SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — ABC 10News anchor Aaron Dickens visited a canyon in the Otay Mesa mountain area as the Border 2 fire continued to burn Monday.
Firefighters said the canyon was filled with flames Friday night. Then, when the rain came down on Saturday and Sunday, it was a big help in pushing back and containing the blaze.
"This is the terrain. These hard volcanic rocks with the long-term action of rain. Also, acids in the rain dissolving the rock and making it soil," said Pat Abbott.
Abbott is a Geology professor at San Diego State. He says the ancient rocks help hold the soil in place. But if we had a heavy burst of rain like last year, that could change.
"If we had heavy rain here like last year and we had thoroughly saturated these burnt soils and burnt ground, then we would get those shallow surface mud flows," said Abbott.
Abbot says homes on a steep slope are most at risk for mudslides. He says slides can even happen with continuous rain over weeks or months.
"Where the water gets a chance to soak below the ground surface and gets down real deep. That is when you get the deep-seated landslides, they do not occur immediately," Abbott added.
But he says in this area, not all is lost; the fire can cause seeds to germinate.
"Add a little bit of water to it. They are more prone to grow now than they would be at other times," he said.
