March 7, 2013 (El Cajon )--A Heartland Fire & Rescue engine company in El Cajon was returning from a call at 5:30 this evening and came across a possible garage fire in the 100 block of West Douglas Avenue. The fire company, noticing heavy black smoke from the garage of the three-story town home, quickly called for a first alarm assignment to combat the fire.

September 27, 2012 (La Mesa) – A resident sleeping in an apartment at 5300 Marengo Avenue was awakened this afternoon by smoke. Seeing flames coming from her stove, she tried to douse the fire with water, which caused the fire to spread. She then evacuated the apartment, which suffered $50,000 in damages to the structure and contents.

March 18, 2012 (El Cajon) -- At 7:43 p.m. March 15, Heartland Fire & Rescue in El Cajon, with assistance from the San Miguel Fire Protection District, responded to reports of a structure fire in the 500 block of East Madison Avenue in El Cajon. As crews arrived on scene heavy smoke was seen coming from a single-story home at 593 East Madison Avenue. Quick action by firefighters had the fire knocked down in less than 15 minutes. According to Monica Zech of Heartland Fire & Rescue, the home was reportedly abandoned, with windows boarded up, but was full of household items and debris. There were no injuries reported.

Fire crews stretched hose lines to the interior of the house and aggressively fought the fire while a truck crew simultaneously cut a hole in the roof to ventilate the structure. The coordinated quick attack by firefighters confined the fire to the residence, saving nearby homes.

 
January 30, 2012 (El Cajon) – Help is needed a family with a child and two dogs, all displaced by an early morning fire at the home they were renting. The house, built in the early 1900s, may be a total loss and damage is estimated at $180,000 including contents.

November 30, 2010 (Lemon Grove) – A fire reported shortly after 4 a.m. in the 2000 block of Massachusetts Avenue in Lemon Grove caused an estimated $100,000 in damage to a garage and its contents. . After attempting to douse the blaze with a fire extinguisher, the resident alerted other family members, who evacuated safely.

July 8, 2010 (La Mesa) – A 74-year-old woman whose car crashed through a fence and tumbled 60 feet down an embankment on Aztec Drive in La Mesa has been rescued. Heartland Fire & Rescue was dispatched to the accident at 12:30 p.m. and found the vehicle had landed in a drainage ditch. It took ten firefighters approximately half an hour to extricate the woman from the vehicle by removing the roof of the car.