Over 4,000 acres of Otay Mountain are on fire; orders and warnings for evacuation have been sent. As the forecast indicates rain, a new wildfire is burning south of San Diego.
On a hilltop close to the U.S.-Mexico border, a sizable vegetation fire started to burn Thursday afternoon. The fires gave Otay Mountain a spooky light as night fell.
Cal Fire San Diego tweeted just before 2:30 p.m. that the border fire had already consumed 20 acres and was spreading at a “dangerous rate of spread.” Firefighters, however, had reduced the rate of spread to moderate, indicating that their efforts were starting to pay off.
Near the Otay Mountain Truck Trail, flames from the fire were spotted rushing up a mountainside on Otay Mountain.
The fire had grown to 600 acres by 5 a.m. by 8:30 p.m. The fire spread to 1,000 acres on Friday, and by 6:30 a.m., it had spread to 4,250 acres and was 10% contained.
Near the Otay Mesa border crossing into Mexico, the Border 2 fire is 10% contained. Overnight into Friday morning, the fire spread to 4,250 acres (1,720 hectares), requiring evacuations and endangering a radio repeater tower that fire officials characterized as “critical” for communications.
The California Department of Forestry and Incident Protection, or Cal Fire, reported that the incident was one of five new flames that broke out on Thursday. The Hughes fire, which began in the mountains north of Los Angeles on Wednesday and grew to over 10,000 acres, is currently confined to about 56% of its perimeter, meaning that firefighters have put up barriers like fire breaks to stop the flames from spreading.
Strong winds and low humidity could continue to make conditions difficult for firefighters until Friday afternoon in Southern California’s mountains and canyons. However, a sudden change in the weather is anticipated this weekend, as starting Saturday afternoon, a low-pressure system bringing much-needed moisture from the Pacific Ocean will gradually dump up to 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) of rain across the area.
In a report released early Friday, the National Weather Service stated that “these light rain rates will be very beneficial to the fire weather danger while also remaining under the intensity needed to cause debris flows in the recent fire areas.” “The potential for convection,” or thunderstorms, is the sole thorn in the side.
Heavy downpours and small hail are possible during thunderstorms, which might exacerbate unstable terrain over recently burned areas. In an interview, Cal Fire battalion leader David Acuna stated that to lessen the chance of a mudslide, firefighters were attempting to restore areas of the landscape that had been damaged during the response to the Los Angeles fires.
At a news conference this week, Los Angeles County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella stated that control dams have also been installed in case of rapid floods. The probability of thunderstorms will be at its highest from Sunday evening until Monday morning.
After months without even a little rain, Southern California has been experiencing an extraordinary winter drought. Mid-April 2024 was the last time downtown Los Angeles received half an inch of rain in a single week. In an interview, Thursday, National Weather Service meteorologist Kristan Lund stated that a mudslide or debris flow on the Eaton and Palisades burn scars in Los Angeles would require rainfall rates of half an inch per hour. The two biggest fires that started in the area this month were those two.
The fire threat that has plagued California for weeks is predicted to move east as the state gets ready for rain. Due to gusty winds and low humidity, the US Storm Prediction Center issued a warning that west Texas and southwest Oklahoma could see critical fire weather conditions at times on Friday. By Saturday, Flagstaff and Tucson, Arizona, are more likely to experience wildfires.