Hundreds of firefighters made progress Wednesday night on a brush fire that has so far charred more than 4,200 acres near Potrero as a heatwave continues to bake the region.
Hot, dry weather has left brush dry and will make fighting the blaze — dubbed the Border 32 Fire — a challenge as crews head into their second day on front lines, fire officials said. The fire is just 5 percent contained. “The biggest challenge for us is it is going to be 107 out here with 20 percent relative humidity,” said Cal Fire Capt. Thomas Shoots, a spokesperson for the agency. “And on top of that, all of our brush out here has reached its critical fuel moisture level. Everything is ripe to burn.”
The fire erupted around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday near Barrett Junction, east of Dulzura and a few miles northwest of Tecate. Winds gusting up to 27 mph pushed flames east along state Route 94.“The wind kind of died down and by that point, we had a lot of firefighters out here,” Shoots said. “It is still actively burning but nothing like what we were seeing last night.”west of Potrero [update] Fire remains 4,243 acres and 5% contained.