Temperatures on Rise : Brush Fires Erupt Around San Diego County

The brush-fire season announced its arrival with a flurry Wednesday as blazes fueled by high brush and grass burned from Fallbrook to San Diego.

No structures were reported damaged by the fires, which erupted at the beginning of a weather pattern that is expected to push temperatures upward today and Friday, when they are expected to reach into the low 90s. The only injury reported was to a civilian, who suffered minor injuries in a fire that San Diego firefighters battled in San Clemente Canyon.

A 300-acre fire in an isolated area near Las Pulgas Road and the Orange County Border at Camp Pendleton was allowed to burn itself out.

Two other fires were reported in North County on Wednesday. About 157 acres had burned by 8 p.m. in the rugged De Luz Canyon between Camp Pendleton and Fallbrook. About 100 firefighters and equipment from the Marine base, the California Department of Forestry and the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Department were battling the blaze.

Ramona firefighters, assisted by firefighters from the CDF and U.S. Forest Service, saved two homes and three trailers threatened by a rapidly moving grass fire that burned about 5 acres before it was extinguished. Air tankers were also used to bring the fire under control near Pamo and Burma roads.

In San Diego, city firefighters quickly extinguished a 4-acre fire in San Clemente Canyon that briefly threatened homes in North Clairemont. The brush fire erupted at 1:21 p.m. and was brought under control by 60 firefighters in less than an hour. The canyon is a popular park and hiking area stretching along California 52. Firefighters credited a brush clearing program by homeowners and the planting of ice plant on the hillside with slowing the spread of the blaze.

Two small fires were also reported in the Cleveland National Forest in East County. The U. S. Forest Service reported that one fire burned about 3 acres near Julian, while another blackened about a quarter of an acre near Descanso.

No cause was determined for any of the blazes. The Metro Arson Strike Team is investigating the San Clemente Canyon fire.