Brush fire in Bonsall; evacuations ordered
Update—12:40 p.m. Dec. 7: : The Lilac Fire burning in the Pala Mesa area is now estimated between 100 and 150 acres with zero containment. Two structures have been destroyed and 12 others damaged, reports Cal Fire.
The wind-driven wildfire started about 11:15 a.m. amid gusty, arid Santa Ana conditions just south of state Route 76, according to Cal Fire.
Within an hour, the burn area had grown to about 50 acres as ground and airborne crews labored to keep the blaze from becoming a devastatingly out-of-control conflagration like others raging this week across Southern California.
Authorities cleared people out of communities near the fire. Among the evacuated sites were Sullivan Middle School in Bonsall.
The California Highway Patrol closed SR-76 from Gird Road to Old Highway 395 due to the blaze, which broke out amid a National Weather Service red flag wildfire warning slated to expire late Saturday.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
Update: The California Highway Patrol is reporting a possible brush fire on Carney Lane, just south of the Pala Indian Reservation in Valley Center.
Original report: Air and ground crews are battling a 10-acre brush fire in Bonsall, officials report.
A nearby mobile home park and Sullivan Middle School in Bonsall are being evacuated as firefighters work to extinguish what is being called the Lilac fire, Cal Fire reports.
The fire is at Old Highway 395 near Dulin Road, Cal Fire reports.
No injuries or structure damage has been reported.