I was born in New Orleans, lived in the South until I was 12, then New England till I was 20, and Southern California ever since.
I’ve experienced hurricane and tornado summers, snow blizzards, steamy heat waves, and torrential rainstorms, but until 2003, I had never experienced wildfire season.
On a Sunday morning, Oct. 26, 2003, I was heading to host a long-scheduled Open House on 4th Street in La Mesa Village. The entire sky was a putrid yellow color I’d never seen before. As it was snowing ash, the ground was coated in gray particles.
My young children helped me put out signs. No cars drove by, no kids pedaled past us on bikes, no parents pushed strollers and no one was walking their dogs. We felt like the last people on earth and were deeply spooked.
This was before Androids, iPhones, and 24/7 news in the palm of your hand, so I had no idea that the infamous Cedar Fire had started the evening before.
The Cedar Fire would take 15 lives, including one firefighter, burned over 273,000 acres in San Diego County, and destroyed 2,820 buildings, including 2,232 homes. It took 10 days to bring the fire under control, with hot spots smoldering until Dec. 5, 2003.
Almost four years to the day later, the Witch Creek Fire roared through San Diego County, killing two people and destroying 1,125 homes.
As of the writing of this article, San Diego skies are filled with smoke from the Otay Mountain Fire near the San Diego/Tijuana Border, and still burning are the 2025 Los Angeles Fires, which started Jan. 7 and have killed at least 28 people and destroyed over 16,000 structures (10,000+ homes).
Except for some charred stumps in rural parts of the County, it’s hard to find physical remnants of the 2003 or 2007 San Diego Fires. Homes were rebuilt quickly, and new, significantly updated building codes were implemented after the 2003 fire.
For new construction, those upgrades include:
More fire-resistant materials like non-combustible siding (stucco, cement board)
“A” rated roofing (asphalt, polymer/composite, clay, slate – no wood shake shingles)
Improved attic ventilation & stricter regulations on attic vents to prevent ember entry
Stricter regulations on defensible space mandating the removal or thinning of combustible vegetation within 100 feet of a structure
Double-glazed windows with welded metal corners
Noncombustible exterior doors
All new homes in San Diego County, including ADUs, must have automatic residential fire sprinklers.
Most homes in La Mesa are older homes. These homeowners can go to readyforwildfire.org for essential advice to better prepare their homes for fires.
Additional tips I’ve heard from firefighters and people who have been directly impacted by fires include:
If uncontained fires are nearby and Santa Ana winds are blowing, ensure your car is filled with gas or fully charged.
Have a suitcase(s) packed with essentials, including medication.
If something is portable and irreplaceable, like a photo album, pack that too.
Have nonperishable food and gallons of drinking water on hand.
To receive Emergency Alerts, keep your cell phone on and not in airplane mode.
Consider purchasing long-range Walkie Talkies like Rapid Radios. During a fire disaster, cell phone use can be severely limited or completely unavailable if cell towers or power lines are damaged by fire.
If you are the house-saving warrior type, place water sprinklers on your roof and own heavy-duty hoses; with the correct pumping equipment, a swimming pool can provide readily available water that can be used to douse embers, wet down roofs, and extinguish burning vegetation.
Before disaster strikes, contact your insurance company to ensure you are adequately covered. According to Webster Insurance in Downtown La Mesa, fire zones are not just the county’s rural areas but can be urban places on canyons or freeway embankments.
Lastly, LA was caught unprepared. An ounce of prevention would have saved lives, giant swaths of structures, and billions of dollars.
Heartland Fire Chief Bent Koch advised me that all of La Mesa’s frontline fire engines are fully staffed, Helix Water’s water delivery and fire hydrant infrastructure remains in fully serviceable condition, a prepositioned strike team consisting of five fire engines and a leader is stationed specifically for fires in San Diego County and will not leave the area and dispatch level for any fire incident is set at the highest level until the current weather event subsides.
– Reach eXp Realtor and La Mesa Councilwoman Laura Lothian at: [email protected].
