Name: Wildfire in California, July 29, 2002
Start: 2002-07-29T07:53
End: 2002-07-29T08:13
Location: California

Where it happened

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.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

Brush fire at junction of Highway 30 and Interstate 215.

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 Jul 29, 3:00 AM PST, 4 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 29, 3:00 AM PST, 4 hours 53 minutes before

EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
400 AM PDT MON JUL 29 2002

.SYNOPSIS...UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE WILL STRENGTHEN OVER THE WEST
THROUGH WEDNESDAY...BRINGING FAIR AND WARMER WEATHER. ON THURSDAY AN
UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL SLOWLY DROP SOUTH OVER THE AREA RESULTING IN
A DEEPER COASTAL MARINE LAYER AND GENERAL COOLING THROUGH NEXT
WEEKEND.

.DISCUSSION...595 UPPER HIGH OVER NEVADA TODAY WITH DRY SE FLOW AND
FAIRLY GOOD SUBSIDENCE FOR WARMER TEMPS. COULD BE WARMER BUT ALL
MODELS KEEP COOLING WEAK-MOD ONSHORE FLOW GOING ALONG WITH SW FLOW
AT 850 MB. MARINE LAYER 2000 FT DEEP THIS MORNING SHOULD LOWER TO
ABOUT 1700 FT TONIGHT FOR LESS COVERAGE TUESDAY MORNING. NOT MUCH
CHANGE IN THE PATTERN TUE-WED WITH 592 S-SE FLOW ALOFT CONTINUING.
A WEAK EASTERLY WAVE DOES COME THRU THE FLOW TUE PM-WED PM ALONG WITH
AND INCREASE IN MID LEVEL RH...SO HAVE KEPT SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY OVER
THE MOUNTAINS DUE TO POSSIBLE AFTERNOON CUMULUS. LATER SHIFTS WILL
WANT TO MONITOR THIS FEATURE IN CASE MORE RH COMES UP. 580 UPPER LOW
APPROACHES SFO FRIDAY GIVING SCALIF 588 SW FLOW FRI THRU SUN FOR
DEEPER MARINE LAYER COOLER TEMPS...ESPECIALLY MOUNTAINS. STRONGER
PM AND EVE SW WINDS IN MTS AND DES ALSO. MRF NOW PROGS 4C HIGH TO
BUILD BACK MON THRU WED OF NEXT WEEK FOR A WARMING TREND.

SAN...NONE.

MACKECHNIE

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, San Bernardino

When: July 29, 7:53 AM PST to 8:13 AM PST
Where: San Bernardino County, 4 mi N of San Bernardino
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.841, -116.178 (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

More

Every storm in California in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in California, July 2002

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: 5303615.