BRUSH FIRE CHARS PORTION OF MISSION TRAILS, CLOSES THREE TRAILHEADS

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Bryan Snow, taken from State Route 52 in Santee

May 23, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – A brush fire yesterday afternoon scorched approximately 13 acres in Mission Trails Regional Park.  The blaze began  at Big Rock and was burning toward Cowles Mountain, Jay Wilson with Mission Trails Regional Park’s Foundation told ECM.

As a result of the wildland fire, three trail heads are temporarily closed:   The trail heads at Big Rock Park, Big Rock Road and Shantaung Drive are temporarily closed.  The trail heads from Mesa Road, Lake Murray Blvd. and Barker Way are open.

Fire crews from San Diego Fire and Rescue, Santee and Heartland Fire departments  doused the blaze, including helicopter water drops onto the flames.

The fire caused some nervous moments for homeowners  in San Carlos and portions of Santee, where smoke was heavy.

Cowles Mountain is one of the most popular hiking destinations in San Diego County and  Mission Trails has many other hiking trails. Fortunately , no hikers were endangered and no rescues off trails were necessary,  Wilson confirmed.

 

Cause of the blaze remains under investigation.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Comments