The vulnerable in San Diego have become more so as wildfires rage across the county. From the elderly to the poor to tens of thousands of immigrants both legal and undocumented. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.
Jesus Gomez from Oaxaca was at his job at a nursery in San Diego's North County when the fire came. His crew kept working while wind whipped smoke and ash in their eyes.
Gomez: They gave us masks, but still, our eyes was filling with dirt and ashes, so. We keep working but then the police came in.
Gomez says his boss told him to stop working only after law enforcement gave the evacuation order.
He's been out of work since, though he may be an exception.
At the tomato field across the street and at other fields too close for comfort to the fires, laborers have not missed a day tending the crops.
Alberto Lozano is with the Mexican Consulate in San Diego.He says many workers think because they're here illegally they don't have rights.
Lozano: They could smell the smoke and they could see the light of the fire. But since their boss didn't order them to leave, they were thinking they were just saving their jobs.
San Diego's tomato business is worth about $88 million annually -- the nursery business about a billion.
About 1,500 of the illegal immigrants who tend those crops live in the canyons amongst the county's toniest suburbs.
Immigrants' rights activist Enrique Morones.
Morones: There's no reverse 911 for them.
Morones says many other illegal immigrants fled actual homes but have been reticent to go to shelters. He says they're used to living in the shadows and are afraid to register at evacuation centers.
Shortly after flames began consuming wide swaths of San Diego, rumors that federal officials were conducting immigration raids also spread across the county.
The Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are lending 200 officers to firefighting efforts. Just their very presence in the streets has ignites people's fear.
However, both agencies say immigration status is not their primary concern in San Diego right now.
There's also word that smugglers are telling people now's the time to cross the border illegally from Mexico to take advantage of the chaos.
Chertoff: Anybody who is thinking of crossing the border with fires raging is taking an exceptionally foolish risk.
Department of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff issued a stern warning to when he visited San Diego this week.
Chertoff: Being in the area of the border now with an unpredictable fire is a life threatening mistake. And hopefully what we're seeing is that people recognize that you don't play with fire and they're staying away from crossing the border.
Border Patrol officials say they've arrested 200 people trying to cross illegally in the fire area since Monday.
Six remain hospitalized with burns and one is in critical condition.
Border Patrol officials say aside from rescuing migrants from the flames, the blaze has made their job easier.
They say they can see for miles along the border now that the fire has consumed the brush illegal border crossers often use to hide.
Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
