SAN DIEGO - A pair of brush fires erupted in quick succession Monday afternoon alongside Interstate 15 near Castle Creek Country Club, scorching about two dozen open acres and threatening several homes but causing no reported structural damage or injuries.
The blazes began spreading roughly a half-mile apart from each other about 3 p.m. on the west side of the freeway, in the area of Gopher Canyon Road in Deer Springs.
@10News 30min ago driving 15 South. pic.twitter.com/n1spfH4TdP
— Jon Addis (@jon_addis) August 8, 2016
Ground crews and personnel aboard five air tankers and four water-dropping helicopters worked to control the flames, Cal Fire Capt. Issac Sanchez said.
Authorities deemed three houses potentially in danger from the fires and evacuated two of them as a precaution. Those residents were allowed to go back to their homes Monday night. Additionally, Caltrans closed the southbound side of Interstate 15 in the area for safety reasons and diverted traffic onto Old Highway 395.
As of 6:30 p.m., the blazes had blackened about 25 acres, Sanchez said.
#GopherFire [update] Fire is now 5% contained. Many resources expected to remain overnight to increase containment. pic.twitter.com/mbO0Xes0FG
— CAL FIRE SAN DIEGO (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) August 9, 2016
It was not immediately clear what sparked the flames.
