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Firefighters are battling a brush fire that broke out today behind a high school in Rancho Penasquitos, authorities said. A number of homes on the fringes of the fire are being evacuated.
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SAN DIEGO – Firefighters are battling a brush fire that broke out today behind a high school in Rancho Penasquitos, authorities said.
The fire at Sundevil Way and Bassmore Drive – behind Mount Carmel High School – was reported at 12:55 p.m., a San Diego fire dispatcher said. It had burned about 100 acres by 3:30 p.m. The fire is traveling in a north-northeast direction, but winds are reported as "tricky."
Wind gusts of 15 mph fanned the flames and caused a rapid spread, with
light- and medium-sized fuels feeding the blaze, San Diego fire information
officer Maurice Luque said.
The fire has a "potential" to burn about 500 acres, one department spokesman said. No estimated time of containment can be made, he said.
A fire dispatcher said the fire was "nowhere near being contained.''
The firefighter suffered a minor injury – the initial report is heat exhaustion – and
refused transport to a hospital, the dispatcher said.
Some homes west of Carmel Mountain Road and south of Penasquitos Drive, jutting into the brushfire battle zone, are being evacuated as a precaution, a fire department spokesman said.
There are 100 firefighters on the scene – including someMarines and crews from San Diego and Poway fire departments. Some of them were told to stage at Sundevil and Carmel Mountain Road, the dispatcher said. There are also two bulldozers, three heliocopters and two air tankers in use against the blaze.
Homes were not immediately threatened but firefighters reportedly warned residents on Sundevil and Branford Road to remain alert, police said.
Union-Tribune breaking news reporter Greg Magnus contributed to this report.
