SPREAD SLOWS ON EL MONTE FIRE

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.
 

“It is burning along the planned route of the Sunrise Powerlink, along the foothills of El Cajon Mountain (also known as El Capitan) and near the reservoir,” confirmed Laura Cyphert, a resident of El Monte Valley in Lakeside, told East County Magazine. “It is also burning in the area where the Golden Eagles nest, according to Billy Ortiz who sighted the nest on a hike up El Cajon Mountain.”

Two additional type-3 strike teams have been requested, along with agency representatives from Barona Fire and Viejas Fire departments, Captain Derek Zagarella of Barona Fire told

East County Magazine.
 

“All this burned in the 2003 Cedar Fire and it’s grown back pretty thick again,” said Dennis Richardson, Lakeside resident and ECM photographer.
 

Mike Crucitt and his wife, Elizabeth, live at the south rim of the El Monte Valley, directly across from El Capitan. For them, this is déjà vu. “We’ve packed out at least twice, in 2003 and 2007. In fact the last house to rebuilt finished about a month ago, and it’s right next to us.”