Brush fire burning in Santee near Town Center

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

Update 9:14 p.m.  Forward spread has been stopped. 
Update 7:42 p.m. -- The fire has crossed the river and is now burning directly behind commercial buildings including Michael's.  "There appears to be no direct access for engines to get to it," ECM reporter Patrick Ward says. The Sheriff has evacuated some stores and is advising the public to avoid the area.

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

March 29, 2026 (Santee) – Fire crews are battling the Town Center Fire burning in vegetation in the 100 block of  River Rock Court, across the river from Walmart and the Town Center shopping plaza. The fire is within 50 to 100 yards of commercial structures and has burned 3 aces as of 7:40 p.m., per Watch Duty.

Per Watch Duty App, the incident commander has requested a type 1 strike team of 5 engines, a strike 3 team of 5 engines, and a water dropping helicopter.

Ground crews are now engaged in structure protection on the south side of the river due to a threat to commercial structures there.

Smoke is visible across much of East County.

ECM reporter Patrick Ward is on scene. He says the fire is burning behind Michael's.  "So far they are able to keep the fire away from structures but it is burning down the river bottom in areas where they can't get to it on foot. There is currently one helicopter dropping water from the City of San Diego."  Ward estimates this will be a "long-term commitment for the fire department."  

Per Ward, the city of Santee has a multi-million dollar grant for clearing brush in the river bottom, but it's been delayed due to environmental studies.

Sign up to receive free East County Wildfire and Emergency Alerts via email at the top right side of our homepage. You can also follow EastCountyAlert on X.

Photo below by Patrick Ward.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Comments

per the scanner

Submitted by on

someone not fire or law enforcement was flying a drone. not a smart thing to do. also the sheriff is asking looky-loos to go home, they are not leaving room for fire fighters to do their job.