Fire fought on hill in Santee

At about 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, October 6, wisps of smoke were seen from the foothills just north of El Nopal Avenue on the border of Santee and Lakeside.

Immediately, up to four S-2 CDF airplanes — along with their air boss and two SD sheriff's Huey helicopters — began attending to the flames. Luckily, the wind was dead-still, even though a red flag warning had been posted for high winds. The smoke went straight up.

At 11 a.m., the fire was still being fought but appeared to be contained by the retardant drops from the aircraft.

These are the same foothills I wrote about last year, with large rocks painted Easter-egg pastels by local high school students. Their green rock is in danger of being stained red by CDF.