Firefighters have officially reached 100% containment on the Claro Fire after it scorched 45 acres near homes in both Carlsbad and San Marcos Thursday afternoon. Now, questions are emerging about whether the blaze may have been intentionally set.
The fire was first reported shortly before 2:45 p.m. in the area of Corte Claro and Paseo Encino in Carlsbad, prompting a large response from several local agencies. In its infancy, officials described the blaze as “terrain-driven,” meaning wind and dry brush helped it spread quickly through nearby canyons.
Evacuation orders and warnings were announced about an hour after the flames broke out, and all were lifted by sundown. With an estimated cost of up to $250,000 for taxpayers, the residents of North County should certainly have answers as to what caused flames to char almost 50 acres near numerous homes.
News Flash Media captured exclusive video footage and images shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, showing law enforcement personnel from the Carlsbad Police Department, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Bomb/Arson Unit, and CAL FIRE at the intersection of Rancho Santa Fe Road & Camino Alvaro in Encinitas. Along with them sat a handcuffed male in the backseat of a Carlsbad PD patrol vehicle.
Upon requesting any available details from authorities at the intersection, which sits only about 2 miles from the scene of the fire, we were told by a Carlsbad Police sergeant that a fairly large suitcase at the site belonged to the detainee. It remains unclear what was inside.
According to CAL FIRE’s website, the agency’s law enforcement personnel are primarily tasked with conducting patrols, investigating fires, investigating reports of forest and fire law violations, making arrests, issuing citations, conducting surveillance operations, collecting and preserving evidence, and testifying in court.
As for the Sheriff’s Department, their Bomb/Arson Unit “investigates all matters relating to arson, suspicious fires, fire injuries, fire death, explosions, explosive injuries, explosive related deaths, and the recovery and safe disposal of homemade bombs and military munitions,” according to department officials. No injuries were reported as a result of Thursday’s blaze.
TikTok user Chenster04 posted a gratitude-filled video on the platform Friday, thanking first responders while sharing images from her Carlsbad backyard, located just downslope from where fire crews worked to achieve containment. “Yesterday was a scary day for us. A brush fire started up the hill,” she wrote. “My husband called 911, reported the fire and took a picture of a suspicious man wearing a hoodie. His face was covered [as he was] walking fast down the hill.”
Authorities with CAL FIRE tell us the cause of the blaze remains under investigation and were not immediately able to comment on what prompted the law enforcement response to the Encinitas intersection, which comprised of nearly a dozen personnel, including a Homeless Outreach Team unit with Carlsbad Police. Two members of a Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT) were also seen at the site of the fire in Carlsbad, within an hour after it ignited. It is currently unclear why they were present at the scene.
News Flash Media has reached out to several agencies for comment and submitted public records requests to get the questions and concerns of North County residents properly addressed. We will continue to monitor developments in the case.
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