Correction: Witch and Poomacha fires close to merging

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Northeastern San Diego County:

This morning, fire teams were working on a northeastern section of the Witch fire just south of Harrah’s Casino, said Bob Rodello, incident commander for the California Department of Forestry.

Rodello was at a staging area along Highway 76 at the foot of the south grade of Palomar Mountain. Smoke from the Poomacha fire was billowing behind him.

The two fires were close but had not yet merged, Rodello said, and he and other officials were trying to keep that from happening. Authorities earlier had said the two blazes already had merged, but later corrected the report.

With the winds predicted to shift later in the day and start blowing west, Rodello was marshalling forces at 9:30 a.m. to estabish a break on the La Jolla Indian Reservation, at the eastern edge of the Witch fire. He said he had from 80 to 100 men in six crews and four bulldozers -- but no engines available. They were “trying to get a line opened wide” along La Jolla Truck Road “before the wind changes,” he said.
“The fire is still on the west side of the truck road.”

Harrah’s Casino is on the Rincon Indian Reservation on Valley Center Road, a couple miles south of Highway 76. The Santa Anas are gusting strong here.

-- Christine Hanley