SDFD: Fairmount Fire started near homeless encampment; cause under investigation

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Firefighters in yellow hard hats, fire gear, and hoses spray down a hillside burnt to a crisp.
They’re clearing out what’s left of the
. As of Friday afternoon, it was 80% contained.
“We were actually here when they were firebombing right in the canyon; got caught right in the spray and determined that the house was still here which was reassuring,” Charlie Ertl said.
Charlie and Jeannie Ertl live on Lila Drive where the crew raced to protect the homes butting up to the canyon.
“They got here and there were flames up here. And that they were able to fight them back because they said within a matter of short time our house would’ve been gone,” Jeannie Ertl said.
San Diego Fire-Rescue says crews on the ground and in the air were able to put out the fire, which burned dozens of acres and damaged several homes. No one was hurt.
While the cause is still being looked into, officials with the department told ABC 10News the fire started in or very close to a homeless encampment.
“We’ve seen an increase in homeless activity in this last year and a half,” Ron Anderson, a Talmadge resident, said.
While the fire department didn’t specify that’s exactly where the fire started, Anderson and others raised concerns on Friday about encampments in nearby areas.
Anderson said he’s seen some in a canyon adjacent to where the fire started and another one close to Fairmount and Montezuma.
“It’s a massive encampment,” Anderson said. “The stuff that we find, I mean… fire was inevitable. You know, they got, like they said, propane tanks. They got gas cans. They got whatever you know.”
But others I spoke to haven’t.
“We’ve not seen the encampments. But we’ve seen people with shopping carts by the edge of the road as people doing their shopping and leave the carts there and take the stuff up,” Charlie Ertl said.
All in all, there’s one thing many are saying on Friday: Thank you to the first responders.
“What can you say? Good for them and we’re very, very lucky to have them,” Jeannie Ertl said.