Caliente Fire: Nearly 500 Acres Burned, Evacuations Lifted

SAN DIEGO — A fire that burned hundreds of acres and prompted evacuations in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego is now 60 percent contained, fire officials said Friday.

The blaze, called the Caliente Fire, sparked shortly before noon Thursday off the 5300 block of Airway Road, near Caliente Avenue in Otay Mesa, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. Ground crews and personnel aboard water-dropping helicopters fought the flames, which began spreading near San Ysidro High School and burned close to apartments just south of state Route 905.

By about 6:50 p.m. Thursday, the fire had grown to about 490 acres and was 50 percent contained, officials said. As of 7 a.m. Friday, containment was up to 60 percent and San Diego firefighters along with Cal Fire crews were handling hot spots.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered late Thursday afternoon for areas south of Saint Andrews Avenue, west of La Media Road and east of Cactus Road, most of which are commercial and industrial. Southwestern College Higher Education Center at Otay Mesa was also evacuated.

A temporary evacuation shelter was established at San Ysidro High School at 5353 Airway Road in San Diego.

The fire destroyed stacks of wooden pallets at an industrial yard off Cactus Road, which caused nearby stored propane tanks to explode and sent a thick column of black smoke into the sky.

As crews worked to subdue the flames, authorities closed the southbound sides of Britannia Boulevard and La Media Road, as well as the Cross Border Express airport terminal at the international line.

All evacuations and road closures were lifted by about 7:15 p.m. Thursday and the fire at the industrial yard was extinguished around 3 a.m. Friday, according to officials.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.

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City News Service contributed to this report.