Brush fire erupts near San Diego County border with Mexico

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) Fire crews are battling a brush fire that is straddling the U.S.-Mexico border after flames erupted at the base of Tecate Peak in San Diego County on Tuesday.

The fire, which was named the Border 66 Fire, was first reported around 11:15 a.m. roughly two-and-a-half miles west of State Route 188, according to Cal Fire.

As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, the wildfire is estimated to be roughly 296 acres in size and is straddling both sides of the border, according to Cal Fire. By 3 p.m., crews had stopped the forward rate of spread. The fire was 300 acres and 10% contained.

via fox5sandiego.com

Wildfires are like what I imagine tornados are like. They can start far away and with an unerring logic get sucked to exactly where you are. There was a fire once, late nineties I think, that started just south of the 8, probably from somebody’s cigarette. It burned for a bit, was thought to be under control, when it sent out a long skinny arm, South Southwest. Because of course that’s how the wind was blowing. It was as if somebody had calculated exactly the direction to my little piece of paradise, 1.72 acres and a hemi-demi-semi-custom home within 30 minutes of San Diego on a good day. It came and came. When it got so I could see the flames on the horizon, I figured why not, time to pray. And pray I did. Because I am writing this you know our house did not burn down. Having your house burn down, besides the loss of your home and all it contains, means being plunged into a bureaucratic hell of permits, environmental compliance, haggling with insurance companies, such that depression, anxiety, divorce and suicide are common survival or escape strategies. So you definitely don’t want your house to burn down.