The Pines Fire began on July 29 when a helicopter clipped a power line and the resulting sparks started a brush fire. The fire grew rapidly in the extremely hot and dry conditions and exhibited extreme fire behavior during the first part of August.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
The Pines Fire began on July 29 when a helicopter clipped a power line and the resulting sparks started a brush fire. The fire grew rapidly in the extremely hot and dry conditions and exhibited extreme fire behavior during the first part of August. At one point the fire was near 80 percent containment, but atmospheric conditions were dry and unstable and a large plume developed. This in turn caused fire whirls and spotting well ahead of the fire line. Acreage at that point was being consumed at 3,000 acres per hour. This led to the area of containment being reduced to 48 percent. The fire was fully contained on August 13, after destroying: 37 residences, 116 outbuildings, 169 motor vehicles; and burning 61,690 acres. Some of the injuries were from heat exhaustion due to ambient air temperatures in the 100 to 110 degree range. Over 3,400 personnel were assigned to battle the blaze, and they were credited for saving 640 residences and the town of Julian. The cost of fighting the fire was $22.6 million.
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 Jul 31, 8:30 PM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 930 PM PDT WED JUL 31 2002 .SYNOPSIS...ONSHORE FLOW AND THE MARINE LAYER WILL INCREASE INTO THE WEEKEND. RESIDUAL MOISTURE ALOFT WILL PRODUCE PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES THROUGH THURSDAY. GENERALLY FAIR WEATHER IS EXPECTED INTO NEXT WEEK AS HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WEAKENS AND THEN REDEVELOPS. .DISCUSSION...LOW CLOUDS INCREASING AND THE THREAT OF TSTORMS HAS EVAPORATED TONIGHT. UPDATED FCST TO REFLECT THESE FACTS BETTER. ONSHORE FLOW WEAKER DUE TO CLOUDS OVER THE DESERT MUCH OF THE DAY. BASE OF INVERSION AT 1500 FT AND MOISTUE LEVEL STILL RATHER THIN ABOVE 15 KFT. HIGH CLOUDS FROM AZ WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT AND THU MORN. NEW MODEL GUIDANCE CONTINUES PREV TRENDS OF BASICALLY SHUTTING OFF THE MOISTURE BY LATE THU. ONSHORE FLOW AND CSTL LOW CLOUDS WILL INCREASE AND THE HIGH CLOUDS WILL GO AWAY AS THE FLOW ALOFT BECOMES SW. SOME CU MAY POP UP OVER MTNS THU...BUT DO NOT EXPECT MORE ACTION. OVER THE WEEKEND AN UPPER LOW SWINGS INTO CA. THE TROUGH WILL HANG ALONG THE W CST WITH VORT MAXES MAINTAINING ITS POSITION. THIS WILL BRING A CSTL EDDY AND PLENTY OF NOCTURNAL LOW CLOUDS MOST AREAS W OF MTNS. THIS PATTERN WILL CONTINUE WITH LITTLE CHANGE EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE UPPER RIDGE OVER THE CENTRAL U.S. WILL TRY TO BUILD BACK WWD TO CA...BUT IT MAY TAKE A GOOD PART OF THE WEEK IN DOING SO. SAN...NONE. MM
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 2002
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: 5309885.