Tea Fire Update

Things appear to be uneventful on the Tea Fire front tonight as hand crews work on remaining problem areas. Luckily, the wind is calm, much to the relief of fire crews and people who are still evacuated from their homes. According to the County Emergency Operations Center, fire personnel will deploy hand crews throughout the night. Today, hand crews and bulldozers started backburns – the process of starting a smaller, controlled fire to deprive an area of burnable fuel and limit a wildfire’s growth. Also, aerial firefighting efforts continued in conjunction with full air operations. As the strong winds that were predicted to kick up later tonight did not end up happening and the situation is less dire, the night-vision equipped helicopters are not flying. The latest information released by fire command indicates that the size of the burned area is still about 1,500 acres.

Although mandatory evacuation orders still stand for most of the areas specified last night, the number of people staying at the Red Cross shelter in San Marcos High School’s gymnasium has decreased significantly.

For more information, call the County’s Emergency Operations Center hotline at (805) 681-5197