Evacuation orders have been lifted following a brush fire the afternoon of Jan. 23 in the area of Gilman Drive and Via Alicante in La Jolla.
About 175 firefighters responded and kept the fire to three acres, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Jose Ysea.
The blaze, named the “Gilman fire,” broke out around 2 p.m. and within 30 minutes had charred an acre, Ysea said.
Evacuation orders were issued for the area bordered by La Jolla Village Drive to the north, La Jolla Parkway to the south, Gilman Drive to the east and Torrey Pines Road to the west.
The area includes Torrey Pines Elementary School, where students and staff were told to shelter in place before they were evacuated 20 minutes before the end of the school day.
“You could smell the smoke, but it wasn’t choking or anything,” Principal Keith Keiper said. “But then all our phones [started ringing].”
Students were released one by one to their parents or another trusted adult. Soon, the San Diego Police Department said the school could return to sheltering in place, and about 50 students who remained were moved to the auditorium.
“The only real problem was the traffic,” Keiper said. “We had three kids that couldn’t get picked up because their parents were stuck in traffic. So we waited with them. … My teachers were spectacular.”
Keiper also commended principals at other La Jolla schools who offered assistance.
Keiper said Torrey Pines Elementary conducts monthly fire drills and two lockdown drills a year, and “it’s paid off.”
The school was undamaged and will be open Friday, Jan. 24, he said. A counselor will be onsite to help any students who want to talk about what happened.
Additional evacuation warnings were issued between La Jolla Shores Drive and Torrey Pines Road and between La Jolla Natural Park and Hillside Drive.
A temporary evacuation location was set up near UC San Diego Medical Center.
But around 3:30 p.m., UCSD stated in an email to its campus community that the spread of the fire had been stopped. “There is no immediate threat to campus,” the email said.
The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately clear.
“The Metro Arson Task Force is investigating the cause of the fire,” Ysea said. “As a group of fire forensics and police investigators, they will make a determination, and San Diego police will release the information.”
When it began, wind was blowing 10-15 mph as Santa Ana winds hit the region.
High winds caused play to be suspended in the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open at La Jolla’s Torrey Pines Golf Course shortly after 2 p.m.
“It’s times like these that make you realize the stuff that goes on day to day and the trials and tribulations of being a teacher are inconsequential to taking care of our kids and keeping them safe,” Keiper said.
“You could see it was nerve-wracking and scary. … Both the emotions of the teachers and the kids who just watched L.A. being aflame for two weeks. … I was proud of my staff for being those anchors for the kids.”
— The San Diego Union-Tribune contributed to this report. ♦
