Fire in San Diego's Otay Mountain area explodes to 4,250 acres; evacuation orders, warnings issued

Teri Figueroa, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jan 24, 2025

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SAN DIEGO — Authorities issued evacuation orders and warnings to nearby areas early Friday morning as a wildfire in the Otay Wilderness Area exploded to 4,250 acres in rugged terrain overnight. Crews were able to get 10% of it contained.

The evacuation area for the Border 2 fire is a large swath stretching north to Otay Lakes Road, east to state Route 94 and Dulzura, and west to Lower Otay Lake. It includes the Otay Open Space Preserve.

State Route 94 was closed at Otay Lakes Road early Friday morning. Road closures include Alta Road near Otay Mesa Road and Otay Lakes Road, Wueste Road to Pio Pico Campground, which is under an evacuation order.

The evacuation warning area includes neighborhoods west of the lake and the Olympic Training Center.

Safety and air quality concerns from the fire led Chula Vista Elementary School District to close the following schools on Friday: Salt Creek, Camarena, Wolf Canyon, Olympic View, Liberty, Eastlake, Marshall, and Arroyo Vista. All other schools will remain open.

San Diego County Office of Education said Friday that schools in Mountain Empire Unified and Warner Unified school district will also be closed on Friday.

Sheriff’s officials said a temporary evacuation point is at Regal Edwards Cinemas Rancho San Diego, located at 2951 Jamacha Road in El Cajon. Chula Vista police said residents south and west of the lake can go to Southwestern College as an evacuation site, at 900 Otay Lakes Road in Chula Vista.

Crews are seeing “some extreme fire behavior currently,” Cal Fire Capt. Robert Johnson said shortly after 4 a.m.

“The main fire spread they are concerned about is generally spreading in a northern direction,” he said, noting that the blaze was also fingering out in different directions.

He said the fire is moving at a “moderate rate of speed,” and is “spotting,” meaning the wind is blowing embers from the fire, and those can ignite. Johnson said the wind is “breezy” and temperatures are cooler than in recent days.

Santa Ana winds have beset the region this week, with humidity in the single digits even in coastal areas. There has also been very little rain since July 1, leaving the brush dry and brittle. According to the National Weather Service, San Diego valleys and mountains are under a red-flag warning — meaning critical fire weather conditions — until 10 a.m. today.

Overnight, several thousand San Diego Gas & Electric customers living mostly in rural and backcountry communities had their power shut off in an effort to prevent high winds from causing power lines to fall and potentially spark a wildfire.

Santa Ana winds continued to cause problems early Friday morning. Winds out of the east were gusting nearly 30 mph at Otay Mountain and the relative humidity was 2%. And a storm capable of bringing rain to the area won’t arrive until the weekend. Friday is expected to reach about 75 degrees in the area where the fire is burning. Forecasters said the weather cool on Saturday, and scattered showers might reach the fire area by Sunday.

Johnson said there were roughly 200 firefighters at the scene overnight, and that number will likely grow as the day progresses. As of shortly after 6 a.m., crews had drawn a containment line around 10% of the fire’s footprint.

Cal Fire also had two helicopters making nighttime water drops, and they have scheduled fixed-wing aircraft to make drops after sunrise.

The agency first posted about the fire just after 2:20 p.m. Thursday, saying on social media it was a vegetation fire on Otay Mountain Truck Trail within the Otay Wilderness Area.

Not long after the fire started, smoke prompted the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District to issue a smoke advisory for the southwestern part of the county to include Otay Mesa and surrounding areas.

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Staff writer Gary Robbins contributed to this report.