Wildfire — San Diego, California

2002-08-01 to 2002-08-13 · near Julian, San Diego, California

Wider weather episode

The Pines Fire began on July 29 when a helicopter clipped a power line and the resulting sparks started a brush fire. The fire grew rapidly in the extremely hot and dry conditions and exhibited extreme fire behavior during the first part of August. At one point the fire was near 80 percent containment, but atmospheric conditions were dry and unstable and a large plume developed. This in turn caused fire whirls and spotting well ahead of the fire line. Acreage at that point was being consumed at 3,000 acres per hour. This led to the area of containment being reduced to 48 percent. The fire was fully contained on August 13, after destroying: 37 residences, 116 outbuildings, 169 motor vehicles; and burning 61,690 acres. Some of the injuries were from heat exhaustion due to ambient air temperatures in the 100 to 110 degree range. Over 3,400 personnel were assigned to battle the blaze, and they were credited for saving 640 residences and the town of Julian. The cost of fighting the fire was $22.6 million.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5309885. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.