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UPDATE MAY 25: The Pala fire is now 60% contained and the acreage number has not increased overnight, Cal Fire Captain Nick Schuler reports this morning.
May 24, 2009 (Pala) -- A fire burning along Highway 76 near Pala has reached 122 acres and burned three homes. New evacuations have been ordered this evening on Palomar Del Norte Road, following earlier evacuation at Pala Norte Road. The fire is now 15% contained, with full containment predicted by 10 a.m. tomorrow, according to Cal-Fire Captain Nick Schuler.
"Investigators have determined the fire was human caused," Schuler disclosed.
Highway 76 was closed between Highway 15 and Pala Casino, but is slated to reopen tonight. SDG&E is on the scene repairing damaged electrical lines, but a threat to major transmission lines has been eliminated.
Two small fires earlier today in Santee and Cedar Creek Falls, east of San Diego Country Estates, have been contained with no damage to structures and no injuries.
Editor's Note: Thanks to our webmaster for posting an earlier notice of this fire based on Cal-Fire notes while ECM's editor was on an airplane this afternoon. Due to a software glitch involving Constant Contact, which sends out our alerts, our vigilant assistant on duty was unable to send our fire alert earlier. This is the only time in eight months of our service that we were delayed in our notification regarding a major fire and we regret this lapse. We are training three additional assistants to assure no interruption in our wildfire alert service in the future.
Please watch for updates, and if you have any first-hand knowledge about these or other new fires, post in the "comments" section below.
The fire, located at Hwy 76 west of Pala Temecula is now 10% contained.
Palomar Del Norte Road has been evacuated and major transmition lines in the area are being effected.
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