San Diego firefighter reports. San Diego Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Craig Newell explained to Mayor Todd Gloria at the Friars Fire command center in Mission Valley how the fire department organized evacuations for numerous homes threatened by the fire near Fashion Valley Mall.
“I couldn’t afford to wait for engines from farther away because the fire was advancing up the hill rapidly,” Newell stated.
According to Newell, he had to call an audible due to the fire’s rapid spread and close proximity to residences.
Strike squads from a predesignated list would normally react. However, being in the city provided a luxury that was not always accessible in more isolated places, such as Bonsall, where the Lilac Fire broke out on Tuesday morning.
“If you’re outside the county, you lack the necessary resources,” Newell explained. “Here, we have a concentrated pool of resources, allowing us to deploy nearly 200 firefighters within the first few minutes of our response.”
Winning firefights depends on air attacks, yet the weather and environmental factors don’t always allow for a full-scale aerial assault.
This week’s Lilac and Poway fires allowed planes to dump retardant, but the Friars Fire only employed helicopters after a supervisor in a spotter plane determined that power lines posed too big of a risk.
Newell, who is in awe of their talent, claims that the drops combine strategy and art.
Newell explained that firefighters focus on spraying as much water as possible at the fire’s front to stop its spread. “After that, they move to secure the flanks and address any spots that might jump the line,” he added.
Newell, who developed the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department’s firefighting strategy for Mission Valley and nearby communities, shared some of their tactics with NBC 7. He demonstrated how they establish defensible space in real-time.
“They use chainsaws to clear away the brush, creating a barrier to prevent the fire from crossing,” Newell explained.
He also stressed the need for cleaning up the hotspots.
“Those roots will go down into the ground, and they’ll burn slowly underground from the fire,” Newell stated. We must thus go down and dig. Because such roots will remain hot for days or weeks underground, we employ hydraulic equipment or a hydraulic blast of water to dig up objects and completely extinguish them.
The San Diego County Office of Education said that several school systems in the San Diego area will be closed on Tuesday due to power outages and severe winds predicted.
In a statement released Monday, the education office stated that “San Diego County school districts place the highest priority on the safety of students and school personnel.”
The schools that are impacted are: San Diego firefighter reports
The following schools and districts were impacted by recent fire activity:
- Julian Union Elementary School District
- Julian Union High School District
- Mountain Empire Unified School District
- Spencer Valley School District
- Warner Unified School District
- Lakeside Farms Elementary
- DREAM Academy in the Lakeside Union School District
- Mt. Woodson Elementary in the Ramona Unified School District
On Tuesday, the Bonsall Unified School District was added to the list after a brush fire ignited overnight, leading to evacuations. By 7:30 a.m., the Lilac Fire had grown to 80 acres and was 10% contained, according to Cal Fire, with reports of two structures damaged.
Later, another fire in Mission Valley prompted the evacuation of the San Diego County Office of Education’s Linda Vista campus and the Linda Vista Innovation Center, which remained closed for the rest of the day.
The education office stated it would provide updates as new information becomes available.
