Brush fire east of Pala resort grows to more than 180 acres, prompts evacuations

A view of the Henderson Fire near Pala as captured by the Alert California system Photo courtesy of Cal Fire San Diego Firefighters are working to extinguish a fast moving brush fire that erupted north of state Path prompting evacuation orders according to Cal Fire Flames were broadcasted at p m burning in grass and brush with a moderate rate of spread east of the Pala Casino Spa Resort off Henderson Road By p m the burn area had increased to between and acres with flames moving to the northwest but the total soon jumped to more than acres The blaze Cal Fire commented is bulk developing on its eastern flank Despite the increase of the burn area according to the nonprofit fire monitoring system Watch Duty crews published progress particularly on the right edge of the fire Helicopters and fixed-wing tankers have responded to the scene along with ground crews Structures are threatened administrators reported Zones being evacuated are directly north and east of the fire and include Chief Mountain and areas approaching Heriot Mountain The zone is roughly bounded on the north by the Pechanga Reservation the south by SR- the west by Pala Temecula Road and Pala Creek and on the east by Agua Tibia Creek Evacuees are being sent to the parking lot at the Pala casino Hwy Evacuation warnings have been issued to surrounding communities mostly east and north extending into Riverside County of the current evacuation zone The warnings to the east include parts of the Pauma and Yuima Reservation The North County Fire Protection District meanwhile posted a notice on social media that bureaucrats have sent a unit to backing firefighters Smoke may be visible they declared but there is no fire threat to our district at this time The cause is under assessment HendersonFire A wildfire is burning near the block of Henderson Road in the Pala area An EVACUATION ORDER is in place for the shaded areas in red shown in the maps below It means everyone in the impacted area must leave right away An EVACUATION WARNING is in place pic twitter com ocMQqnV iK San Diego Sheriff SDSheriff May City News Provision contributed to this analysis