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City councilman, Brian Maienschein and seven staff members walked the community to produce a list of homes destroyed by the Witch Creek fire. Maienschein estimated there were roughly 350 residences lost and planned to post the addresses on the city’s Web site by Tuesday afternoon.

Most of the devastation is concentrated east of Interstate 15 near the West Bernardo Road exit in the subdivisions of Westwood, Montelena, The Trails and Greens East.

Scripps Ranch, which Maienschein also represents, was hit hard by the Cedar fire. The councilman remembered the frustration felt by homeowners who didn’t know whether to remain hopeful their homes survived or to mentally prepare for the rebuilding process.

The group walked the community block-by-block and wrote down the addresses of the homes that were destroyed. Compared to Scripps Ranch, more homes were damaged over a larger area, while the Cedar fire leveled whole blocks in Scripps Ranch.

Maienschein was astonished by the randomness: on one block there were five homes destroyed, while one stood untouched. Many are burned to the ground, along with all of the contents.

Four major fires ripping across San Diego County have burned at least 263,000 acres and destroyed or damaged 1,750 homes and 100 businesses. More than 500,000 people have been told to evacuate.

The monster Witch Creek fire is expected to join with the Poomacha fire, which started overnight on the La Jolla Indian Reservation, by the end of the day.

New evacuation orders were issued outside Julian and on Palomar Mountain.

In South County, the Harris Fire has shifted direction and is headed toward Rancho San Diego and Jamul, leaving Bonita and Sunnyside basically unscathed, and officials may let those people return this afternoon. The two-day-old blaze has blackened more than 70,000 acres.

Official website of Brian Maienschein

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