Page "San Diego Country Estates, California" Paragraph 6

Also beginning near the Estates, the Witch Fire began October 21, 2007 and was part of a series of fires that ravaged Southern California.

The Witch Creek fire caused the evacuation of the thousands of residents of the Estates area and evacuating cars were bottlenecked on the San Vicente Highway, a main artery leading to San Diego Country Estates from Ramona.

It was feared that the fire would sweep west from the ridge separating the Estates and Ramona, catching vehicles evacuating west through North County, however, fortunately the wind changed the course of the fire.

The Witch Creek fire was initially feared to be larger than the Cedar Fire but instead resulted in becoming the second largest fire in California history.

Ultimately the Witch Creek burned 197, 990 acres ( 801 km2 ) and forced the evacuation of an estimated 1, 000, 000 people in the San Diego metropolitan area, the largest evacuation in California history.