Juliet Fire Contained; Over 4,000 Acres Burned

OCEANSIDE -- A brush fire that displaced thousands of people in the North County as it blackened more than 4,000 acres on the grounds of Camp Pendleton was contained, officials said.

All evacuation orders were lifted as of Tuesday night, Cal Fire reported.

The only known structural damage caused by the blaze, dubbed the Juliet Fire, after the training grounds on which it erupted two days ago, was the loss of two commercial greenhouses near the military installation, said Marc Peebles of the U.S. Forest Service.

One firefighter suffered a minor injury while working to douse the flames, which scorched about 4,026 acres, according to CalFire.

The fire, the second to erupt on the grounds of the Marine Corps base in less than a week, began spreading amid dry, breezy conditions about 3 p.m. Monday.

The cause of the blaze remained under investigation, though Camp Pendleton officials asserted that military training was not to blame.

Base firefighters battled the flames with the help of the federal Forest Service, CalFire and municipal crews from Oceanside, San Diego and other local jurisdictions.

Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, including two Bombardier CL-415 SuperScooper water-tankers, were instrumental in gaining control of the conflagration, fire officials said.

As the blaze began spreading, Oceanside officials used a reverse 911 telephone system to notify those in threatened areas. Residents were instructed to go to an American Red Cross evacuation center set up at El Camino High School.

In addition to Oceanside residents, the fire forced the evacuation of thousands of people from several base housing areas. The military families were encouraged to take temporary shelter at Camp Pendleton's Stuart Mesa Housing Office.