OTAY MESA, Calif. (KGTV) — According to CAL FIRE's Incidents page, the Border 2 Fire has burned 6,273 acres as of Friday evening and was at 10 percent containment.
ABC 10News was on the scene just before 4 a.m. Friday, when the Border 2 Fire had only burned 1,000 acres at that point.
A big portion of the wildfire started in the lower region of Otay Lakes, but as ABC 10News on-scene witnessed, fire crews had that area out near Otay Lake Rd contained within less than a few hours.
CAL FIRE firefighters and inmates from Northern California, specifically Shasta and Humboldt Counties, were among the crews helping fight the wildfire on Friday.
As CAL FIRE Blackhawks fought the Border 2 fire from the air, inmates from Northern California were among the hand crews helping fight the fire on the ground.
One firefighter from Shasta County and an inmate from Humboldt County spoke privately to ABC 10News and declined an official interview because they were busy with their tasks.
However, they shared the following.
The firefighter from Shasta County told ABC 10News that he was on his 23rd day of fighting fires, having come from the Palisades Fires and then wildfires in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
The firefighter said he was at a staging area in Riverside County before being deployed to San Diego Thursday night to help with the Border 2 Fire.
The same story went for inmates from Humbolt County.
One inmate told ABC 10News that he also helped mitigate the Palisades fire and could not compare the wildfires in Los Angeles and San Diego.
"Once you've seen one fire, you've seen them all," the inmate said. He went on to say he was glad to be in San Diego helping fight the Border 2 Fire.
The same firefighter from Shasta County said he had been working with inmates fighting wildfires for 12 years and can attest to how well the two crews work hand-in-hand together.
The firefighter told ABC 10News that the inmates use rake tools and chainsaws to clear a path for the firefighters to come through with a waterline, or hose, to put the fires out. He said the inmates helped streamline the process.
