Marijuana Seeking Helicopter Starts Major Fire in San Diego Area
KMUD radio in Redway aired a news report on August 1 which began, "Many
residents of Humboldt county, and especially those at the southern end who
live near power lines and with low-flying helicopters, may be particularly
interested to hear that perhaps one of California's biggest, most raging
fires was started four days ago by a National Guard helicopter on a
reconnoissance flight for the San Diego County Narcotics Task Force."
KMUD Spoke with spokesperson Roxanne Povasnick at the California Department
of Forestry in San Diego county, who said that the fire was started by a
California National Guard helicopter whose rotor struck a power line. The
force of the strike caused the power pole to shake and break a third line,
which caused some sparks to fall into the grass. She added that drought
conditions are so bad in her region that on two occasions titanium golf
clubs have set fires.
Ellen Komp of the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project was also interviewed
for the story. Komp said, "It seems to me that this is a lot of damage for a
program that is already questionable regarding its effectiveness and
safety." She noted that three officers were killed in North Carolina on July
17 while on a statewide drug eradication flight. "This program needs to be
reexamined and in light of the fact that it has caused this forest fire and
is responsible for death and injury. It's not just a nuisance anymore."
Here is an update on the fire:
Pines fire 60% contained, crews say.
But one commander warns, 'this is not over'
By Irene McCormack Jackson
STAFF WRITER
August 8, 2002
San Diego Union Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/thu/metro/news_1mi8blaze.html
The head of the California Department of Forestry toured the 54,000-acre
Pines fire yesterday and was taken aback by how much land had been blackened
and at how quickly it burned.
"It's the largest CDF fire this year," said Director Andrea Tuttle in
Ranchita after touring the burn area by helicopter.
The fire started shortly after 2 p.m. July 29 along Banner Grade, just east
of Julian, when a California National Guard helicopter on a drug
surveillance mission nipped a power line, causing the pole to sway and snap
another line.
Tuttle said the CDF and numerous other firefighting agencies will have to
wait until the National Guard concludes its investigation before the CDF can
recoup the millions of dollars it has spent to combat the fire.
Authorities estimate the cost of fighting the fire could exceed $30 million.
About 30 homes and 92 buildings - barns, sheds and other outbuildings - have
been destroyed.
Commanders put an additional 500 firefighters on the front lines yesterday,
bringing the number to more than 3,000. By last night, they had the Pines
fire 60 percent contained.
However, flare-ups bedeviled firefighters in and around Ranchita, northeast
of Julian, said Bob Monsen, a CDF commander. "This is not over," he said.
Shifting and gusting winds, which pushed the fire through 14,000 acres
during a 24-hour period Monday and early Tuesday, are causing commanders to
be leery of letting some residents return to their property.
Scores of residents in Ranchita and San Felipe Valley had been kept from
their homes for the fifth straight day yesterday because of the fire's
unpredictability.
However, firefighters relaxed the travel ban yesterday at 6 p.m., allowing
residents to check their property. Power is out, phone lines are down and
the residents were told they could not stay overnight.
A few residents had been allowed to check on their property earlier in the
day.
Wally Zittle and Marty Denyer drove to their homes in Ranchita with a CDF
fire information officer yesterday morning. Their houses survived the fire.
"I can't believe it," Zittle said. "The other neat thing for me is my horse
is still alive."
Nonetheless, they were amazed by the number of blackened trees and layers of
ash that surrounded their homes.
All that was left of Zittle's father-in-law's home on Lease Road was a
chimney.
Denyer's home was standing but his sheds were destroyed, as were an old Jeep
and tractor. "My dog is going to be devastated, because it's her Jeep," he
said.
To which Zittle replied: "Marty, you've got a house. It's OK. Get over it."
A state parks ranger, Casey Gonzalez, said he has been checking on other
homes in Ranchita for friends camping for now in Borrego and Palm Canyon. He
said he was able to rescue a dog from under a friend's home yesterday
morning and corralled a horse in the afternoon.
Gonzalez is a longtime Ranchita resident who just moved to Borrego. He said
residents are upset by "conflicting information" they've been getting.
Monday morning firefighters said the blaze was 80 percent contained, leading
many residents to think the fire was winding down.
That was before 35 mph winds blew in later in the day.
Suddenly, the fire was only 45 percent contained, Gonzalez said. A CDF
employee said up to 40 homes and other buildings were destroyed. The report
was erroneous.
"Everything just added to the fuel of anxiety for (residents)," Gonzalez
said. "You can't blame them. They left their homes and often their animals
behind."
Officially, 30 homes have been destroyed, and about six have sustained minor
to moderate damage, CDF fire Information Officer Andy Menshek said. The
homes are in Banner, San Felipe and Ranchita.
More than 100 vehicles have been destroyed.
Yesterday's firefighting efforts were hampered by dry conditions and
temperatures into the 90s. Humidity was measured at 9 percent at 5 a.m. and
dropped a little lower during the day.
That, along with the dry brush and trees, is a potentially devastating
mixture, Menshek said.
Yesterday, the fire continued to burn northward into the Los Coyotes Indian
Reservation and uninhabited Bureau of Land Management land, as well as
northeast into a steep, rocky section of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park,
CDF Captain David Jones said.
Firefighters hope to contain the fire - that means, stop its progress -
Sunday night, once it burns into the desert, where the fuel is sparse.
They hope to have it out next Wednesday, although mop-up crews will be on
the scene for two weeks or more.
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Irene Jackson: (619) 593-4961; irene.jackson@uniontrib.com
Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
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