RANCHO SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Cal Fire San Diego and other firefighters were dispatched to reports of a brush fire burning in the Rancho San Diego area late Wednesday night.
A brush fire burning near Fowler Canyon broke out around 7:31 p.m., which warranted dozens of firefighters to respond and stage at the intersection of Willow Glen Drive and Steel Canyon Road in Rancho San Diego, according to Cal Fire San Diego.
As of Thursday morning CalFire Battalion Chief Patrick Walker said the fire has burned 9.5 acres and is 50% contained. He added they expect full containment of the fire by 8 am on Friday.
An image of the blaze shared with CBS 8 showed a bright glow of orange flames from a mountainside where the fire was reported to be burning.
A popular abandoned structure in the area called the "McGinty Mansion" has stood in skeletal ruins since 2007, when one of the many wildfires we experienced in San Diego wiped it out. Since then, it has slowly rotted away with man accelerating the process through vandalism and other forms of destruction, according to Hidden San Diego, a website that features well-known landmarks around San Diego County.
Cal Fire told CBS 8 the blaze was on path with an abandoned home in the area, but it's unknown how close flames were to the structure.
Firefighters dubbed the blaze the "Willow9Fire," which resulted in dozens of tweets about the fire being shared on social media.
Firefighters requested a water-dropping helicopter to fight the flames from the air.
This blaze broke out during gusty Santa Ana winds throughout San Diego County.
According to the National Weather Service, Santa Ana winds will buffet the San Diego area this week, blowing hard enough to potentially topple trees and make driving hazardous in some highland locales.
The gusty conditions will become more intense and widespread on Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported.