 (Campo)–Campo’s Postmaster has posted the following message on Facebook for those whose mail service was disrupted there today: Mail Delivery: Campo/Lake Morena area had partial mail delivery today. Your carriers were pulled back due to the current hazards and for employee safety. There is a possibility the same situation will occur tomorrow. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact me at 619-478-5466 or message me. All mail is being held at the Campo Post Office. If anyone has meds they are expecting to be delivered please call so we can help get them to you. Thank you. Stay safe. Please share this. I am also a Campo resident, so I am watching this fire as well. —Postmaster CindySign up for free East County Wlidfire and Emergency Alerts via e-mail at the top right side of our homepage and also receive a free weekly copy of our newsletter. You can also follow EastCountyAlert on Twitter for brief text alerts on your mobile phone. We recommend all of the above since some communications means may fail during a major regional emergency. You can also watch for updates at www.EastCountyMagazine.org.
7,500 ACRES CONSUMED BY BORDER FIRE; 5%CONTAINED
By Miriam Raftery Photo: Sparks across roadway driving through the Border Fire, by Richard Edwords New fires are burning in Mexico near the border June 20,2016 (San Diego’s East County) – The Border Fire has swelled to 7,500 acres and is still only 5% contained, Cal Fire announced this evening, adding, “Triple digit temperatures and single digit humidity is creating extreme fire behavior and increased activity is being experienced.” Mandatory evacuations are in effect for Potrero,Forest Gate, Star Ranch, Cowboy Ranch. Dog Patch and Canyon City communities. An overnight evacuation shelter is set up at Los Coches Creek Middle school at 9669 Dunbar Lane in El Cajon. Two new fires, possibly ignited by sparks from the Border Fire, are now burning in Mexico within a couple of miles from the international border south of the Border Fire conflagration. Jan Hedlun in Potrero warns that people who did not evacuate when instructed by authorities are now facing restrictions. “Once you leave they won’t let you return and many of us have livestock or animals we’re tending,”she says.”My well meter has melted so no water at the house but friends dropped off a bunch of water. The worst of times brings out the best in people!” Some residents are without cell phone and land line services in the area and power outages have also left some intermittently unable to communication. Several dozen still without power in the Potrero and LakeMorena areas should not expect to have power restored until midnight on June 22,according to the SDG&E website; roads in those areas are currently shut down due to the fire. Resources statewide may be strained by two new fires today in a national forest in Los Angeles, as well as a flare up of the large fire in Santa Barbara. Some air tankers were delayed reaching the Border Fire, flying out of San Bernadino because the U.S. Forest Service is reportedly still refusing to allow its tankers to land at the Ramona Air Base, even though Cal Fire is landing identical planes there, Supervisor Jacob posted on her Facebook page. Resources have been dispatched from across the state along with an Interagency Management Team to aid in the battle to halt the Border Fire, which started yesterday at 11:05 a.m. near state routes 94 and 188. Firefighters are battling the blaze amid intense heat and low humidity with a red flag warning in effect and brisk winds – the worst possible combination. “My thermometer was reading 114,” Nadin Abbott with Reporting San Diego told East County Magazine. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries. Four outbuilding have burned. Highway 94 is closed in the area. The fire is also impacting Hauser Mountain Wilderness area and threatening the Pacific Coast Trail near Campo. Sign up for free East County Wlidfire and Emergency Alerts via e-mail at the top right side of our homepage and also receive a free weekly copy of our newsletter. You can also follow EastCountyAlert on Twitter for brief text alerts on your mobile phone. We recommend all of the above since some communications means may fail during a major regional emergency. You can also watch for updates at www.EastCountyMagazine.org.
DIANNE JACOB BLASTS FOREST SERVICE FOR REFUSING TO FLY TANKERS FROM RAMONA AIR BASE, WHERE CAL FIRE IS LANDING SAME PLANES
East County News Service June 20, 2016 (Ramona) –Supervisor Dianne Jacob posted blisteringr remarks on her Facebook Page today, with the Border Fire raging out of control and forcing evacuations in multiple rural commnities: “The following is my statement in response to reports yesterday that United States Forest Service (USFS) air tankers were not utilizing the Ramona Air Attack Base, and instead were flying to San Bernardino in between drops on the Border Fire. The same Next Generation Air Tankers used by CAL FIRE were safely refilling at the Ramona Air Attack Base yesterday. “The USFS and federal leaders are failing our region and unnecessarily putting lives and property at risk. The Board of Supervisors last summer called on the USFS and the federal government to land their Next Generation Air Tankers at the Ramona Air Attack Base in order to increase the frequency of drops on a wildfire. CAL FIRE has demonstrated that these types of planes can safely use the Ramona airport. Now we need the USFS to demonstrate that public safety is a higher priority than bureaucratic stubbornness. These planes can carry up to 3,000 gallons of retardant and increasing the frequency of drops gives us a better chance of knocking down dangerous wildfires,” Jacob concluded.In July of last year, San Diego’s five Congressoinal members sent a letter to USFS director Thomas Tidwell asking him to land the tanker planes at Ramona. Supervisors then voted unanimously to ask President Obama to order the USFS to allow its tankers to take off from the Ramona Air Base to fight fighters, as ECM reported. Had those pleas been heeded, the Border Fire might well have been contained early on without mushrooming out of control, threatening homes and lives in communities across the southeast portion of San Diego’s East County. Sign up for free East County Wlidfire and Emergency Alerts via e-mail at the top right side of our homepage and also receive a free weekly copy of our newsletter. You can also follow EastCountyAlert on Twitter for brief text alerts on your mobile phone. We recommend all of the above since some communications means may fail during a major regional emergency. You can also watch for updates at www.EastCountyMagazine.org.
FEMA FIRE MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE GRANTED FOR BORDER FIRE
East County News Service Photo: Cameron Corners, March 20, by Joe Doe March 20, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has authorized the use of federal funds to assist the State of California battle the Border 3 Fire burning in San Diego County. The FMAG provides federal funding for up to 75% of eligible firefighting costs. Eligible costs can include expenses for field camps; equipment use, repair and replacement; tools; materials; supplies and mobilization; and demobilization activities. On June 19, 2016, the State of California submitted a request for a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) declaration for the Border 3 Fire. At the time of the request, the fire was threatening 200 primary homes in and around the community of Potrero, population 790. The fire was also threatening an elementary school, two fire stations, a post office, and transmission lines in the area. Mandatory evacuations were issued for approximately 400 people. The fire, which started on June 19, had burned in excess of 1,200 acres of state and private land when the FMAG was granted. The fire was zero percent contained. (Editor’s note: The fire has grown much larger today and new areas have been evacuated in Campo and the area around Buckman Springs Road and Highway 94. As of this morning, the last Cal Fire update on acreage,1,900 acres had burned and the fire was 5% contained.) The Regional Administrator for FEMA Region IX determined that the Border 3 Fire threatened such destruction as would constitute a major disaster. The state’s request was approved on June 19, 2016 at 11:03 p.m. (EDT). Sign up for free East County Wlidfire and Emergency Alerts via e-mail at the top right side of our homepage and also receive a free weekly copy of our newsletter. You can also follow EastCountyAlert on Twitter for brief text alerts on your mobile phone. We recommend all of the above since some communications means may fail during a major regional emergency. You can also watch for updates at www.EastCountyMagazine.org.