Evacuation orders lifted for Lilac fire after high winds bypass burn zone

Sights and Sounds: Lilac fire hits close to home

San Diego Union-Tribune

Dec. 10, 2017 8:55 PM PT

Santa Ana winds that could have reinvigorated the destructive Lilac fire bypassed the burn zone Sunday, allowing fire crews to get a good enough handle on the blaze to lift all evacuations and road closures in the area.

Firefighters assisted by helicopters spent the day dousing hot spots left in the wake of the 4,100-acre fire, which — at last count — destroyed 151 structures and damaged 56 others.’

“The fire’s looking really good, despite the wind,’’ said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Henry Herrera. “If we can get through (Sunday) I think we’ll be in pretty good shape for the remainder of this incident.’’

At 4 p.m. Sunday, Cal Fire announced that all residents could return to their homes, and by evening, the fire was 75 percent contained.

The weather should be on their side as firefighters continue working. The region’s red flag warning came to an end Sunday night and powerful gusts that ripped through the county over the weekend have moved on.

“For the most part, we’re going to have light to moderate winds after today, with very low humidity,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brandt Maxwell said. “For the Lilac fire, it looks the winds will be not that strong after (Sunday.)”

Most of the shelters that opened for fire evacuees on Thursday have since closed, except for the Bostonia Park and Recreation Center in El Cajon and one at Palomar College in San Marcos where 50 to 70 people remain, said San Diego Red Cross spokesman Dave Maloney.

The Bostonia shelter is slated to close Monday, while the Palomar one will remain open until there is no demand for the service.

A number of school districts and county facilities that closed when the fire ignited were expected to reopen Monday.

Seven school districts plan to be closed: Bonsall Unified School District, Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, Fallbrook Union High School District, Mountain Empire Unified School District, St. Peter the Apostle Catholic school, Spencer Valley School District and Valley Center Pauma Unified.

Roughly 9,000 county homes were without power Sunday evening, including about 7,500 customers who had their power turned off to reduce the risk of fire, said San Diego Gas & Electric.

As residents return home, others will begin navigating the sometimes daunting recovery process.

Today, the county will open a Local Assistance Center at the Vista Library on Eucalyptus Avenue to assist in those efforts.

The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. starting Monday and will offer a variety of services that include crisis counseling, short-term housing referrals and assistance applying for tax relief and replacement records. Information about rebuilding will also be provided.

Despite the long road ahead, residents still took time to show their gratitude. Signs thanking firefighters were placed up and down West Lilac Road where the fire swept through avocado groves and farms Thursday in the initial hours of the blaze.

At least one woman apparently tried to capitalize on the chaos. Deputies patrolling the fire zone arrested a woman suspected of stealing from a Bonsall home on Disney Lane Saturday afternoon.

No cause identified yet

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire, which began about 11:15 a.m. off the western edge of southbound Interstate 15 and roughly a half-mile south of state Route 76. .

Larry Wickern, of Valley Center, spotted the fire as he was driving along Old Highway 395, west of I-15. The blaze was “no bigger than a double-wide bed” across the small valley.

“I was the only car on the road at the time, and I glanced over to the left and I saw the flames,” he said.

“I was thinking that doesn’t look right because it was all out there by itself. The wind really hadn’t started yet. The flames were probably a foot high. It looked really harmless.”

Wickern said he saw the fire burn away from the freeway.

About the same time, Herman M. Brown was driving from his Oceanside home to the Pechanga Resort & Casino, where he works as an internal affairs investigator. He was on state Route 76 bridge over I-15 when he looked to the right and saw the fire.

“I was looking down at it,” Brown said. “It was right off the road, almost like a thin line of fire and it was just starting to burn. At that point it was maybe five or six feet wide and within a few inches narrow. It was like a perfect little line of fire coming up.”

Brown thinks he missed the start of the fire by just minutes. While there were many cars heading south on the freeway, he said, he didn’t see anybody or any vehicle where the fire was burning.

Initial reports of the fire were called in by passing motorists, according to the California Highway Patrol. One caller said a citizen had given up trying to put the fire out by himself.

Among the first firefighters on the scene was Cal Fire Division Chief Nick Schuler, who works out of the Deer Springs station a few miles to the south. Schuler confirmed the fire began just off the freeway and was perhaps only two to three acres when he arrived.

One acre is roughly the size of a football field, including the end zones.

Officials said the blaze quickly spread into the small valley between the freeway and Old Highway 395 and then jumped the highway heading west. The first populated area it hit was the Rancho Monserate Country Club, a retirement mobile home park where dozens of trailers were destroyed.

Residents and animals find shelter

Hundreds of evacuees booked hotels outside the fire zone, including the Welk Resort in Escondido.

George Ross, 65, of Fallbrook, stayed at the resort two days with his wife, son and two granddaughters. His son is Marine Corps Sgt. Jason Ross, a double amputee who uses a wheelchair and has been profiled by the Union-Tribune.

The family lives in a Fallbrook home donated by the Gary Sinise Foundation designed to help the wounded soldier get around easier. The Ross family had to abandon the home during the fire, even though it had not burned down.

“I thought, two nights (in a hotel) should do it. It didn’t,” said George Ross.

The family stayed at Welk for a few nights before moving to a hotel in Murrieta. George Ross said the family would like to get back home, but for now his granddaughters are enjoying the hotel.

“Of course, they think the pool is the greatest thing,” he said. “Nothing else matters.”

As owners fled, dozens of animals also had to be housed as well — including a 400-pound pig.

Animal services employees used a bucket filled with rocks or food to lure the swine to safety from his owners’ home in Fallbrook on Thursday afternoon.

The pig’s owners had a trailer that they used to get out two miniature donkeys and a goat, but needed help with the pig, said Dan DeSousa, director of the county’s animal services department.

“You can’t move a pig if it doesn’t want to,” he said. “They will follow that bucket wherever it goes.”

The department took the pig to the San Diego Humane Society’s Escondido campus, where she has been mostly sleeping and eating since arriving. She was a family pet, not livestock.

More than 30 animals have been rescued by the department since the start of the fire, but this was the only pig.

Three kittens found in a box were rescued Friday by San Diego County sheriff’s deputies patrolling a burned area of Bonsall.

At least 35 thoroughbred horses died when the fire tore through the San Luis Rey Downs horse-training facility Thursday. Trainer Martine Bellocq suffered severe burns and remains critically injured and is being treated at the UC San Diego Medical Center.

The California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation is collecting donations for her at CTHFcares.org.

Staff writer Sandra Dibble and City News Service contributed to this report.