Southwest Riverside County Wildfires

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Mon Dec 23 10:46:55 PST 2024

Southwest Riverside / North San Diego County Wildfires

Last update December 29, 2007

This is an incomplete chronology of major wildfires in southwest Riverside County (and some in northern San Diego County) over the past several years. Fires that burned less than 1,000 acres didn't make this list; there have been many of those throughout the years. If you know of other fires not listed here, or have better information, please tell us. Most of the recent wildfires have been covered by WeatherCurrents. In particular, there were more than usual number of fires in 2003, 2004 and again in 2007 (see map provided by the National Weather Service), due to drier than normal conditions. A previous bad fire season occurred in 1993.

Wildfire Name	Dates	Acres Burned	Location
Poomacha Fire	October 22-25, 2007	TBD	Palomar, Pauba Valley, Valley Center in north San Diego County
Rice Canyon Fire	October 22-25, 2007	TBD	Rainbow, Fallbrook, Pala Mesa Village in north San Diego County
Soboba Fire	June 22-25, 2005	2,080	east of San Jacinto
Melton Fire	July 17-19, 2004	3,960	south of Hemet near Sage
Eagle Fire	May 2-7, 2004	8,945	southeast of Temecula
Cerrito Fire	May 2-7, 2004	16,460	north of Lake Elsinore
Pleasure Fire	April 25-28, 2004	4,264	near Anza
Mountain Fire	October 26-30, 2003	9,898	northeast of Temecula
Roblar 2 Fire	October 21-27, 2003	6,892	southwest of De Luz; mostly in San Diego County
Canyon Fire	July 27-August 1, 2003	4,300	east of San Jacinto
Stage Fire	July 24-July 27?, 2003	less than 2,000	between Sage and Hemet
Gavilan Fire	February 10-12, 2002	5,763	south of De Luz, north of Fallbrook
Pechanga Fire (also called Agua Tibia Fire)	July 29-August 9, 2000	11,734	south of Temecula, in Agua Tibia wilderness
Camp Pendleton Fire	September 4-5, 1997	1,100	southeast of De Luz
Pauba Fire	August 31-September 5, 1997	7,200	east of Temecula, near Vail Lake
Juan Diego Flats Fire	July 1-6, 1996	1,057	north of Anza, at Cahuilla Mountain
Bee Fire	June 29-July 2, 1996	9,620	San Jacinto mountains, near Idyllwild
Palm Fire	June 27-July 10, 1994	20,900	San Jacinto mountains, south of Palm Springs
Unknown	June 26-28, 1994	1,500	south of Anza
Ortega/El Cariso Fire	October 27-31, 1993	12,000	west of Lake Elsinore, in Cleveland National Forest
California Fire	October 26-31, 1993	25,100	near Winchester and French Valley
Vail Fire	1989	16,000	south of Temecula, in Agua Tibia wilderness
Palomar Mountain Fire	1987	Unknown	southeast of Temecula, near Aguanga

Credits: The Press-Enterprise, National Weather Service, California Department of Forestry, Sue Bram, Curtis Croulet, Tom Chester.