Evacuations were ordered Wednesday afternoon — but lifted a few hours later — as crews battled a fast-moving fire south of Harbison Canyon in rural East County, stopping its forward march at about 93 acres.
The fire was in the area of Dehesa Road east of Stallion Oaks Road, northeast of Sycuan Casino Resort, and moved at a “dangerous” rate of spread, Cal Fire Capt. Joshua Cormode said, noting that it “just consumed the entire hillside.”
Crews battle a fire Wednesday near Alpine. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“This is a completely slope-driven fire,” Cormode said. “This thing just moved exceptionally fast.”
The call came in about 3:30 p.m., according to a Cal Fire incident status update. Shortly after 5 p.m., the agency posted on X that the forward progress of the fire had been stopped. As of early evening, the fire footprint was about 5% contained.
People in the area from Red Gum Road east to Tavern Road were initially under evacuation orders, according to the Genasys Protect app county officials use to communicate evacuations. The orders were lifted shortly after 6 p.m.
Dehesa Road was closed from Willson Road to Harbinson Canyon Road.