January 9, 2013 (Anza Borrego) – Daren Sefcik photographed these spectacular images in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  This endangered Peninsular Bighorn Sheep ram was spotted in a canyon between Potrero and Squaw canyons near Agua Caliente campground. “We were out backpacking for four days through there, “Sefcik says.  He also captured this beautiful sunrise over Whale Peak, photographed from Fish Creek.

Update 5:30 p.m.  This fire was contained at 8 acres, Cal Fire reports.

June 17, 2012 (Potrero) - Cal-Fire is on the scene of a 6-acre brush fire on Potrero Valley Road in Potrero, Incident Page Network reports. The fire is reportedly spreading at a slow rate of speed. Watch for update soon.

By Miriam Raftery

March 7, 2012 (Potrero) – Richard Fox has been arrested after a  homemade cannon that he fired killed his girlfriend, Jeanette Ogara, 38, at her Potrero residence.

August 24, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – A brush fire that started south of Highway 94 along the Bell Valley Truck Trail near Potrero this morning charred approximately 20 acres, Cal Fire reports.

A quick response that included 7 engines, 5 fire crews, 3 helicopters, 4 air tankers and 125 firefighters swiftly contained the blaze.

Harris Fire survivors among thousands nationwide ordered to return money to FEMA

By Miriam Raftery

May 12, 2011 (Potrero) – Donald and Veronica Lytle are stunned after receiving a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) demanding that they return all of the $1,647.43 that FEMA paid them in 2007 for cleanup and temporary lodging after their home on Potrero Valley Road was damaged in the Harris wildfire. FEMA has offered no explanation for the demand, other than stating that the entire amount was an “overpayment.”

The Lytles say FEMA insists their home did not suffer fire damage--despite mounds of ashes blown inside and a hole knocked in the roof by a tree felled during a firestorm so extreme that it fueled its own weather system.

ECM editor Miriam Raftery visited Potrero during that firestorm and concidentally, interviewed the Lytles’ next-door neighbor—witnessing firsthand the devastation clearly caused by the horrific wildfire.

September 2, 2010 (Campo) – A strike team of firefighters is staging at Star Ranch for structure protection, aiming to halt the 200-acre Cowboy fire at the outskirts of the Ranch before it can reach the Campo Hills housing development. The fire is burning in a northeast direction.

“A large water bomber just flew overhead,” Christy Scott, editor of the Alpine Sun, informed East County Magazine. Lake Morena provides an accessible source of water for water-dropping aircraft, she added.