The "Border Fire" in San Diego County has now burned over 7500 acres. As far as we can tell at this point, it has burned very close to, or actually crossed about 4 miles of our track. Additionally, the fire crews have established a staging area near our track, to access the fire on the opposite side of the track. That would mean heavy equipment, like dozers, could be crossing and damaging the track. We won't be able to do a track inspection until the fire officials say we can enter the area, hopefully in the next few days. Our operations area (displays, depot, shop, etc) are still a couple of miles away from the fire, and, unless there is a wind shift, probably not immediately threatened. Only good thing is that so far no houses have been lost. No estimate on control yet. Photo taken Monday afternoon near our depot.

We have volunteers staffing the property with gates open for emergency vehicles. We keep our place most clear of all weeds, and remove all high heat sources of fuel. It does take a regular effort and expense - but - when these fires occur, we are prepared.

When you live in the west, you learn to be ready for fires.

Let's hope that the fire burns out. After losing the tunnel to Tecate, you need some good luck.

Here is a link to the fire info page:

http://calfireinformation.weebly.com/bo ... dates.html


Good luck / Be Safe

C W

It appears the fire moved north to avoid the Campo Depot and museum grounds. I would expect some burnt ties on the railway and some damage due to fire equipment on and about tracks.

I have been reading about what sounds like a serious effort to restore service from Mexico to Plaster City. Any idea how this might impact PSRM?

The fire is not out, and only 20% contained. Presently it is a couple of miles west of the museum, and burning to the northeast, not toward us. The best news is that our MOW guys were able to do a track inspection today: NO DAMAGE! We are required to keep the ground cleared to bare earth 10 ft away from each rail. In a number of areas the fire came right up to the cleared area and stopped. I'd guess that was because the wind has been only in the 10-15 mph range. Some of our big So Cal fires occur during 50-60 mph winds; no 20 ft clearing would have stopped that. In one cut some large boulders came down onto the track, probably due to fire hoses being trained on a fire adjacent to them. We've dealt with boulders before, after a heavy rain, so this is no big deal. Because of the fire, the main roads to our museum are still closed, so we will not operate this weekend. We aren't totally out of the woods, because a big wind shift could change things, but it is looking pretty good for us.

David Johnson said, "I have been reading about what sounds like a serious effort to restore service from Mexico to Plaster City. Any idea how this might impact PSRM?"

Too soon to tell. We've heard similar plans before, although this outfit probably has the best chance. They are supposed to start some serious work this year. We'll see what happens.