Firefighters stop progress of prescribed burn on MCAS Miramar – NBC 7 San Diego

The San Diego Fire Department and Cal Fire dispatched additional firefighting personnel to a prescribed burn on MCAS Miramar property Saturday afternoon.

The prescribed burn, dubbed Aqueduct Fire, was planned for 57 acres, but quickly expanded to 75 acres with the potential to grow to 200 acres, according to Cal Fire.

Around 2:25 p.m., as the flames reached 15 acres, the San Diego Fire Department sent five additional brushed motors and a helicopter to assist the Miramar Fire Department.

Cal Fire also sent assistance, including a helicopter, a tank, two tankers, a crew and a battalion chief, according to Cal Fire public information officer Brent Pascua.

Around 5:23 p.m., firefighters stopped the fire from progressing, according to the SDFD.

The Miramar Fire Department planned to burn nearly 60 acres of brush that tends to fuel wildfires in a controlled burn to get ahead of things like the Santa Ana winds. It is also an opportunity for firefighters to gain experience putting out fires in dry brush. Burns were planned in advance for June 8-9 in East Miramar, along the San Diego County Aqueduct and NS-4 firebreak from south to north, from State Route 52 south from Alliant International University.

However, the prescribed burn planned for Sunday was canceled after Saturday's fire.

“The MCAS Miramar Fire Department will not be conducting the second day of controlled burning due to the recent brush fire,” said Capt. Michael Scaccia, MCAS Miramar communications director.

From a nearby highway, large clouds of smoke could be seen rising. Passersby stopped to take photos of the flames and smoke.

“We noticed that there weren't just helicopters flying around. There were also some small planes circling around and so it's quite interesting to see everything that goes into putting out a fire,” he said. said Mandy Harris, a spectator.

“We were going up the 15 and we could see the smoke from there, so when we came back from the 15 we decided to take the 52 to see if there was anything we could see closer,” said Harris.

“I honestly didn't know it was a check, but I'm glad they took care of it and got it under control,” said bystander Aaron Nannini.