Escondido Fire has applied for a grant in the amount of $55,516 from CalOES to purchase a High Frequency (HF) radio system to strengthen our emergency operations by providing a redundant emergency communications link between Escondido’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), San Diego County’s EOC and the CalOES EOC. This will be very important if other conventional communications systems fail.
On February 13, the Escondido Police and Fire Communication Center received a report of smoke coming from the area near Motel 6 at Mission and Quince Ave. A large black smoke column was visible and the smoke was found to be coming from the Escondido Flood Control Channel beneath Highway 78. Firefighters performed a confined space entry and discovered several encampments inside the tunnel that were on fire. Large quantities of debris were extinguished and removed. Fortunately, there were no injuries to firefighters or civilians. Due to the access location and the complexity of operation, the onramp to Westbound Highway 78 and Centre City Pkwy were closed with the assistance of the EPD and CHP.
On February 17, the Escondido Police and Fire Departments were dispatched to a reported vegetation fire in the area north of Country Club Lane on Centre City Pkwy. The fire was a small spot approximately 50’ by 50’ that was mostly extinguished by bystanders prior to the fire department’s arrival. There were also several other small fires on the side of the road further north along Centre City Parkway up to Deer Springs Road that had also been extinguished by bystanders.
