A fast-moving urban brush fire damaged a half-dozen homes and forced widespread evacuations and street closures near San Diego State University Thursday.
The noninjury blaze erupted in a canyon off Fairmount Avenue and Montezuma Road in the College area at about 1:30 p.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD).
The department said the 40-acre fire was started at or near a homeless encampment in the canyon near the area, said Mónica Muñoz, spokesperson for SDFD.
"But they have not yet — and it doesn't mean that in the coming days they won't be able to — but they have not yet been able to determine what exactly started the fire," Muñoz said.
At a press conference Friday, San Diego mayoral candidate Larry Turner said the encampments are the result of city policies that push people out of downtown.
“And where are they going to?” he asked. “Well, they're going to the highway area, you might see them, but they're also going to the canyons and they're going to the riverbed.”
Rachel Laing, a spokesperson from Mayor Gloria’s office, said it’s inaccurate to say enforcement of the city’s Unsafe Camping Ordinance downtown causes people to move to canyons.
"There have been encampments in the area and in many canyons around San Diego for more than a decade,” she wrote in part. “We have Get It Done reports that we’ve responded to in that very canyon going back years — well before the Unsafe Camping Ordinance was passed."
On Thursday, ground crews and personnel aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters fought the blaze as San Diego police officers cleared people out of threatened homes along hilltops above the burning gorge, city spokesperson Jose Ysea said.
Within roughly an hour, the blaze had blackened an estimated 37 acres, according to the fire department.
The speedily spreading flames forced mandatory evacuations east of Montezuma Road, north of Monroe Avenue, south of Alvarado Canyon Road and west of Hewlett Drive. Among the affected locations were Talmadge-area neighborhoods along Lila, Lorraine and Lucille drives, as well as on Collwood Way, police said.
A temporary shelter for evacuees was in operation at Allied Gardens Recreation Center on Greenbrier Avenue, near the intersection of Waring Road and Zion Avenue.
Also evacuated as a precaution was Hardy Elementary School in the 5400 block of Montezuma Road. Officials were taking the displaced pupils to unite with family members at SDSU.
The mandatory evacuation issued for all areas was lifted Thursday evening, fire officials said. But Montezuma Road between Collwood Boulevard and Fairmount Avenue remains closed as of Friday morning.
As of 4:30 p.m., firefighters were making good progress toward subduing the blaze, which damaged a total of six homes, officials said.
Crews had the smoldering burn area about 25% contained as of Friday morning, according to SDFD's post on X.
