S
sportrider
8:26 p.m. October 23, 2007
ESCONDIDO – Firefighters were trying to save hundreds of structures on Palomar Mountain Tuesday afternoon when flames from the Poomacha fire jumped over South Grade Road. (tight side)
The blaze, which began as a house fire on the La Jolla Indian Reservation, had reached about 4,000 feet up the mountain by midafternoon.
The top of Palomar has not burned in recorded history, and most of the densely forested mountain sides have not burned in about 50 years. Although crews have been clearing trees killed by the bark beetle for years, in many places it remains thick with brush and wood debris.
“That grade hasn't burned ever,” Dan Zieber, a fire captain with the Palomar Mountain Volunteer Fire Department.
Late Tuesday afternoon, firefighters were making their stand at State Park Road, near the top, before it reaches Crestline Road and other areas where about 300 houses and vacation cabins are located.
The fire department, and crews with the U.S. Department of Forestry and the state Department of Forestry lit backfires. Air tankers began dropping fire retardant around 4 p.m.
On East Grade Road Tuesday night, 10 firefighters had set a controlled burn to deprive the fire of fuel.
“So far, things have been in our favor,” with the fire going down the mountain, said Tom Brand, a division chief with the U.S. Forest Service. There was some fire in the state park, Brand said, but the area around structures had been cleared.
About 4 a.m. Tuesday, about 250 full-time mountain residents were ordered to evacuate with reverse 911 calls. By 10 a.m., most people had left, but a few refused, Zieber said.
Residents who had Barricade, a jug filled fire-retardant gel, were able to spray it with hoses on the sides and under the eaves of their homes, said Christopher Kusek, a Palomar Mountain volunteer fireman.
“People were buying it as the fire was coming on,” he said.
The volunteer firefighters sprayed the Palomar Mountain general store and Mother's Kitchen restaurant. Five yellow jugs sat on the ground.
Palomar Mountain Lodge owner Brian Covington, 40, had already sprayed some gel on the 10-room building but went back for eight more gallons. He said he fell in love with the lodge at first sight and smell and won't give it up. Zieber and his wife, Laura Bost, also a volunteer firefighter, stopped by to check on Covington, but Covington refused to leave.
“I'll just throw dirt on myself and breathe through a pipe,” he said.
Covington bought the closed lodge, built around 1920 on Crestline Road, four months ago and lives on the mountain with his wife and two daughters.
“It's insured but it's irreplaceable,” he said. “I want to save this lodge. I felt a kinship to it when I walked in. I feel responsible for it.”
Covington, who had a fire burning in his fireplace, said he's never been afraid of fire. “What amazing technology,” Covington said while spraying the shingles on his roof. “I just hope it works.”
There was hardly any sign of motorists or people out on the roads Tuesday afternoon. Cars and motorcycles were left behind. But friends Elizabeth Davis, 17, and Danny Thicksten, 22, were parked along State Park Road near the County Road Station looking at the large columns of smoke rising up from a ridge on the southwest side of Palomar.
Both were nonchalant about the fire and said they won't evacuate. “There's nothing really to worry about,” said Elizabeth, who was taking digital pictures of the smoke. “My house is clear all the way around it.”
Thicksten said his house is near the observatory and he will defend it if he has to. “I'm going to battle,” he said.
ESCONDIDO – Firefighters were trying to save hundreds of structures on Palomar Mountain Tuesday afternoon when flames from the Poomacha fire jumped over South Grade Road. (tight side)
The blaze, which began as a house fire on the La Jolla Indian Reservation, had reached about 4,000 feet up the mountain by midafternoon.
The top of Palomar has not burned in recorded history, and most of the densely forested mountain sides have not burned in about 50 years. Although crews have been clearing trees killed by the bark beetle for years, in many places it remains thick with brush and wood debris.
“That grade hasn't burned ever,” Dan Zieber, a fire captain with the Palomar Mountain Volunteer Fire Department.
Late Tuesday afternoon, firefighters were making their stand at State Park Road, near the top, before it reaches Crestline Road and other areas where about 300 houses and vacation cabins are located.
The fire department, and crews with the U.S. Department of Forestry and the state Department of Forestry lit backfires. Air tankers began dropping fire retardant around 4 p.m.
On East Grade Road Tuesday night, 10 firefighters had set a controlled burn to deprive the fire of fuel.
“So far, things have been in our favor,” with the fire going down the mountain, said Tom Brand, a division chief with the U.S. Forest Service. There was some fire in the state park, Brand said, but the area around structures had been cleared.
About 4 a.m. Tuesday, about 250 full-time mountain residents were ordered to evacuate with reverse 911 calls. By 10 a.m., most people had left, but a few refused, Zieber said.
Residents who had Barricade, a jug filled fire-retardant gel, were able to spray it with hoses on the sides and under the eaves of their homes, said Christopher Kusek, a Palomar Mountain volunteer fireman.
“People were buying it as the fire was coming on,” he said.
The volunteer firefighters sprayed the Palomar Mountain general store and Mother's Kitchen restaurant. Five yellow jugs sat on the ground.
Palomar Mountain Lodge owner Brian Covington, 40, had already sprayed some gel on the 10-room building but went back for eight more gallons. He said he fell in love with the lodge at first sight and smell and won't give it up. Zieber and his wife, Laura Bost, also a volunteer firefighter, stopped by to check on Covington, but Covington refused to leave.
“I'll just throw dirt on myself and breathe through a pipe,” he said.
Covington bought the closed lodge, built around 1920 on Crestline Road, four months ago and lives on the mountain with his wife and two daughters.
“It's insured but it's irreplaceable,” he said. “I want to save this lodge. I felt a kinship to it when I walked in. I feel responsible for it.”
Covington, who had a fire burning in his fireplace, said he's never been afraid of fire. “What amazing technology,” Covington said while spraying the shingles on his roof. “I just hope it works.”
There was hardly any sign of motorists or people out on the roads Tuesday afternoon. Cars and motorcycles were left behind. But friends Elizabeth Davis, 17, and Danny Thicksten, 22, were parked along State Park Road near the County Road Station looking at the large columns of smoke rising up from a ridge on the southwest side of Palomar.
Both were nonchalant about the fire and said they won't evacuate. “There's nothing really to worry about,” said Elizabeth, who was taking digital pictures of the smoke. “My house is clear all the way around it.”
Thicksten said his house is near the observatory and he will defend it if he has to. “I'm going to battle,” he said.
