Smoke rise above Escondido and other communities a few miles to the east of San Diego Zoo Safari Park Friday afternoon after a brush fire broke out.
The so-called Academy Fire began burning after 2 p.m. on state Route 78 near the San Pasqual Academy on San Pasqual Road and at one point threatened a structure on Highland Valley Road, according to Cal Fire.
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The flames from the fire raced uphill for the next couple hours, with the smoke plume drifting away from the flames, and firefighting aircraft making retardant and water drops and ground crews working the fire as well.
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SIGN UP Cal Fire originally said the flames had the potential to char 30 acres, but the actual figure, according to sensor aircraft, was 49.7 acres as of 4:30 p.m.
#AcademyFire [Update] The acreage is corrected to 49.7 acres. This was provided by sensor aircraft. pic.twitter.com/yf9NUOe6qo
— CAL FIRE/San Diego County Fire (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) May 16, 2025
By 3:45, firefighters were gaining the upper hand on the blaze. Sky Ranger 7 spotted ground crews making their way onto the hillside to begin containment, and it appeared that there were only a few major hot spots left putting up active smoke. Fifteen minutes later, Cal Fire said that, while the fire was at 0% containment, the threat to the structure had been mitigated.
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Check back here for details on this breaking news story — Ed.
