SAN DIEGO —
It has been 16 years since the most destructive wildfire in San Diego history – the Cedar Fire. For many, the memories remain fresh and the lessons of that disaster are still being learned.
The images of the fire almost don't seem real showing a wall of flames engulfing house after house in a Scripps Ranch neighborhood.
"I remember seeing embers going by my head the size of a basketball - a ball of fire if you will - flying through the air,” said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department battalion chief Rick Ballard.
He says the sights and sounds of the Cedar Fire roaring into the city are forever etched into his memory.
“I never thought it could move through neighborhoods like I saw it do,” Ballard said.
After igniting just outside of Ramona on Oct. 25, 2003, the fire raced towards San Diego at a speed firefighters say they had never seen before.
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Ballard says when his six-man crew arrived in Scripps Ranch, they almost couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"[There were] nine or 10 homes on the street and half of them were on fire,” he said.
As police went door to door evacuating panicked neighbors, thick black smoke darkened the sky.
"It's definitely an eerie feeling when you don't see the sun above you,” said Ballard.
Raging flames illuminated the scene with a bright orange ominous glow.
"You're looking at houses that are on fire and sometimes it's a helpless feeling as well you know
Crews worked tirelessly to save the remaining homes but powerful Santa Ana winds made that nearly impossible to stop.
"There was one point we were overcome by fire [and] decided to go inside the structure for our own safety and let the fire burn over,” Ballard said.
The Cedar Fire claimed the lives of 15 people including one firefighter and destroyed more than 2,200 homes.
Ballard says, for him, it marked the beginning of a new and more catastrophic era of fighting wildfires.
"The power and the magnitude that fire can grow to, even as a career firefighter, I was just shocked and overwhelmed by how quick and devastating fire could be,” Ballard said.