Campfire Blamed in Blaze, Evacuations Near Alpine

An illegal campfire was blamed for sparking a blaze Saturday that consumed 1,400 acres of brush in four hours and forced the evacuation of residents in rural San Diego County.

The fire, which began about 2:30 p.m. near Alpine, continued to burn out of control Saturday evening, with firefighters saying they had no estimate of when it would be contained.

More than 300 firefighters from state and federal forestry agencies battled the fire along Japatul Road, just northeast of the Loveland Reservoir in the Cleveland National Forest, California Department of Forestry officials said.

Six helicopters, 11 air tankers and more than 50 engines were called in to fight the fire, the smoke from which could be seen as far away as downtown San Diego.

One firefighter suffered from heat exhaustion and was taken by Life Flight to a local hospital, but no residents were injured as of late Saturday, firefighters said.

Hundreds of residents in the Hidden Glen area whose homes were threatened by the blaze were evacuated, although it was unclear where they would go, sheriff’s Lt. Dan Greenblat said.

“To my knowledge, we’re not telling them where to go, we’re telling them to evacuate the area for their own safety,” he said.

No homes had been destroyed, but a double-wide mobile home trailer was damaged, as were three greenhouses, numerous abandoned cars and trucks and several outdoor sheds, forestry officials said.

The brush fire, fueled by high winds and hot weather, began with an illegal campfire that got out of control, forestry officials said.

San Diego County sheriff’s deputies at the Descanso Detention Facility were prepared to evacuate their 280 inmates by bus to the East Mesa Maximum Detention Facility, Greenblat said.

Audrey Hagen, spokeswoman for the state Department of Forestry, said fire crews will battle the blaze through the night, when conditions were expected to improve.

“The weather conditions tonight are kind of humid and there is no wind, so the fire will kind of die down and that will be in our favor,” Hagen said.