From: Brad Eells
I was on my way to our weekly check of the progress at Boucher Hill Lookout this morning when almost to the park boundary we heard a call from Cal Fire regarding a vegetation fire halfway up Nate Harrison Grade…Yikes! That’s in the neighborhood!
We raced (at the posted 15 mph) up the hill to the lookout to find a Palomar Mountain Volunteer unit already there to confirm the fire. I called Cleveland Dispatch as “Lookout 3”, my call sign “At Boucher Lookout” to confirm for the Forest that a fire was visible with a medium column of gray smoke about 2 miles from the lookout, just west of Nate Harrison Grade. Dispatch called back to ask for a Legal Description. Oops…I forgot to bring up my camera, binoculars and Forest map.
I raced down the tower at way over the speed limit for my bum knee to retrieve the items. I figured a Legal location and reported it to dispatch. Then I stood back on the catwalk and watched the air show that included 1 Air Attack, 4 fixed wing tankers and 3 helicopters. They made quick work of the fire and had it under control in less than an hour with only 1 acre burned. The fire was caused by (alleged) illegal shooting.
So while we could not quite put Boucher Hill ‘In-Service’ today…we came pretty close! We would have been on that fire very quickly had the tower been open and staffed as it was literally right under our nose…
Yours in Fire Detection,
Brad Eells,
National Secretary
California-Pacific Chapter Chair
San Diego – Riverside Chapter Chair
Cal Fire Liaison
Forest Fire Lookout Association, Inc.
661-747-5517
Palomar Mountain News 
Thank you for the pictures! Me and my girlfriend started our 20 mile run up and down Nate Harrison Grade very early Sunday a.m. Running back down the grade, 4 miles from the bottom we saw the low flying Cal Fire planes and then big gray smoke then 1 mile down past Nate Harrison’s old house the smoke was bigger & smelled strong. Only option was to run down mountain as fast as possible, forget going back up the mountain! Thankfully an angel/Sheriff was driving up the Grade to chase the suspect (yes reckless gunfire did cause the fire & Cal Fire caught the starter, he fled the scene). Sheriff told us “hop in you are not going down any further!” So back up NHG but this time zooming up at 45 mph in a chase, super exciting but all the while I was just praying the fire would be put out. The Sheriff credited immediate response by the Fire Dept’s all of them plus we had no wind that day. Thank you again for the pictures.
By: Jill Childers on July 26, 2011
at 5:16 am