An aircraft drops retardant on the fire Tuesday morning. Courtesy Cal Fire
A wildfire burned across rugged open terrain east of Otay Mesa and just north of the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday, pushing into Baja California as ground and air crews worked to corral the flames.
The non-injury blaze — the second to break out in the same general vicinity in the last two days — began spreading for unknown reasons near Tecate Creek in Marron Valley at about 10 a.m., according to Cal Fire.
By midday, the flames had blackened some 20 acres and moved south across the international line, said Thomas Shoots, a fire captain with the state agency.
Ground crews and personnel aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters were battling the blaze, which posed no immediate structural threats. As of shortly after noon, the nearest homes to the burn area were several miles away, Shoots said.
The fire was reported about 14 hours after another blaze erupted a few miles to the west, on the outskirts of Otay Mesa. Crews were able to halt the spread of that fire — which also caused no known injuries or property damage — by 3 a.m. Tuesday, by which time it had scorched roughly 30 acres, Shoots said.
— City News Service