Tuesday morning update

Mira Mesa has not been evacuated. The mandatory evacuations north of 56 have not been extended down through Los Pe�asquitos Canyon. There have been great efforts to keep the fires out of the canyon, as it has not burned in 90 years.

More than 346,000 homes have been evacuated throughout San Diego county. At this point most of the new evacuations are happening in northern and southern parts of the county. There is not as much ash on the ground here in Mira Mesa as yesterday morning. This indicates to me most of the fire activity is to the north of us rather than to the east as it was yesterday.

Wildcat Canyon Road has been evacuated, near the Baron Casino (see map on that page), as well as the Lakeside area. This area burned pretty bad in the Cedar fires, resulting in a some deaths.

Winds in Ramona are kicking up again, although other areas are getting a bit of reprieve from the winds. Sources inside the San Diego Country Estates report that there are no known fires in the west end of the Estates, even though the KPBS fire map shows that area as having been covered by the Witch fire. Power and water are still available in the Estates, although I have seen reports that Ramona proper does not have good water, possibly due to lack of power. I am not sure how the west side of the Estates is fairing. This area is closer to the fire. The east end is separated from the fires to the north by Mount Gower, which burned fairly clean in the Cedar fires. The main concern is fire activity in the Wildcat Canyon Road area. If the winds shift it could send the fire back toward the southeast part of the Estates. There are more than 5,000 homes in the Estates.

Some good news: In addition to the winds decreasing around San Diego, there is a lot of support pouring in from around the country. I’m looking at helicopters dropping water on some areas right now. Air National Guard units from CO, WY and NC are on the the way, with the first units scheduled to arrive in Southern California around 2:30pm. These units will bring six C-130 air tankers, which can cover a half mile wide area with one drop of fire retardant — 3,000 gallons at a time.

At this point the Witch fire is only 1% contained. See sidebar links for more information on other areas of San Diego County.