Posted on 10/13/2008 5:14:49 PM PDT by Saoirise
CAMP PENDLETON ---- A fast-moving fire on Camp Pendleton was forcing evacuations of homes, schools and businesses in the San Luis Rey "back gate" area in northeastern Oceanside.
Residents in the area of Papagallo Drive and Vandegrift Boulevard were being evacuated at about 3:30 p.m., a North County emergency dispatcher said. Evacuees were being directed to El Camino High School on Mission Avenue in Oceanside, according to early reports.
There were no early reports of injuries or structure losses, though several emergency officials said homes on the base and immediately outside the gates were under substantial threat.
The nearly 100-acre blaze reportedly began on an explosives range, but it was not immediately clear if that range was in use Monday, said officials with the base fire department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Most of the base was shut down for the Columbus Day holiday.
Oceanside Police Department spokeswoman Kim Rainwater said the Pilgrim Creek Estates area also was being evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Officials also were using the county's reverse 911 system to alert residents of the effected evacuation area.
Carlsbad Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Davis said his agency and others had combined to line more than 20 fire engines along the city's border with the base in case the flames or hot embers carried by the wind came over its fences.
"What I'm hearing on the radio is they had structures on Camp Pendleton that Oceanside units could see were suffering significant threat," Davis said.
"From what I understand right now, we have not lost any structures off the base."
At least two helicopters and a water-dropping airplane were working to douse the flames, according to police and fire officials.
The blaze was producing a spectacular large column of thick, black smoke that was being driven toward the coast by strong winds.
San Diego County has been under a red flag fire warning since 6 a.m. this morning because of the hot weather and Santa Ana wind conditions.
Yvette Urrea Moe, a county Office of Emergency Services spokeswoman, said the blaze had torn through about 75 acres as of 4 p.m. with homes and buildings on the base threatened by the flames.
Oceanside resident Gary Thomas questioned whether the base may have been firing explosives during Monday's windy conditions. The base issued a noise warning last week that it would be firing explosives over the weekend.
"I am really concerned about that," said Thomas, who lives in Mira Costa Estates off College Boulevard. "I don't think they are being responsible."
A 1,600-acre range fire broke out at Camp Pendleton last week and was brought under control 24 hours later with no injuries, loss of life or significant damage. That blaze was battled by two "Superscooper" airplanes leased from the government of Quebec that can scoop ocean water in a sweeping pass and quickly drop it over active fire areas.
Last week's fire evoked memories of the massive conflagrations that tore through the county in 2003 and last year, destroying thousands of homes, causing billion of dollars in damage and claiming 26 lives.
Staff writers Mark Walker, Paul Sisson and Colleen Mensching contributed to this report.
Ping and Prayers
Marines and civilians off-base at the time have to evac to the HS because the south gate and access roads are closed off except for emergency vehicles.
Looking at the smoke from my office.
Yes, prayers for all in the area too. Thank God my son isn’t there right now! I would be so worried!
Should I tell her?
Have been watching live on one of our local TV stations here in San Diego where the Camp Pendleton fire is still
ongoing in the north part of the county.
It is America’s largest and busiest military base.
Besides choppers, etc, dropping water, San Diego has leased from Canada 2 huge scoop and drop planes for several months out of the year to be based here during the fire season.
They have been scooping up tons of water from the Ocean and dropping on the fires.
I have a relative in his 20s, a Marine officer and his family based at Camp Pendleton.
A roughly 500-acre brush fire that started at Camp Pendleton is threatening homes in Oceanside in Northern San Diego County.
Authorities cleared all residents out of several base housing developments around Vandegrift Boulevard and from homes in Oceanside’s Wilmont Estates neighborhood, near Papagallo Drive, and the Pilgrim Creek district, in the area of Luiseno Park.
An evacuation shelter has been set up at El Camino High School at 400 Rancho del Oro Drive in Oceanside.
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