SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A brush fire burned across a rural stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, prompting San Diego County authorities to close a state highway and evacuate several residents.
Fire broke out about 11 a.m. Monday on the Mexican side of the border, near Tecate. By late Monday night, it had burned across nearly 1,000 acres of U.S. land and 1,000 acres in Mexico, said Matt Streck of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
About 30 U.S. homes in the vicinity of the blaze were saved by firefighters.
In Mexico, more than 50 firefighters from several agencies were on the scene, said German Dinera, a spokesman with the fire department in Tecate. Dinera said the fire was burning a mountainous area in Mexico. He was unaware of any homes in the area that might be threatened.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
About 350 firefighters with six air tankers and six helicopters were battling the fire on the U.S. side, Streck said. At least five people took shelter at the community center in Campo, about 30 miles east of southern San Diego.
Lois Blackburn, 43, left her ranch for a doctor's appointment Monday morning and was unable to return home. ``I'm very worried about our home and animals _ five dogs and three cats,'' she said by telephone. ``When we left the house we weren't thinking that we weren't coming back.''
