September 2, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) 3:30 p.m. update:  – The Cowboy Fire is now 75 acres to 100, Cal-Fire reports.  Campo Elementary School is being evacuated, with students taken to Mountain Empire High School. 

The Cal Fire info/call center has been activated for concerned citizens.619 590 3160. In addition, residents can find updates at www.calfiresandiego.blogspot.com, www.twitter.com/calfiresandiego, and www.flickr.com/calfiresandiego.

Update 2:35 p.m. Campo Elementary School is being evacuated; students will be taken to Mountain Empire High School

September 2, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – The Cowboy Fire reported at 1:13 p.m. is now 20 acres, burning between Campo and Potrero near the Pacific Crest Trail.  Incident Page Network indicates the fire is near the junction of Highway 94 and Star Ranch.  Other reports indicate the location is within Hauser National Wilderness and Cleveland National Forest areas.

“Currently the fire is inaccessible by ground units,” Cal-Fire battalion chief Nick Schuler said. “They are attempting to make contact with the fire now,” he said, adding that air tankers and helicopters are also on the scene.

September 1, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- Effective Friday September 3, at 6:00 a.m., the Cleveland National Forest will raise the fire danger level to VERY HIGH. Forest use restrictions under the very high level will be implemented at that time.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Dennis Richardson
 

Update 7:30 p.m. -- Cause of the fire has been determined to be accidental, due to workers installing a fence. 

August 27, 2010 (El Cajon) updated 1:30 p.m. -- Heartland Fire dispatch confirms that a fire that forced evacuation of homes near Grossmont College is now fully contained.  No buildings were lost or damaged.

Scroll down for videos provided by a reader.

County honors deputies who saved couple’s lives during Monte Fire;

Climbers offer safety tips for others

By Miriam Raftery

August 26, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego Sheriff’s deputies Gary Kneeshaw and Scott Blight saved two rock climbers trapped on the face of El Capitan mountain during the Monte Fire in Lakeside on Saturday.  Today, the deputies were honored with a commendation from the County Board of Supervisors for their heroic actions in a daring ASTREA helicopter rescue. In a press conference at Gillespie Field in El Cajon today, Lieutenant Richardson praised the deputies for actions “above and beyond the call of duty” which “without a doubt, saved the lives” of rock climbers André Doria and Meg Rippy.
 

Doria and Rippy, 27-year-old graduate students at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, revealed details of their ordeal to East County Magazine.

August 26, 2010 (Lakeside) - Fire investigators have determined that two juveniles playing with fire caused the Monte Fire, which started on August 21st and burned 926 acres. The blaze briefly threatened homes near the fire’s origin and nearly caused the death of two rock-climbers who were rescued by a Sheriff's helicopter in the nick of time.

Recently, there has been a rash of fires caused by children playing with matches or lighters in the backcountry, Cal Fire's Roxanne Provaznik said.

Update 2:00 p.m. - "This fire is now out," Cal-Fire Nick Schuyler informed East County Magazine." It was a great stop by multilple agencies working together."  The fire was contained at 100 acres; cause is still under investigation. Firefighters will remain on scene through the night mopping up hot spots.

Story and photos by Dennis Richardson

August 23, 2010 (San Diego) -- San Diego Fire Department responded to a canyon fire at 66th and Skyline. The blaze started at mid-day and threatened several homes as the fire expanded in size. Firefighters, with the aid of air attack helicopters, were able to hold the fire to one acre as it burned heavy bush in the center of a populated neighborhood.

East County News Service

Update 7 p.m. - The fire is now fully contained.

August 23, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) –The Monte Fire, which started Saturday at 1 p.m. in the El Monte Park area of Lakeside, is now 75% contained. Full containment is expected by 6 p.m. today, according to the Southern California Interagency incident management team.
 

El Monte Road at Lake Jennings Road remains closed today, along with El Capitan Reservoir and El Monte Park. Cause remains under investigation.

August 22, 2010 (Lakeside) 8:30 p.m. – Asked for an update on the Monte Fire, U.S. Forest Service public information officer Kate Kramer had good news. “We’re doing really well,” she said, adding that the fire has been held to 1,027 acres. “We’ve been working hard on getting a line about it, and we expect full containment by 6 p.m. tomorrow.”

East County News Service

Update 6:05 p.m. This fire is now 50% contained at 30 acres; aerial support has been released, Cal-Fire reports.

August 22, 2010 (Santa Ysabel) – Cal-Fire is on the scene of a 25-acre brush fire off Highway 79 near the Santa Ysabel Casino, assisted by U.S. Forest Service, volunteer fire agencies, and the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. One firefighter has suffered minor injury, Cal-Fire spokesperson Roxanne Provaznik reports.

 
Golden eagle nest saved in El Monte Valley;
Fire reignites worries about PowerLink lines

 
East County News Service
 
August 22, 2010 (Lakeside) – Due to improved mapping technologies, the U.S. Forest Service has revised the estimate on size of the Monte Fire to 1,047 acres (down from official estimates as high as 3,000 acres yesterday).
 
“We’re still holding at 10% containment and we do expect that to drastically increase today,” Brian Harris, U.S. Forest Service spokesman, told East County Magazine at 8:30 a.m. today. “We feel good about holding the space that it is in.”
 
View a video filmed and narrated by resident William Ortiz showing aerial firefighting attacks yesterday where SDG&E plans to build towers for Sunrise Powerlink. The project would preclude aerial drops within 1,000 feet of the lines.  Firefighters saved homes in El Monte Valley by making water drops from the El Capitan Reservoir. "All these airplanes and helicopters that you've seen here would not have been able to attack this fire, at all," Ortiz said. "This Sunrise Powerlink will create a huge hazard not only for lives, for for the Forest. That's part of Cleveland National Forest that's burning out there."

By Miriam Raftery

August 21, 2010 (Lakeside) -- As East County Magazine reported earlier, a San Diego Sheriff's helicopter rescued two people trapped on the face of El Capitan (El Cajon Mountain) when the fast-moving Monte fire encroached below them.

Now the Sheriff and Cal-Fire have released details of the harrowing ordeal, revealing how two deputies risked their own lives to save others.  They narrowly escaped, as flames burned so close that one rescuer leaped onto a landing skid and hung on as the chopper descended 3,675 feet to the valley floor.

August 21, 2010 (Lakeside) 9:05 p.m. --“Barring anything else happening it looks like it is contained for the night,” Chief August Ghio, head of the San Diego Fire Chiefs Association informed East County Magazine at 8:45 p.m. The fire which began in the El Monte Valley early this afternoon is more than 2,000 acres, but forward spread has been halted, he confirmed.

The U.S. Forest Service is taking over management of the fire, which is now burning in the Cleveland National Forest.

Fire burning along Powerlink route; eagle's nest threatened

By Miriam Raftery
 

August 21, 2010 (Lakeside) 5:15 p.m. – Firefighters are expected to work through the night battling a blaze that Cal-Fire now estimates at 2,000 acres, with 5-10% containment. (Note: Cal-Fire issued a correction of an earlier release, which had indicated 3,000 acres.)

"The fire went right up El Cap to where one of the towers is to be located," Candy Barra-Jenkins said of the planned Sunrise Powerlink line. "All the pictures I took of the planes and helicopters are where the transmission line would be. This fire would have been much worse if the transmission line were here." View more of her fire photos.
 

 
Pipe storage yard ablaze; 1 firefighter injured in 2,500 acre inferno

By Miriam Raftery
 
August 21, 2010 (Lakeside) 3:40 pm – “Conditions ripe for a major fire, now established on El Cajon [El Capitan] Mountain, which last burned in the 2003 Cedar Fire,” according to a Cal-Fire post which cites air attack on the scene of the fire in Monte Valley. The fire is now estimated at 2,500 acres.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Dennis Richardson

August 21, 2010 (Lakeside) – 2:50 p.m. – Two rock climbers were trapped 1,500 feet up the side of El Capitan, dangling on the sheer rock face in El Monte Valley with a wildfire burning toward him.  Moments ago, Sheriff's Lieutenant Munsey informed ECM that the climber has been rescued.  Cal-Fire reports that a total of 10 people have been evacuated via helicopter, including 8 residents and the two climbers.

Climbers reportedly trapped on mountain

August 21, 2010 (Lakeside) 1:55 p.m. - The fire in El Monte Valley is now 100 acres, actively burning to the north, into steep terrain, away from structures,  Cal-Fire's Roxanne Provaznik reports. 

August 21, 2010 (Lakeside) -- CAL FIRE is on scene of another brush fire on the north side of El Monte Road near the community of Lakeside (T.B. Map 1213 B6). The fire is currently 10 acres in size and burning at the base of El Cajon Mountain.

August 21, 2010 (Spring Valley) - A small fire on Anlee Street is burning along the backside of several homes in the Spring Valley area; firefighters are on scene attacking the blaze, Incident Page Network reports. Watch for details.

August 21, 2010  12:50 p.m. (Santee) - A fire in the vicinity of Prospect in Santee briefly threatened homes, ECM learned from our fire spotter in the field. Firefighters brought the blaze under control within minutes and aerial support requests have been cancelled.

East County News Service
 

Photos by Pat Ward
 

August 17, 2010 (Santee) – A brush fire raced up a slope behind several homes on Strathmore Drive Saturday afternoon, just east of Santee Lakes. Cause of the fire is "suspicious," Santee Fire Division Chief Brett Eldridge told East County Magazine.

 
 
August 3, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) board of directorshas unanimously approved a $25,000 grant to the non-profit San Diego Regional Fire & Emergency Services Foundation.  
 
Funds are to purchase supplies and equipment to be used during medical emergencies and rescues by volunteer fire departments serving rural East County communities, including Dehesa, Dulzura, Harbison Canyon, Jacumba, Lee Valley, Portrero and Mt. Laguna.

East County News Service

August 1, 2010 (Julian) – Over 120 firefighters have worked through the night battling the Scissors Fire, which is now 110 acres. Full containment is expected by tonight, said Cal-Fire Battalion Chief Nick Schuler. The fire is burning along State Route 2 in the Scissors Crossing area, about 10 miles northeast of Julian.

Eloy Bazan suspected in Lakeside blazes

July 30, 2010 (Lakeside)--An arrest has been made in connection with a series of recent vegetation fires in the Lakeside area. The most recent fire occurred last night  near I-8 and Los Coches Road at approximately 10:45 pm. Fire crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire; there was no damage to structures and no one was injured.

By Miriam Raftery
 

July 31, 2010 (San Diego) – “Countywide, there are approximately 240 firefighters from San Diego at fires in the north,” Cal-Fire battalion chief Nick Schuler told East County Magazine today. That includes the Crown Fire southwest of Palmdale in Los Angeles County, which has scorched 13,918 acres and is 62% contained. In Kern County, another large blaze has charred 1,658 acres and is 85% contained.
 

About 220 of the 240 local firefighters deployed in northern regions are Cal Fire personnel, including 128 inmate firefighters. Cal-Fire employees a total of 500 people in San Diego County, Schuler said.

July 25, 2010 (Campo) – A brush fire reported at 3:22 p.m. in the 600 block of Forest Gate Road burned approximately 10 acres in Campo today. “No homes were threatened and there were no evacuations,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Nick Schuler informed East County Magazine.

July 25, 2010 (Spring Valley) -- Boots on the ground and helicopters in the air worked together to keep a fast-moving brush fire at nine acres in the Dictionary Hill area. While 25 homes on the north side of Grand Avenue were ordered evacuated, no structures were damaged and no injuries reported. Cause of the fire is under investigation; however San Miguel Fire officials say it is “suspicious” in nature.

July 25, 2010 (Spring Valley) 3:35 p.m. – A fast-moving brush fire is burning on Dictionary Hill, where homes are being evacuated on Grand Avenue. Two helicopters and a type-3 strike team have been requested; Heartland Fire crews are now at the scene.
 

 
July 19, 2010 (Lyons Valley) -- A brush fire in the Lyons Valley area of  Jamul has been contained at three acres, Cal-Fire reports. No structures were damaged or destroyed, but smoke was widely visible in the Deerhorn Flats area to the east, between Deerhorn Valley and Barrett Lake.  (photo: View from Lyons Valley peak webcam at 1:30 p.m.)