HOW THE POOMOCHA FIRE STARTED

By DAVID ROSS
Sunday afternoon those who got the word were able to hear the latest fire information from the mouths of the incident commanders who have been in charge of the Poomacha fire from the star. It was an all-star gathering of emergency honchos at the quad at Valley Center High School.

As helicopters dangling water buckets fly by overhead from their base at Blackington airport and continued east to drop water on the fire, the various officers of the combined incident command structure told a little about how they had first reacted to the fire and then what residents might expect now.

The Poomacha fire was the last of the major fires that have been burning to start. It is estimated to have started about 3:09 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23 in the La Jolla Indian reservation, probably from a burning building. No one knows yet exactly how the fire started.

But what is known is that it spread very rapidly from its inception. The first incident commander was Wes Ruise, fire chief at the La Jolla Reservation. By the time the chief arrived the fire had spread to five acres. That's when he gave it the name: Poomacha, which means "valley" in the tribe's language.

"I wish now that I had given it an easier name," joked Ruise Sunday.

Within a few minutes 20 acres were burning and it had spread west to the Cuca Ranch and into the Bell property. At first the firefighters tried to save structures, using the method of letting the fire go past the house, and then going back to put out the burning embers.

But soon they realized that they were outclassed. "When you have more structures burning than you have people—you can do the math," said Ruise.

The fire moved FAST¡

By 8:30 a.m. it had crossed South Grade and into the State Park area of Palomar Mountain near Boucher point. It burned 23,000 acres in its first five hours. It had also crested the ridge at Yellow Brick Road.

At this point Div. Chief Mike Bratton took over command of the incident, bringing in Cal Fire.

Because it was the last major fire to start in San Diego County, there were fewer resources to throw at it. Kevin O'Leary, CalFire Battalion Chief and VC Fire Chief, took independent action and brought in as many engines as he could.

By this time most of Valley Center had been given the reverse 911 call and were on the move out of the area, or to the high school evacuation center.

They realized that the fire was too big and moving too fast to react locally. Fortunately CalFire, which had three incident command teams at work in San Diego, had put another one, Team 4, in reserve in Riverside County.

"It's actually quite amazing that we had that one available," said Bratton.

Because Valley Center residents for the most part had been evaucated by the reverse 911 calls CalFire was able to respond to the actual fire more efficiently, rather than worrying about having to rescue people caught in the blaze.

At this point the fire was large enough to qualify for a Major Fire Incident Command, run by the state. Incident Commander Dave Ault explained: "When we got here the local resource drain was almost insurmountable."

Alt arrived to take command at 8 p.m. Wednesday. They slowly built up the number of firefighters. Currently there are about 2,600 firefighters battling the blaze.

Residents are still seeing a lot of smoke coming off the mountain. But a lot of that is brush that is within the lines of containment that have been drawn around the blaze. In other words, it's burning in areas that have already been overrun.

That fire is in steep and often impossible terrain for hand crews to reach. Fortunately there are about 23 aircraft taking part in the battle. That includes ten fixed wing aircraft and 13 helicopters.

Authorities predict that they will have drawn a line completely around the Poomacha fire in two days time. It is currently 35-40% contained.

"Up here on the mountain is our main concern," Ault commented. "We now have a small sector with an active fire line."

Currently damage assessment teams are going through the burned regions to identify all of the houses that have burned. It is estimated that the fire has destroyed 136 homes.

At Sunday's meeting Chief O'Leary complimented high school Principal Ron McCowan for his take-charge attitude in organizing the evacuation center at the high school when the Red Cross was unavailable. At one point 3,000 people were at the center. "Our principal took command, aided by a very few staff members and our local CERT team," said O'Leary. McCowan was given a round of applause.

But once the fire is past a new danger looms. "Now the runs are coming," said O'Leary. Any places denuded of brush will be prime candidates for mudslides.

Michael Ainza, assistant director of the County Dept. of Planning & Land Use, said that the County stands ready to help cut the red tape for those who need to rebuild. Most of those people are on the reservation, and so they won't need County assistance. However, anyone whose house burned down in unincorporated land will need to go through the process. Residents should be aware that if they are rebuilding a home that was built in some earlier decade that the rebuilding will be subject to new building codes. This caused a great deal of problem for residents after the 2003. However, the County will be showing it's kinder and gentler side by not charging fees to rebuild for the first year.