Wildfire — San Diego, California

2003-07-16 to 2003-07-24 · near Warner Spgs, San Diego, California

Wider weather episode

The "Coyote Fire" was started by lightning just north of the Riverside/San Diego County line. This fire burned 18,705 acres before being contained. Although mostly in remote terrain, the fire destroyed two houses and 11 other buildings, and forced the evacuation of 600 campers and residents, as it burned across a Boy Scout Camp and into Chihuahua Valley. More than 2100 fire fighters were assigned to control this fire. The cost of fighting the fire was $10.3 million. At least 7 other fires were started by lightning on July 16, 2003 but these were quickly put out.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5365777. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.