Fire near shopping mall in California threatens homes and forces evacuations
A brush fire broke out near a shopping mall in San Diego, California, and has forced nearly 1,000 residents to evacuate.
The Friars Fire was reported shortly after 12.30pm on Tuesday on a hillside across from Fashion Valley Mall in the densely populated Mission Valley neighborhood.
Flames appeared to be climbing up a hill and encroaching on a housing complex on Camino Degrazia, NBC 7 reported. A plume of smoke could be seen from Interstate 15.
An evacuation order stated there was an ‘immediate threat to life’.
The fire is zero percent contained and has burned two acres.
Helicopters hovered over the area dropping water.
Firefighters arrived within six minutes of the blaze being reported, said San Diego Fire-Rescue.
A zone of 124 acres is under mandatory evacuation.
The San Diego County Office of Education announced that its campus and innovation in Linda Vista were being evacuated due to an ‘active fire’.
‘If you are en route for appointment or class, please avoid the area,’ wrote the office on X (formerly Twitter). ‘We will share updates as the situation unfolds.’
At least one apartment was damaged by the fire, said San Diego Fire-Rescue assistant chief of emergency operations Dan Eddy.
The inferno did not touch the upscale open-air mall, according to its management.
More than 100 firefighters and a total of 15 engines responded from multiple agencies.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known. The Lilac Fire and Pala Fire both started in earlier on Tuesday in the San Diego area.
San Diego County, which is about 120 miles south of Los Angeles County along the Pacific Coast, is under a red flag warning for strong wind gusts and low humidity.
The Friars Fire started two weeks after the Palisades Fire erupted in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and became the largest and most destructive fire in Los Angeles County along with the Eaton Fire near Altadena.
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