By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Cynthia Wharton, taken yesterday from Otay Lakes Road just before it was shut down.

May 21, 2017 – A criminal arson investigation has been launched into the cause of the Gate Fire, which has charred 2,056 acres and is now 70% contained.

Captain Isaac Sanchez with Cal Fire told ECM news partner 10 News that a video shot by a target shooter and posted on social media shows a group of people starting the fire. The video may be this one posted by a user named Vandalsworld on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/p/BUVtlvSBN0r/?hl=en.   The poster claims the people started the fire, but it is unclear whether the fire was started by shooting or some other way. After the fire started, the people could be seen walking away from the scene.

Earlier, some neighbors had blamed the fire on shooters at a target range near where the fire began, in an area where shooting is believed to have started several prior brush fires. But now a shooter may have captured evidence to catch possible arsonists or careless individuals whose actions ignited the Gate Fire.

Firefighters continue to make progress towards full containment, Cal Fire reports.  State Route 94 has been reopened, as well as Otay Lakes Road.  Please drive with caution, however, in this area.

Update 5:55 p.m.:  The Gate Fire is 800 acres and is now 10% contained.  Road closures remain in effect on Highway 94 from Honey Springs Rd. to State Route 188, and on Otay Lakes Road.

Update 4:50 p.m.:   Fire is now 500 acres and still only 5% contained. A Chula Vista policeman directing traffic was struck by a vehicle and has been taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Update 3:20 p.m. :  The Gate Fire is now 425 acres and 5% contained, per Cal Fire. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo left, by Dan Cassidy

May 20, 2017 (Jamul/Otay) – The Gate Fire has scorched 300 to 400 acres,  according to Cal-Fire.  Thus far no structures have been damaged.  The fire is burning  near Highway 94 and Otay Lakes Road, toward the Rancho Jamul Reserve with winds at 10-15 miles per hour.  The fire is zero percent contained and still spreading rapidly. 

East County News Service

May 19, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – What’s it like to be a firefighter?  Find out on June 17th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Heartland Fire Training Facility, 1301 North Marshall Avenue in El Cajon. “Fire Ops 101,“ a fire ground-operations orientation for civilians including elected  officials and media representatives, will include actually suiting up in firefighter protective clothing, donning self-contained breathing apparatus and actually going inside a real fire to experience firsthand the environment in which firefighters work.

Source:  Cal Fire

May 10, 2017 (Jamul) - CAL FIRE and San Diego County Fire, in cooperation with California Department of Fish & Wildlife, will be conducting a habitat restoration prescribed burn approximately 4 miles southeast of Jamul within the Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve. Burning of standing vegetation will occur on approximately 70 acres as part of CALFIRE’s Vegetation Management Program (VMP). Ignition will occur at approximately 8:00 AM on May 11, 2017 and smoke may be visible throughout the County.

By Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna

May 1, 2017 (San Diego) -- There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills!  It’s also along the freeways, in open fields and vacant lots in your neighborhood. That lush green vegetation and pretty wildflowers from recent winter storms is now turning golden in color and soon to become dark brown, brittle and extremely dry.  Fire season is already here and getting extremely dangerous quickly. We’ve already seen quite a few fast moving grass/brush fires throughout Southern California.

Source: CAL FIRE

April 21, 2017 (San Diego) -- Being ready for wildfires has never been easier than with CAL FIRE’s new Ready for Wildfire app. This new tool puts a whole library of step-by-step checklists in the palm of the user’s hand.

East County News Service

April 21, 2017 (El Cajon) -- As natural disasters continue to grow and become more destructive, emergency responders, such as CAL FIRE San Diego, are becoming increasingly dependent on community volunteer organizations. One such organization that has been called on to assist is San Diego County’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). When activated through their sponsoring agency, CERT members can find themselves working in close cooperation with local first responders; augmenting their numbers and aiding their neighbors that have been affected by a disaster. Skills that CERT members have been trained in can include basic first-aid, volunteer organization and search and rescue. CERT members were activated as recently as last year during the Border Fire in Potrero and quickly became an integral part of the community response by helping families and property owners that were impacted by the fire which ultimately grew to nearly 7700 acres over two weeks.

East County News Service

April 20, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- If a disastrous event overwhelms or delays the community’s professional response, CERT members can assist others by applying the basic response and organizational skills that they learn during training.  These skills can help save and sustain lives following a disaster until professional help arrives.

East County News Service

April 16, 2017 (Ramona) -- As the temperatures continue to rise region-wide, CAL FIRE San Diego is beefing up preparations for fire season by opening the Ramona Air Attack Base in Ramona.

By Miriam Raftery

End of recall effort means district will proceed with cancelling Cal Fire contract in July and return to free-standing status

April 3, 2017 (Spring Valley) – A petition to recall three members of the San Miguel Consolidated Fire District board  has been axed by Registrar of Voters Michael Vu for failing to comply with formatting requirements. The proponent, Robert Cederdahl, a former member of the board in the 1990s, did not submit amended forms by deadline, so the recall effort is up in smoke before any petitions were circulated for signatures.

By Rebecca Jefferis-Williamson

Photo, left:  Kenneth Meza, Vice Chairman of the Jamul Indian Village Tribal Council, addresses attendees.

March 24, 2017 (Jamul) -- Fighting fires in the East County just got a little easier thanks to the Jamul Indian Village Tribe, which handed over the keys to two fire trucks to the San Diego Fire Authority at a ceremony that was held March 22 on the premises of the Hollywood Casino in Jamul.

East County News Service

March 23, 2017 (Sacramento) - State agencies, local and tribal governments, as well as certain private nonprofit organizations, which sustained damage during severe winter storms from Jan. 18 to Jan. 23, have until April 15, 2017, to submit Requests for Public Assistance (RPA).

By Miriam RafteryPhoto

Photo by Alex Tardy, National Weather Service:  San Diego River crested at 14.15 feet, third highest level ever recorded

March 16, 2017 (San Diego) — President Donald Trump has  granted a federal disaster declaration requested by California Governor Jerry Brown in 15 California counties, including San Diego, due to severe storms that caused flooding, mudslides, and other damage from January 18-23.

By Miriam Raftery

March 4, 2017 (San Diego) — Andy Parr has been appointed to serve as the County’s new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Administrator.  Parr is best known in East County as the former Fire Chief of the Lakeside Fire Protection District, where he served for 37 years including during the Cedar and Witch Creek wildfires. Most recently he served as EMS/Fire Liaison for the County Health and Human Services Agency.

Report rock slides, boulders or other dangerous road conditions to the County Operations Emegency Call Center (858)565-5262. Help save lives!

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Christina Dahners-Johnson:  Seasonal creek behind Lyons Valley Trading Post in Jamul had been dry for at least seven years before this storm.

February 27, 2017 (San Diego) – Flooding is wreaking havoc on rural roads and highways countywide.  In Mission Valley, the San Diego River has water cresting among the top 10 levels on record, with the ballfield at Petco Park and some parking garages currently submerged.

George Barnett, a member of the Alpine Community Planning Group, posted in the Ranter’s Roost forum, “ It’s raining like hell in Alpine…Viejas Creek is way outside   its normal channel and Via Viejas into the old ranch area is closed with the dam well over-flowing.  To my eye, on a dark and cloudy day, more water is coming down the creek than I recall seeing in maybe 10 years.”