Slide fire strikes another home

Debbie Clevenger, right, and Andrew Plata of the Arrowbear Fire Departement fight a house fire ignited by the Slide wildfire in Arrowbear.

(Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP)

Santa Ana winds not an issue this weekend

Clouds and cooler weather moved into the region today, courtesy of tropical moisture traveling northeast from the Pacific Ocean, said Dan Atkin, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in San Diego. No Santa Ana winds are forecast until later next week, and are predicted to be moderate, Atkin said.

In San Diego and Orange counties today winds are "light and variable, a little weak," at around 5 miles per hour, Atkin said.

The light winds will change direction Sunday, bringing slightly warmer, drier weather to Orange and San Diego counties, meteorologists said.

Those winds from the northeast could push against the fire and might allow crews to fight it from the front.

"Hopefully, this will give us a chance to do a little more of a direct attack," Berglund said late this morning. "With the winds coming from the opposite direction, that will slow the fire as it reaches the ridgetop" that divides the two counties. Those same winds could also create drier conditions before moister air returns Tuesday, when firefighters may wake up to a marine layer and higher humidity.

A few raindrops fell today in the Santiago Canyon area of Orange County. "Everyone was saying, 'Hey, we feel raindrops,' but we didn't see it on the ground," said fire information officer Tom Berglund.

Go to the National Weather Service website for updated forecasts for Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.
--Deborah Schoch

Water flows again in Ramona

As of late morning, residents in Ramona were having their water turned on, "but they'll be on a do-not-drink and boil-water order for a while," said Michael Workman, a spokesman for the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services.

"The water has to test clean for 48 hours," he said.

With water cut off and the city on a boil-water order, lines of portable toilets speckled the town's parking lots as people searched out the few restaurants that were still open and tried to figure out how to get water to their dogs and horses.

"Multiple" small water districts in the county have also been on boil-water orders because of contamination issues from the fires' ash and debris, Workman said, though he could not specify these areas.

Santiago fire creeps toward Mine Tract

Orange County:

The Santiago blaze is clambering toward Mine Tract, a small community of about 40 homes in Silverado Canyon. All residents have been evacuated, and hand crews are cutting a fire break. Firefighters are positioning themselves to defend the homes while water-dropping helicopters are trying to douse the flames, which are half a mile away.

"Right now, it's a very slow back-burning fire creeping down the ridge tops," said Orange County Fire Authority Battalion Chief Pat Antrim, who has lived in Silverado for 46 years.

These homes are the only ones immediately threatened in Silverado, which has been evacuated for days and has so far avoided major damages.

AQMD warns of unhealthful air today

Despite cooler weather and overcast skies, the AQMD, the region's air pollution control agency, issued an advisory this morning warning residents to take precautions:

As wildfires continue to burn in the Southland, air quality will remain
unhealthful today and tomorrow in areas directly impacted by smoke."

Areas forecast to have unhealthful air quality today are the central San
Bernardino Mountains, including Lake Arrowhead, and the Saddleback Valley
area in Orange County.

In other areas not directly impacted by smoke in San Bernardino,
Riverside and Orange counties, air quality today and tomorrow is forecast to
be unhealthy for sensitive individuals. Air quality in coastal and valley areas
of Los Angeles County is predicted to be in the moderate range.

Poor air prompts cancellation of student sports

San Diego:

Although the National Football League will hold its game Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium, most of the county's organized outdoor athletic activity ground to a halt Saturday.

The San Diego Unified School District canceled all athletic activity during the weekend. San Diego State University postponed several athletic events, including a Saturday football game against Brigham Young University at Qualcomm. That game is scheduled to be played Dec. 1 at Qualcomm.

San Diego State postponed men's and women's soccer matches, a cross-country meet and swimming, diving and volleyball competitions. The university plans to reschedule the events or move them to alternative locations.

-- Greg Johnson

Guest post: Talking Insurance

Scott Lewis is executive editor at voiceofsandiego.org. He is among members of the community we have asked to post thoughts, news and follow-ups to the wildfire story.

A simple point about home values seems to be getting lost in the discussion these days. I've been meaning to write a post about this for a few days. On the local radio show Editor's Roundtable yesterday morning, I heard KPBS' Alan Ray advocate a rethinking of whether we should rebuild homes in the areas destroyed by the fire.

Precautions urged because of poor air quality

San Diego:

Mayor Jerry Sanders said Saturday that he was confident that fans were going to be OK attending Sunday's National Football League game between the Chargers and the Houston Texans, despite reports about poor air quality.

People are taking precaution and aren't exerting themselves, he said. On Saturday, the temperatures were lower and the skies overcast. There was even some rain just south of the border.

"I think [the air] is getting better each day," Sanders said.

-- Tony Perry

Residents warned of scams

San Diego County Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders warned residents of possible scams and price gouging.

"There are people out there preying on San Diegans," Sanders said.

At his Saturday morning news conference at the San Diego Zoo, Sanders said an out-of-town company snapped up 50 apartments in the Rancho Bernardo area and tripled the rent. A woman who had evacuated called the mayor's office, and after receiving pressure from city officials, the company backed off and the apartments were offered at the pre-fire rent.

-- Tony Perry

Making a stand at the county line

Flames from the Santiago fire are within a mile of the Riverside County line, and fire officials hope to restrain it there, fire information officer Larry Tunforss reported at 9:45 a.m. "That's where we're trying to build a line and hold it there."

Specialized crews are guarding the communications towers atop Santiago Peak and Modjeska Peak, and fire retardant has been spread in a 2-1/2-mile radius around both towers in hopes of saving them, Tunforss said.

The towers are linchpins for communications in the area, he said. "You've got a lot of radio stations, television stations. You've got a lot of cell towers."

-- Deborah Schoch