By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Lakeside Fire Department, which has sent firefighters to battle the Palisades wildfire

January 11, 2025 (Los Angeles) – After days of massive destruction and widespread evacuations, firefighters are finally making progress on four remaining wildfires in the Los Angeles area.  At least 13 people have died in the fires, which have destroyed an estimated12,000 structures, the Los Angeles Times reports.

At least 90 firefighters from San Diego County have been dispatched to help fight the L.A. fires, including Lakeside Fire Department, which posted photos on social media of the Palisades Fire that their firefighters have been battling since Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands remain evacuated, as firefighters slowly make progress toward controlling fires fueled initially by hurricane-force winds.

Here are the latest updates from Cal Fire and L.A.-based news outlets:

Story and photos by Josh Stotler

Photo, left:SDG&E Helitanker 729 makes a water drop on the Wildcat fire as crews cut brush below.

Photo, right:Flames overtake vegetation and paintball barricades on the Barona reservation.

June 20, 2023 (Ramona) -- On a day that saw four vegetation fires in San Diego County, residents can rest assured that firefighters are ready and able to aggressively attack wildfires. 

At 4:06 p.m., calls came in to 911 dispatch reporting smoke in the area off Wildcat Canyon Road on the Barona reservation. Crews, most of which were coming off other fires, were sent to the area and confirmed a fire was making its way through the brush of a paintball park.

Crews set up quickly and were familiar with this exact area. Only two short months ago, this place was filled with firetrucks, hand crews and firefighting aircraft, not for a fire, but for the 2023 Multi-Agency Wildland  Preparedness Exercise—a three day real world simulation that played out nearly exact to the scenario fire crews faced today.

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

Photos: Left, by Rebecca Jefferis Williamson, right via San Diego Fire Dept.

Update 7:30 p.m.:  New road closures:  Vine St. north of Mapleview St. to cul-de-sac,        Mapleview St. east from Channel Rd to SR-67, and Lakeside Ave. closed between SR-67 and Channel Rd.

August 31, 2022 (Lakeside) – The #WillowFire in Lakeside has scorched around 4.5 acres after starting in a riverbed near Mapleview Road and State Route 94. State Route 94 is closed in both directions due to heavy smoke.

Some residents nearby have received evacuation warnings for people to prepare to leave if an evacuation order is lifted. The Sheriff’s department advises vulnerable people such as those with disabilities, access or functional needs, or large animals to leave now.

A temporary evacuation point is at the Lakeside Christian Church, 13739 El Monte Road in Lakeside.

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

Photo, left, taken by John Margolin from his home near the #CochesFire.

Update 5:35 p.m.:  The evacuation advisory has been lifted and the evacuation center at W.D. Hall Elementary has been closed.

Update 5:10 p.m.:  Cal Fire reports the fire's forward spread has been stopped at 30 acres; it is 5 percent contained. No structures have been damaged or destroyed.

May 12, 2021 (Lakeside) – The #CochesFire that started  along I-8 east, south of Los Coches Road in Lakeside, has grown to 30 acres.  Evacuation warnings have been issued for the area and anyone wishing to evacuate can go to WD Hall Elementary School at 1376 Pepper Drive in El Cajon.  There are no mandatory evacuation orders as of 4:40 p.m.

The fire is burning at a moderate rate of spread and moving toward the Walmart and Valleyview Truck Trail.  Air tankers, helicopters and multiple fire engine are battling the blaze.

The right lane of I-8 is blocked by the brush fire and traffic is backed up to state route 67/Magnolia exit. Expect delays of up to a half hour, KUSI reports.

Photo, right by Catherine Gorka

September 13, 2019 (Lakeside) -- A vehicle accident has ignited a brush fire in Lakeside, charring seven acres, according to Cal Fire's latest update.

The #MonteFire started at 14750 Willow Road. According to Cal Fire, forward spread has been halted.

East County Wildfire and Emergency Alerts

Three firefights injured battling blaze

By Miriam Raftery,  photo by Jonathan Goetz

July 11, 2017 (Alpine/Lakeside./Flinn Springs) -- The #JenningsFire that began at 1:40 p.m. near Lake Jennings in Lakeside has swelled to 400 acres, Cal Fire reports.  Forward spread of the fire has been stopped.

Mandatory evacuations are in effect for 15000 Viewside Lane along the south side of I-8 in Alpine and is a structure threat to five homes. 

An evacuation center is open at Joan MacQueen Middle School located at 2001 Tavern Road in Alpine.

An earlier announced evacuation center at Granite Hills High has been closed.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos courtesy of Lakeside Fire

July 2, 2017 (Lakeside) – A mother and sons are homeless after a fire that began with a vehicle striking a commercial building next door spread into their residence yesterday.  A GoFundMe page has been started to assist the victims, For: LaVonne Kraus, Tory Rodriguez, Richard Rodriguez, Jesse Rodriguez.  The Solis Hair Salon has also been heavily damaged.

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

Update 8:10 a.m.  Big-rig tow is nearly at the scene. After towing away vehicles, road shutdown will be changed to one-way closure for next 10-12 hours while power line repairs are made, per CHP website. SDG&E will handle the traffic one-way closure.

Update 7:30 a.m. -- The fires are now out.  Two people have been transported to trauma centers with injuries.

June 14, 2016 (Lakeside) -- 6:40 a.m. A SIG ALERT has been issued for a two-vehicle crash on Wildcat Canyon at Willow Road in Lakeside. One vehicle is on its roof, the other 100 feet down an anbankment with people trapped inside. The crash sparked several small brush fires and knocked down power lines, causing an outage to 21 customers with power restoration estimated at 9:30 a.m. per SDG&E.

Lakeside and Heartland Fire are on the scene. 

Update June 19, 2015 5 p.m. -- The fire is 170 acres and is now 68% contained, Cal Fire advises.

Update June 18, 2015 12 p.m. -- A firefighter has been injured, NBC news reports, as firefighters continue holding the blaze in rugged terrain. 

Update June 18, 2015  8 a.m. -- Cal-Fire now estimates the fire is at 178 acres and 38% contained.  Firefighters worked through the night with headlamps in steep terrain.  Wildcat Canyon Road is open in both directions and homes are no longer threatened at this time.

Update 9 p.m. -- The fire has burned 150 acres and is 10% contained.  Temperature is 75 degrees and humidity is 54%; the rate of spread is now slow.  Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze including Cal-Fire, the U.S. Forest Service, Heartland and Barona. Wildcat Canyon Rd. remains closed from Founder's Way to San Vicente Road, Cal-Fire advises.  The County Office of Emergency Services and the American Red Cross are also now involved.

Update 6:45 p.m. - Cal Fire spokesman Kendal Bortisser has advised  that the fire has potential for 500 acres, though Cal Fire hopes to contain it at 50 acres.  Fire is 10% contained, incident commander estimates. Residents report heavy smoke and poor air quality. The Sheriff has evacuated 7 homes but no others are currently threatened. Those evacuated are sheltering at the Barona Casino. View live-streaming video on Fox 5 at http://fox5sandiego.com/on-air/live-streaming/.

Update 6:02 p.m. The road closure has been moved to south of the Barona Casino to give people access to the casino, CHP reports.  U.S. Forest Service Crews, Cal Fire and Barona firefighters are battling the blaze

Photo  by Shannon Cervantes: fire with Barona Casino in foreground

June 17, 2015 (Lakeside) - A brush fire is burning in Lakeside early this evening on the Barona reservation near Wildcat Canyon Road. The fire, reported about 4:50 p.m. near Acuunya Way., is northeast of the casino and moving northeast toward a glider port. Cal Fire estimateed the blaze at 20 acres but a retired fire official in the area has estimated that the fire has swelled to 40 or 50 acres.

Structures are immediately threatened and the blaze is spreading rapidly, according to Cal-Fire. Wildcat Canyon Road is closed due to the fire from San Vicente Road to just south of the casino. Fixed wing aircraft and helicopters are battling the fire, ECM news partner 10 News reports.

Multiple news outlets report the Sheriff has evacuated several residences in the Acuuunya Way area.

By Nadin Abbott

May 14, 2014 (Lakeside)--A brush fire Lakeside along I-8 business route and Aurora Drive sent up billows of dark smoke visible across much of East County late today.  The blaze, which started atop a small hill, charred 17 acres, according to Chief Andy Parr Of Lakeside Fire. Evacuation notices sent to 1,300 residences have now been lifted.

A road closure on Aurora Drive will remain in effect overnight.

Schools closed, new fire now burning in Lakeside

Photo: Fire off Los Coches Road in Lakeside, photo by Beverly Reyes

By Miriam Raftery

May 14, 2014 (San Diego)—San Diego Board of Supervisors Chair Dianne Jacob today declared a countywide emergency due to at least eight fires now burning.  A Red Flag alert has been extended through tomorrow night.

Fires are currently burning in Lakeside, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Rancho Bernardo, Bonsall, Escondido, Camp Pendleton and Scripps Ranch.

An evacuation center has been set up at El Capitan High School for 1,300 ordered evacuated in the Wintergardens area of Lakeside. Business Highway 8 from Pepper Drive to Los Coches Road is closed.  The fire is now in mop up with no structures lost; evacuations will be lifted at approximately 9 p.m., Chief Andy Parr of Lakeside Fire told ECM.

The County urges people NOT to call the 911 system unless it is a dire emergency. They ask citizens use the 211 system. The 911 system is taxed.  One ECM reader reported getting a busy signal trying to call 911 to report the Lakeside fire this afternoon.

Numerous school districts have ordered schools closed tomorrow, including many in East County. Closures include:

By Miriam Raftery

Photos  by Deborah Horger, , Jeff Holz. Rebecca Jefferis Williamson and Imed Fehri and Alexis Parmnnoff

Update October 7, 2013 --SDG&E advises that the suspected cause of the outage is a faulted capacitor station.  All power was restored by 1:30 p.m.; the outage began at 10 a.m. affecting 4,501 customers.

October 6, 2013 (San Diego's East County) -- An SDG&E sky crane loaded with 2,500 gallons of water helped firefighters halt a brush fire in Lakeside at 28 acres. No structures were lost; mop-up activiites will continue through the night.  The blaze began shortly after power went out to more than 4,500 customers for reasons that SDG&E's website indicated were unkown at the time of the outage; power has been fully restored. 

Below are our earlier updates on this fire, which began at Aquilla Drive in Lakeside and sent smoke billowing forth that was visible across much of East County as well as Poway and San Diego.

Update 12:35 p.m.:   The fire's spread has been stopped at 6 acres, Cal Fire reports.

Photos by Kristin Kjaero, Elizabeth Gallway, Gloria Duncan and Jeff Holtz

August 17, 2013 (Lakeside) - A five-acre brush fire is burning in Lakeside. The blaze, reported at 11:36 a.m., is near Los Coches Road and Interstate 8 and is spreading at a moderate rate, Cal Fire reports. 

View video  of fire  and airdrop  by Adam Cameron.

Photos by Leslie O'Brien and Nancy Hauer

Update: Forward spread is halted; firefighters are expected to remain on scene through this evening.

May 12, 2013 (San Diego's East County) -- A brush fire that began near the river bed at 13425 Old Highway 80 near Las Coches Road could reach 20 acres or more and is now burning mobile homes.   A female burn patient from a homeless camp that burned has been transported to a hospital.

Two strike teams and a helicopter have been ordered.  CHP is shutting down traffic on Las Coches.