Cal Fire crews were called Monday to tackle a quickly-spreading brush fire near Campo, which prompted evacuations and created smoke hazards in far east San Diego County.
The fire started along Church Road, a few miles south of the Golden Acorn Casino in the Campo Indian Reservation, around 2:20 p.m. By 3:50 p.m., the fire, dubbed the Church 2 Fire, had grown to more than 130 acres, Cal Fire San Diego said.
By about 5 p.m., firefighters had stopped the fire’s forward rate of spread at 132 acres and gained 5% containment on it. All evacuation orders and warnings were lifted by about 6 p.m., according to the Watch Duty app.
“Firefighters are actively attacking the fire from both the ground and air, working aggressively to slow its spread and establish containment lines,” Cal Fire said before they stopped forward progress of the fire.
The fire started just before 2:30 p.m. Monday afternoon along Church Road, just a few miles south of Golden Acorn Casino. NBC 7’s Dave Summers has the latest.
The blaze had spread eastward at a moderate to dangerous rate of spread, Cal Fire reported. Because it was threatening structures, evacuations were ordered for several zones shown in the map below. Evacuees were sent to the Golden Acre Casino for shelter.
Smoke was affecting communities in Live Oak Springs, Boulevard, Manzanita and McCain Valley, according to the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, which urged affected individuals to limit outdoor activity.
“In areas of heavy smoke near the fire, assume that air quality levels are unhealthy for sensitive groups to unhealthy for all individuals. In areas with minor smoke impacts, assume that air quality levels range from moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups,” the agency said.