New refugees replace the old at El Cajon motels

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El Cajon:

With the Harris fire churning to the west, El Cajon became a whirlwind of activity Tuesday night. Cars streamed into motels. At a Best Western, as a haze of smoke settled into the nearby foothills, workers hurriedly sawed the largest limbs from a patch of eucalyptus trees.

The hotel had been busy with fire evacuees since Sunday and was full at one point. Earlier Tuesday, some evacuation orders were lifted in places like Scripps Ranch, and rooms became available. They soon filled up with evacuees from new communities threatened by the advancing blaze. By nightfall, the hotel had just three rooms left again.

Richard and Christina Greer of Lakeside and their sons, 4-year-old Jaimin and 5-month-old Jayce, made a run for it on Monday. Unable to find an available hotel room, they evacuated to Christina’s sister’s house, but that was in Santee -- not much of an improvement. Once Christina learned that some evacuation orders had been lifted, she tried again, this time finding a room at the Best Western. They arrived about 6 p.m., toting Oreos, toy airplanes and a pillow covered in a pillowcase from the movie ‘Cars.’ Jaimin was still wearing the pajamas he’d been in for two days.

‘It’s been crazy,’ Christina Greer said.

She said there had been widespread confusion in Lakeside about whether or not they were under an evacuation order.

‘But with two kids, we were out of there,’ she said, as Jayce chewed on her finger. ‘We weren’t going to take any chances.’

-- Scott Gold