Wildfire in California, September 23 to 25, 2001

Name: Wildfire in California, September 23 to 25, 2001
Start: 2001-09-23T20:00
End: 2001-09-25T17:00
Location: California

September 23 to 25, 2001 · NWS SGX · 5 events in 3 counties and zones

Several brush fires were fueled by daytime temperatures over 100 degrees and dry east winds. The Duncan Canyon fire, near the mouth of Lytle Creek, burned over 200 acres and one home.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $200,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.

Several brush fires were fueled by daytime temperatures over 100 degrees and dry east winds. The Duncan Canyon fire, near the mouth of Lytle Creek, burned over 200 acres and one home. The Devils Canyon Fire, north of California State University - San Bernardino, burned 150 acres. The fire southwest of Idyllwild was caused by a car rolling down an embankment, 60 acres were burned. The fire in South San Diego County scorched hillsides along Interstate 805 and made a run towards auto-dismantling yards in the Otay Mesa area before being controlled.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 23, 7:37 PM PST, 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 23, 7:37 PM PST, 23 minutes before

EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
930 PM PDT SUN SEP 23 2001

.SYNOPSIS...ONSHORE FLOW AND THE MARINE LAYER WILL CONTINUE NIGHT AND
MORNING COASTAL LOW CLOUDS AND FOG...EXTENDING LOCALLY INLAND.
OTHERWISE...FAIR IN DRY WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. COOLER TOWARD THE END OF
THE WEEK AS UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS OVER THE WEST COAST.

.DISCUSSION...AREA OF LOW CLOUDS/FOG ALONG THE IMMEDIATE COAST TONIGHT
JUST STARTING TO MOVE INLAND...MAINLY SAN COUNTY. 00Z NKX SOUNDING HAD
INVERSION BASED NEAR 1200 FT...A LITTLE HIGHER THAN 24 HOURS PREVIOUS.
ONSHORE GRADIENTS TO E WITH 5-6 MB SAN-IPL. STRATUS NOT AS EXTENSIVE
OFFSHORE AS IT HAS BEEN THE LAST FEW DAYS. HI CLOUDS OFFSHORE FLOWING UP
FROM THE SW.

UPPER HI OVER SW U.S. GETS ERODED BY SHORT WAVE MOVING THROUGH NRN CA
MON THROUGH TUE. THIS WILL CAUSE A SMALL DECREASE IN LOCAL HEIGHTS AND
THICKNESS FOR A LITTLE COOLING IN MOST AREAS. THE INVERSION SHOULD ALSO
CONTINUE TO SLOWLY LIFT AND WEAKEN WHICH WOULD RESULT IN A LITTLE
FARTHER INLAND PENETRATION OF LOW CLOUDS/FOG BUT LESS PERSISTENT STATUS
ALONG THE IMMEDIATE COAST. A FEW HI CLOUDS MAY ALSO DRIFT OVER IN SW
FLOW ALOFT. NGM/ETA NOW INDICATE THERE COULD ALSO BE SOME INCREASE IN
MID LEVEL MOISTURE AS EARLY AS MON IN SSE FLOW...BUT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE
ENOUGH FOR ANY SIGNIFICANT CONVECTION IN MOUNTAINS/DESERTS. WEAK SURFACE
HI BUILDS INTO NV BEHIND SHORT WAVE WED...BUT IT WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO
SCOUR OUT MARINE LAYER. HOWEVER...IT COULD BRING A LITTLE WARMING TO
AREAS W OF MOUNTAINS.

LONGER RANGE PROGS INDICATE MAIN E PAC TROUGH SLOWLY MOVES OVER W COAST
TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK/NEXT WEEKEND FOR DEEPENING MARINE LAYER AND
COOLING...OTHERWISE FAIR.

.SAN...NONE.

ATKIN

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, San Bernardino

When: September 23, 8:00 PM PST to September 25, 5:00 PM PST
Where: San Bernardino County, 5 mi N of San Bernardino
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wildfire, San Bernardino

When: September 24, 1:00 PM PST to 8:00 PM PST
Where: San Bernardino County, Lytle Creek
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wildfire, San Diego

When: September 24, 2:15 PM PST to 5:15 PM PST
Where: San Diego County, Chula Vista
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wildfire, San Bernardino

When: September 24, 3:45 PM PST to 5:45 PM PST
Where: San Bernardino County, Rialto
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wildfire, Riverside

When: September 24, 7:50 PM PST to September 25, 5:00 PM PST
Where: Riverside County, 4 mi SW of Idyllwild
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 33.744, -115.994 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in California, September 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5269149, 5269147, 5269146, 5269148, 5269150.