East County News Service
January 25, 2025 (Rancho San Diego, CA) -- In light of the ongoing evacuations at the Border Fire, the Water Conservation Garden on the campus of Cuyamaca College is opening its grounds with free admission to evacuees and their pets. Free Wifi is available.
“We hope The Garden can provide a peaceful escape, a place to recharge, and a reminder of the resilience of nature and community,” says Lauren Magnuson, Director of Garden Operations. She adds, ”Stay safe, and we look forward to welcoming you.”
For more information, visit https://thegarden.org/
East County News Service
Photos courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol
January 25, 2025 (Jacumba Hot Springs, CA) – Two hikers in the Jacumba Wilderness were robbed and attacked, with one man shot by “suspected Mexican cartel terrorists,” according to a press release issued by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
According to the CPB, agents from the El Centro sector were dispatched following a 911 call reporting that a man had been shot and needed assistance. The agents found a group of hikers about 1,000 feet north of the international border in the Jacumba Wilderness, which is near the San Diego County and Imperial County line. The hikers reportedly stated that two of the hikers, an American and a Canadian, were ordered by armed men to approach.
When the hikers refused, “the assailants fired a volley of shots toward the hikers, striking one victim in the leg. The assailants advanced on the downed hiker and his Canadian companion, robbing them of their cell phones and backpacks,” the release states.
At 12:08 p.m. Mountain Disrupt Unit, Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), and Border Patrol Search Trauma, and Rescue (BORSTAR) agents infiltrated to the area, locating the injured victim and stabilizing him.
Agents created a protective perimeter and extracted the victim via CBP Air and Marine Operations San Diego, according to the CPB.
According to Scott Lord business director with Mercy Air, "The victim was transferred to Mercy Air Ambulance and flown to Sharp Medical Center in San Diego for treatment." He indicated that this is the first incidence of a hiker shooting along the border locally that he is aware of, adding that he has friends who have hiked the Pacific Coast Trail from Mexico to Canada and never heard of anything like this.
BORTAC and BORSTAR agents maintained a secure perimeter and tracked the assailants back to the border where they returned to Mexico.
It is unclear why the CPB believes the attackers were cartel members, though cartels have long been involved in smuggling operations along the U.S.-Mexico border.
While unprovoked attacks on hikers locally are rare (ECM has never received any previous similar eport since our founding in 2008), cartel criminal activities have spilled over the border. including illicit drug activities and more. On January 21, San Diego Police announced arrest of dozens of individual suspected of criminal activities affiliated with Mexican Mafia, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The suspects are largely street gang members who “took orders from cartel bosses operating in state prison and preyed on business owners by forcing mafia-style taxes,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said Tuesday at a news conference.
The hiker’s shooting comes days after President Donald Trump declared a border emergency designating Mexican drug cartels and other Latin American criminal groups as terrorist organizations. Trump's order states that these groups "threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere." He has threatened to send U.S. special forces commando into Mexico to go after cartels.
El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino states, “The wounded hiker is an ‘I told you so moment’ highlighting the importance of adequate infrastructure the Border Patrol has been championing for years now.” He predicts, “Suspected cartel terrorists, however, are fixing to learn this type of conduct will be an end game type of activity here in the Premier Sector. All threats, anywhere, or at any time throughout this sector will be addressed vigorously.”
Jacumba Hikers issued a statement on Facebook indicating that while this incident did not involve their hiking group,"Due to this incident, we have decided to cancel the upcoming hike and avoid hiking near the border at this time."
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the patient was transported on Reach Air Ambulance, based on a Border Patrol press release. However Mercy Air has contacted us to clarify that their company provided the transport.
Update January 25, 2025- The fire had modest growth overnight and is now 6,500 acres, per Cal Fire.
Update 8:15 p.m.-- Per CalTrans, State Route 94 is closed in both directions between Honey Springs Rd. in Jamul and State Route 188 (access road to Tecate) due to the fire.
Update 5:55 p.m.-- The fire is now 6,272.7 acres per Cal-Fire. The mandatory evacuation area has been extended to some areas east of State Route 94.
January 24, 2025 (Jamul/Dulzura) -- Evacuation orders and warnings for the #Border2Fire now extend to immediately south of Jamul Casino, including areas east and west of State Route 94, and significant portions of Chula Vista. Photo left is as of 1 p.m.; click this link for latest evacuation areas and hit the plus sign to enlarge to view details: https://app.watchduty.org/camera/2231 Also see another map here: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/23/border-2-fire.
The fire, which started on Otay Mountain yesterday, is now 5,389 acres and 10% contained per Cal Fire. An Evacuation Center has now been set up at: Cuyamaca College 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway, El Cajon, CA 92019.
The Sheriff has suspended visits to county jail in Otay Mesa including George Bailey and Rock Mountain detention facilities as well as the East Mesa Reentry facilities. Currently inmates are sheltering in place but there is an evacuation plan in place if it becomes necessary, the Sheriff advises.
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East County News Service
January 24, 2025 (San Diego's East County) -- The San Diego County Office of Education has announced numerous school closures today due to the Border 2 Fire as well as power outages.
Power outages have resulted in closure of all Mountain Empire Unified School District and Warner Unified School district campuses today, as well as all Borrego Unified School District and Dehesa School District schools.. Currently over 19,000 customers are without power due to public power safety shutoffs, with more than 63,000 more at risk of losing power. For updates on power outages due to public safety shutoffs, visit https://www.sdge.com/psps-dashboard.
The Border 2 Fire has caused closures of the following schools: Eastlake High, Eastlake Middle, East Hills Academy in the Sweetwater Union High School District,High Tech High in CHuula Vista, Arroya Vista Charter School, and in the Chula Vista Elementary School District Arroyo Vista, Camarena, Eastlake, Liberty, Marshall, Olympic View, Salt Creek, and Wolf Canyon elementary schools are closed; all other CVESD schools remain open but on rainy day schedule due to poor air quality.
For additional updates, follow @SanDiegoCOE on X (formerly Twitter)
Update 12 p.m.: Cal Fire has mapped the fire at 5,389 acres. It remains 10% contained. View laetst evacuation areas, whcih have expanded, here: https://app.watchduty.org/i/41110
By Miriam Raftery
January 24, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – The #Border2Fire has exploded overnight to 4,250 acres with 10% containment, Cal Fire reports this morning. Per San Diego County Sheriff, #Border2Fire. An evacuation order has been issued for people who live in the red shaded areas as shown on the map at left as of early this morning. It means there is an immediate threat and you need to leave right now. An evacuation warning has also been issued for the areas in yellow.
Areas under evacuation notices include Dulzura, portions of Jamul, Lower Otay Reservoir, Otay Mt. Truck Trail, Campo Rd., the Elite Training Center and more. Otay Ranch Town Center and Olympian High School are under evacuation advisories.
Evacuation Points: Red Cross volunteers are supporting two temporary evacuation points:
- Edwards Theater, 2951 Jamacha Rd., El Cajon
- Southwestern College, 900 Otay Lakes Rd, Chula Vista
Note: Evacuations orders and warnings may be updated frequently; for the most recent maps please see:
https://protect.genasys.com/fullscreenMap? and
http://emergencymap.sandiegocounty.gov/index.htmlSome schools in the area are closed.
Road closures
Westbound & Eastbound SR-94 at Otay Lakes Rd is closed due to the fire - per Caltrans San Diego on X.
Alta Road is closed to traffic just south of Otay Mesa Road.Otay Lakes Rd is under a hard closure at Wueste Rd.
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City awaits Council’s next motion
By Rachel Williams
July 14.2024 (El Cajon) -- With online sales taking a bite out of retail traffic, shopping malls across the U.S. are struggling and some have closed down. Seeking to avoid that scenario, the City of El Cajon commissioned a market analysis envisioning redevelopment options for Parkway Plaza, East County’s largest regional shopping mall.
Council members unanimously favored a motion to move beyond proposed aspirational measures and begin the next step toward transforming Parkway Plaza into a mix of residential, retail, offices, entertainment and community space.
These “Eatertainment” facilities would combine compelling, traditional dining options and immersive sport-centered bars with unique, dynamic lifestyle retail shops, all oriented around a linear park.
The biggest takeaway from this market analysis is that the community wants lower-cost products to provide the City of El Cajon with the most opportunity. Right now there isn’t a product representing this type of brand or environment.
"Parkway Plaza is grateful for the City of El Cajon’s interest and investment in the future of the shopping center. We are truly excited to see the city’s vision and look forward to the potential of working with them to continue evolving the property to meet the needs of our community,” Daisy Melena, General Manager of Parkway Plaza, said.
Hunden Partners, a leading advisor in destination real estate development, paired with 505 Design and conceptualized two plans for Parkway Plaza as an epicenter or heartbeat of the community; a place to work, play, visit and shop.
“You’re in that transition phase where if you let it go too long, it’s going to go in a direction you’re probably not too fond of, so it’s a great time to assess the situation and the opportunity,” Rob Hunden, Hunden Partners, said.(Photo, right)
The team aims to transform the dying mall from a stop-and-go destination with fast-food eateries and retail shops to an economic hub serving locals within 25 miles, catering to all residents. It’s a mixed-use, district-based design, including local multi-family properties, creative or medical offices, restaurants to attract families and outdoor space for community gatherings.
One redevelopment plan reduces the physical interior of the mall by 50% and reinvests 25% back. An alternative option would keep the existing mall but eliminate Walmart on the south side. Along Fletcher Pkwy, the reimagined blueprint shows a cluster of retail shops, and restaurants, introducing two hotels of 120-to-150 rooms aligning Highway 8.
By eliminating Walmart and repurposing one of the parking decks, a development of 300-to-350 residential units could provide shelter and create more than 1,500 blue-collar jobs during the construction process.
Okazaki pitches a second vision that concentrates the strongest tenants on one end, peeling back the mall to the center food court and reinventing its staple movie theater into an outdoor dining scene, with a smaller curated section of retail, restaurants or office spaces, and residential properties, creating symmetry and a unified destination.
“Once you start luring in lives and mixed-use amenities, all the sudden you start to shift the dynamic of what you can create and people start to visualize your property as something other than just a mall, then you start seeing a district,” Carl Okazaki with 505 Design said.
This alternative blueprint would keep Macy’s box, owned by Tourmaline Capital, and Sears’ box, owned by Citivest, utilizing it as a shell for another tenant. With dining on either end, an indoor concourse would head west to an outdoor pedestrian promenade, anchoring those tenants under two ownership groups.
“You start the first phase. I don’t say that to be reckless or without a master plan. I don’t say that to be cavalier in the overall project, but time is money,” Councilmember Steve Goble said.
While Councilmember Michelle Metschel agrees the community needs to move forward expeditiously because she believes this project will improve the city overall, the residents are clamoring for more entertainment, restaurants, and a better spot to gather.
The reimagining of Parkway Plaza could provide more economic stability, and the number of jobs produced in the building of phases one and two is worth it, once it’s built, even more jobs will be created for the community. With these upgrades, Metschel anticipates crime reduction.
“We’re not gonna have to worry about getting more car dealerships in, and I think that we will keep our residents here if we have entertainment spots, venues that will keep the younger kids here once they get old enough to have families or out on their own,” she says.
Brenda Hammond, a meeting attendee and longtime resident of Lemon Grove, started going to Parkway Plaza, the center of El Cajon, in 1972. She’s hopeful this next generation will continue to gather at the mall for silly, fun times.
“I was 12 years old. And we were so used to College Grove and Grossmont Center, we wanted something new to come down to East County, and we could just go down Avocado, we called it the back way, the old 94,” Hammond reminisced.
Once citizens reside on-site, services and products will follow suit, Goble called upon smaller landowners to seize the opportunity, pioneer and bring forward housing properties for the community.
Hunden says the number of residents in the multi-family property development is only a drop in the bucket relative to the number of residents who drive to visit the mall, but could generate frequent visits as opposed to once a month.
“I think we need to do something with that mall because it may end up like many other malls that become defunct and that’s one of our major sales-tax generators, and we don’t want that to happen,” Councilmember Gary Kendrick said.
Constraints from different landowners will need more financial analysis, according to Vince DiMaggio, the Assistant City Manager. A big part of developing this further is sitting down with the stakeholders who own sections of the land, such as Starwood Capital Group, Tourmaline Capital, Citivest and JC Penny.
“There could be a short-term investment, maybe by the city, that then flips around and becomes a long-term benefit,” Hunden concludes. “All of these properties are in a bit of a bind and they’re looking for a way out.”
This project is expec
ted to have substantial economic benefits and increase the city’s revenues by at least $10 million yearly. However, certain material costs are needed for the residential section to ensure maximum quality assurance. Below shows that 45% of gap funding is needed to recapture the new net spending or taxes due for this project.
The reimagination of Parkway Plaza will be subsidized in the form of supportable private financing and gap funding. The City of El Cajon and the private sector, comprised of three entities, according to Hunden, would be responsible for figuring out the gap funding, likely implemented through land-use controls, zoning, and support from the Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) as a tool for this vision, DiMaggio said.
Source: SDG&E
January 25, 2025 (SDG&E) – San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) announced this evening that power has been fully restored to all customers affected by recent Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). Over 19,000 customers were impacted in dozens of local communities. These shutoffs were implemented as a wildfire prevention measure in response to unprecedented weather conditions that led to prolonged high-fire risk.
“SDG&E recognizes that being without power can be incredibly frustrating and tiring. We sincerely thank our customers for their patience and understanding over these last three weeks as we took proactive steps to minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfires,” a press release from SDG&E states. ”We don't make the decision to implement shutoffs lightly. These measures are crucial for safeguarding lives, property, and entire communities during times of extreme fire risk."
Record-Breaking Conditions
The weeks-long weather event brought a rare combination of extreme Santa Ana winds, with gusts exceeding 100 mph in some places, critically low humidity levels and a historic lack of rain in the region.
By the Numbers Since January 7:
- Historic weather: San Diego County has experienced the driest start to the rainy season in the past 174 years.
- Advanced monitoring: SDG&E has 222 of the nation’s most sophisticated weather monitoring systems that are continuously tracking wind speeds and wildfire conditions. These systems, combined with millions of historical weather data points, help us make informed decisions about which communities are most at risk.
- Record-breaking winds: Wind speeds in the county reached record highs of over 100 miles per hour, with 62 wind-gust records broken at SDG&E’s weather stations.
- Community support: SDG&E opened 12 Community Resource Centers, offering services like Wi-Fi, food, and charging stations for phones and medical devices to support our impacted customers.
Update 8:46 p.m.-- The fire is now 600 acres, per Watch Duty App. No structures are currently threatened.
By Miriam Raftery
Photo, left, by Jeff Caton, taken from the intersection of Fletcher Parkway and Cuyamaca St. in El Cajon this evening.
Photo, right: Border 2 Fire viewed from HP Wren Otay Mountain West camera
January 23, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – The Border 2 Fire burning on Otay Mountain has swelled to 566 acres as of 7 p.m. tonight. The flames are visible as far north as Escondido and Ramona. There is zero containment as yet.
The fire which began early this afternoon was burning at a “dangerous” rate of spread, Watch Duty App reported, however this evening Cal Fire indicates it is growing at a moderate rate as winds have lessened.
No evacuation notices have been sent out by the County, though campers at Pio Pico and Thousand Trials have posted on social media that they were advised to evacuate or prepare to evacuate.
Alta Rd. is closed to traffic south of Otay Mesa Rd., per Watch Duty app.
View our earlier coverage:
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/border-2-fire-otay-mountain-spreading-dangerous-rate
Sign up to receive our free East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts via email at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/wild-fire-alerts. You can also follow EastCountyAlert on Twitter.
East County News Service
Image: Creative Commons via Bing
January 23, 2025 (San Diego) - A woman, along with an incarcerated person, have been arrested on suspicion of mailing drug-laced letters to a San Diego County jail, says Sergeant Aaron Brooks with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Detention Investigations Unit.
Deputies assigned to the Sheriff's Mail Processing Center intercepted fictitious legal mail intended for Aaron Beek, 45, who is in custody at the George Bailey Detention Facility in Otay Mesa. Upon closer inspection, deputies located materials they believed to be soaked with narcotics.
The Sheriff's Detention Investigations Unit (DIU) began a criminal investigation, which identified Jacqueline Richardson, 44, as responsible for mailing the packages containing the drugs to Beek at the George Bailey Detention Facility.
On January 16, DIU Detectives served a search warrant at Richardson's home in San Diego. During the search, detectives found evidence related to the mail case and additional narcotics such as powdered fentanyl, M30 fentanyl pills and methamphetamine.
Richardson was arrested on numerous charges, including sending a controlled substance into jail and possession of a controlled substance. She was booked into the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee.
Beek, who remains in Sheriff's custody, was rearrested on criminal charges related to sending a controlled substance into jail.
Sending a controlled substance into a jail is a felony with a penalty of up to six years in custody.