High winds knocked down power lines and sparked a fire in Dulzura Tuesday, witnesses told Cal Fire officials.
The brush fire was first reported just before 9 a.m. along Campo Road in the East County.
There were initially three large hot spots according to Cal Fire however the strong winds helped keep it from spreading by blowing the fire back into itself.
A Cal Fire spokesperson said the fire was contained to a third of an acre on the property of the Dulzura Vineyard and Winery.
A witness says the wind knocked down a power line and it sparked, starting a fire.
At the time the flames broke out, winds were measured at 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph according to firefighters.
San Diego County was under a high wind warning and a red flag warning Tuesday with record heat expected.
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“It's dry, hot, and windy which means we will be at risk of fires pretty much through Thursday,” said NBC 7 Meteorologist Greg Bledsoe.
Firefighters worked on the flames from the air and the ground.
San Diego Gas & Electric sent crews to repair the downed power lines.
An SDG&E spokesperson said the company's crews were in the area for the safety of Cal Fire crews.
The utility company said there was a wire down in the area but told NBC 7 there was no information connecting the downed power line to the start of the fire.
As of 9:30 a.m., the SDG&E power outage map showed 10 different outages affecting 10,695 customers. The biggest single outage was in San Ysidro.
For the most part, the cause says “SDG&E is assessing the outage to determine the cause.” But the one affecting Dulzura, Potrero, Campo says “We have determined that power in your area has been shut-off for safety reasons while repairs are being made.”
Check back for updates on this developing story.
