Sawday Fire In Ramona Burns 97 Acres, 15% Contained

Speaker 1: 00:00 Through the morning, we've been monitoring a brush fire, which broke out East of Ramona at around nine 30 strong Santa Ana. Winds pushed what's being called the Soliday fire quickly to around 70 acres. Cal fire air attack was dispatched in force and stalled the spread of the blaze. Right now on the line with me as Cal fire captain Isaac Sanchez, he's at the command post at fire station 85 on highway 78 in Ramona and captain Sanchez. Welcome to the program. Speaker 2: 00:29 Thank you for having us. Speaker 1: 00:30 Uh, can you tell me where, what you're seeing right now? Speaker 2: 00:34 Okay, well I'm seeing progress. Um, you know, when we get to a fire like this, uh, you know, one of the first things we want to see is that smoke kind of dissipating and uh, and that's exactly what we're seeing right now. Speaker 1: 00:45 And is the fire growing at any more that you can see? Speaker 2: 00:50 Well, I don't know that it's currently growing, but we have not declared that the fold rate of spread has been stopped. This is kind of a sensitive time right now on an, on a fire. Uh, we can certainly slow it, uh, which is always the goal. Uh, but until we can declare that the folder disparate spread has stopped, um, you know, we're, we're going to treat this like this fire a is ready to pick up and get moving again. Speaker 1: 01:09 What were the weather conditions that fueled the spread of this fire? Speaker 2: 01:13 Well, you know, what we've been talking about for the last week or so is the high winds out the high temperatures and the low communities and that's exactly what we had in this case. Uh, the fire did make some significant runs a fairly, in a very short amount of time. Uh, I believe it was a, a critical rate of spread, uh, when the first end engine got at scene, uh, that this fire definitely has a potential or have potential when it first started. And, and until again, we can declare that the [inaudible] spread has been stopped. It will continue to have that potential. Speaker 1: 01:39 Are there any injuries or structures burned? Speaker 2: 01:42 Uh, none that I'm aware of. Speaker 1: 01:44 Uh, there were evacuations ordered though. Speaker 2: 01:47 Absolutely. Yeah. We, we had about a, um, six to eight streets in the area of, uh, of the fire of the start of the fire that, that, uh, were evacuated, uh, or at least placed under an evacuation order. Uh, I don't have any information as far as how many people actually took the, um, took that warning, uh, to heart unless the area, but, uh, that, that is always the goal when an evacuation order is issued. It's, it's never done lightly. It's done because there is an immediate life threat today is folks that are in the area and uh, we're, we're always hoping that folks, so heed that warning and get out of the area soon as Paul, Speaker 1: 02:18 can you tell us the types of resources Cal fi has is putting on this blaze? Speaker 2: 02:23 Sure. It's, it's a pretty standard of a vegetation fire response. We've got about 150 firefighters engaged right now, approximately 30 fire engines, um, of all the fixed wing and all the rotary wing aircraft that we can grab up from. Not only San Diego, from the region. And, uh, it was, it was definitely all hands on deck for this incident Speaker 1: 02:39 and it put up a lot of smoke. Speaker 2: 02:42 Yeah, absolutely. You know, when, when, uh, when, when you have fires like this, not only do they burn quickly, but they put up a significant amount of smoke that can definitely impact the communities in a very short amount of time. But, uh, like I said, that that smoke is starting to dissipate as we speak. And a, um, uh, you know, if, if all things continue, the path that we're on right now, uh, we're hoping to declare the forward rate of spread stopped soon. Speaker 1: 03:03 Highway 78 was in a section of, it was closed for a while. Why is that? Speaker 2: 03:08 Well, I don't know that how we, 78 was closed, although that, that certainly is a possibility. But, uh, the only road that I'm aware of that was closed was old Julian highway at highway 78. Um, and on the East side and at, at, uh, Vista, Ramona on the, on the West side. Speaker 1: 03:22 Do we have any idea how this fire started? Speaker 2: 03:26 Uh, none at the point at this point. But we do have Cal fire investigators that are at scene and that is absolutely their, their goal is to as quickly as possible to determine the origin and then the cause of the incident. Speaker 1: 03:36 Now this, yeah, the cost, this fire started very close to where the witch Creek fire started in 2007 that that might've my must've gotten a lot of people's attention. Speaker 2: 03:46 Yeah, absolutely. You know, we, we definitely keep track of our, of our history, um, in this County when it comes to, to fighting significant fires and the fires that impact us as, as a not only an agency, but as a community in San Diego County. And I'll tell you that when, when we heard the dispatch, you know, that's the first thing that popped into my head was, was the which fire and, and, uh, um, this is certainly, uh, turning into a better result. But, uh, again, we're not letting our guard down just yet. Speaker 1: 04:11 What are the winds like now? Speaker 2: 04:14 Um, you know, they're, they're starting to lighten up just a little bit, but, uh, not, not for the point that, uh, that we can, uh, um, you know, rest easy. There's these, we know that the winds are supposed to stick around. At least the, the advisors are supposed to stick around until about two o'clock this afternoon. Uh, but, uh, they, they are certainly diminishing and, and have diminished significantly since, uh, since the startup fire. Speaker 1: 04:33 So that, that timeframe of two o'clock this afternoon, this is still holding and the red flag warning is supposed to expire at five this afternoon. Is that right? That's still, that's still the situation, Speaker 2: 04:45 you know, that that took the best of my knowledge. Yes. I know those things can change. They can be extended or shortened, uh, you know, as the conditions change. But, uh, to the best of my knowledge, yes, we will be facing significant fire threat, uh, for the rest of today. And, uh, and just for, you know, safety sake, we, we would like people to kind of just, you know, keep these conditions in mind through the weekend and, uh, and just practice safety when went out and about. Speaker 1: 05:07 Okay. I have been speaking with Cal fire, captain Isaac Sanchez. Thank you so much for the update. Speaker 2: 05:14 Thank you. Speaker 3: 05:17 Uh.