PHOTO OF THE WEEK: JACUMBA FIRE

May 13, 2014 (Jacumba) – Tanya Wilkins Aiau snapped this image a 4:45 p.m. on May 5^th of a brush fire near her Jacumba home--a fire that she reported to 911.

“I was just passing the Golden Acorn on east bound I-8 when I saw smoke. I didn't have any cell phone service and couldn't tell exactly where the fire was from that distance,” she said. “When I rounded the corner by the billboard (advertising the Rio Bend RV park) at the West end of Walker Canyon I could see flames. I used a call box to call in the fire; the first firetruck passed me while I was on the phone."

Aiau recently moved to Jacumba, where she owns property east of Table Mountain. 

“It was really scary seeing how fast the flames were moving with the high winds that were blowing,” she recalled. “Thankfully the fire crews were able to get a handle on the blaze and it only burned about 40 acres of brush.”