San Diego Fire-Rescue officials confirmed Monday that three fires that had prompted several hundred people to flee their homes during Santa Ana conditions late last month originated in homeless encampments.
And San Diego police said Monday they believe one of those fires, the Center fire in Rancho Bernardo on Jan. 22, was started by a 66-year-old man. No suspects have been identified in either of the other two fires — one near Fashion Valley mall and the other near UC San Diego.
On the day of the Center fire, authorities said one person had been taken to a hospital but did not provide further information. On Monday, San Diego police said they have requested that the 66-year-old be charged with starting an unlawful/reckless fire, but said he had not been booked into jail due to his injuries. Investigators have submitted his case to the district attorney’s office for review.
Over just a few days in late January, high winds, low humidity and dry brush fueled several fires around the region. Crews were able to keep most relatively small, although a fire in Bonsall grew to 85 acres and a fire on Otay Mountain exploded to more than 6,600 acres.
The three worrisome fires in San Diego started in well-populated neighborhoods and carried the potential to quickly spread. The Friars fire damaged an apartment as it swept across 7 acres along the hillsides north of Friars Road west of state Route 163 in the early afternoon of Jan. 21.
The Center fire happened the following day, about 9 a.m. along Camino del Norte just west of Interstate 15 in Rancho Bernardo. It prompted evacuations in homes and a day care center. Officials initially feared it would grow to 100 acres, but crews boxed it in at 3 acres.
Then on Jan. 23, the Gilman fire erupted near UC San Diego in La Jolla, prompting evacuations just south of campus. Fast-working crews kept it to 2 acres.
Authorities made arrests in other, much smaller fires during the stretch of particularly high-fire danger, including a 31-year-old woman suspected of starting a small fire in the area of San Diego Mission Road in Mission Valley. There was also a man arrested on suspicion of setting trash on fire near a tree in City Heights.
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