Rice Canyon Fire burns near Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve

Rice Canyon Fire started in the morning of Oct 22 at the 1500 block of Rice Canyon in eastern Fallbrook. The fire crossed the I-15 Freeway and came to the southern boundary of Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve (SMER). All SMER staff and visitors have been evacuated, and the reserve is currently closed. Firefighters and CHP have been using SMER webcameras to monitor the fire.

The webcameras are part of a reserve-wide environmental sensor network, one of the largest of its kind in the world. The sensor network is connected to the Internet by High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN), which originates at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Data from the sensor network is collected in collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The fire has burned over 9,000 acres, destroying 206 homes and injuring 3 fire fighters. The fire is now fully contained according to CalFire. Thank you CalFire and North County Fire fire fighters!

Stagecoach Lane heading towards Fallbrook

Sky Crane Helicopter

Stagecoach Lane 350 feet south of SMER boundry

More of Stagecoach Lane

View from south side looking south

Stagecoach Lane 350 feet south of SMER boundry

View from south side offices towards Fallbrook (South East)

The water being dumped on the second ridge line east of Sumac Summit. Water was taken from the Fallbrook Reservoir. The round trip was about 3 minutes

Approach to SMER south gate

Stagecoach Lane heading south

Stagecoach Lane — Willowglen intersection by mailboxes

CDF Red Mountain Comm tower 3 miles south of SMER North Station. From there the link extends to Mount Soledad and then SDSC

Map showing burn area, and SMER boundry

More information available on WildFireAlert!, including links to news items, more fire burn maps, and time-lapse videos

All photos by Pablo Bryant and Spring Strahm