As dry, windy conditions across San Diego County have kept residents and firefighters on edge over the potential for dangerous wildfires, some have raised concerns about fires started in and around encampments. In El Cajon Wednesday morning, firefighters responded to Forester Creek, under Ballantyne Street just north of Interstate 8, for a fire started by a person living in an encampment in the area to keep warm. “Even though we do have these Santa Ana winds from primarily the east, northeast, we also have some pretty cold temperatures,” Heartland Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief Todd Nelson said. “And when you have people that are homeless, and they’re trying to survive outside, they will do what they need to do to try and stay warm. Sometimes that involves lighting a fire and, as we know, in these conditions, fires like that could potentially spread.” “So that crew this morning has to go and make sure that that fire’s extinguished and that there’s no spread or threat to the vegetation in the area,” he continued, adding that they also worked with law enforcement and other partners to connect that person to support services. Heartland serves El Cajon, La Mesa and Lemon Grove. Nelson said the seven fire departments in East County respond to calls like Wednesday’s at least two to three times a day year-round, but it’s even more of a concern in the high wind, red flag conditions. Wednesday marked the eighth consecutive day that Heartland’s training facility had served as one of San Diego County’s two Cal OES staging areas for strike teams, standing at the ready for any fires. “It’s been kind of a constant state of readiness and preparedness,” Nelson said. “So far, this is the driest past couple of months since the records started being kept in 1850. So for us, that dry fuels in combination with high winds and low humidity really make it, unfortunately, a time when fires could burn and spread quicker than normal. And we’ve unfortunately seen that and those effects in L.A.” Nelson said they do address encampments and clear debris, particularly in storm drains. At Mast Park in Santee, area residents echoed firefighters’ concerns. “They don’t have a place to cook, so if they’re cooking on the ground in the middle of an area that’s open and has a lot of brush, it could cause a fire. I know that everybody is struggling right now, and we all need a place to stay,” said Jason Dunn. “But it’s just mainly the fire hazard.” Dunn said he’s lived in the area all his life and would often fish in the riverbed, now much drier than when he was growing up. “It’s miles of nothing but extremely thick brush that is not maintained,” he said. “I would just like to see somebody out here trimming this stuff, or at least cleaning it up a little bit more, pushing it back.” “The concern we have in mostly in California is not necessarily the, you know, natural parts of what causes the fire but the human aspect of it,” said Perry Hendrickson of Alpine, raising encampments, catalytic converters and smoking as major causes of fire. “You feel sorry for the people, but then again, they don’t have the worry about property loss and things like that, so I don’t know how to curb that. I really don’t,” he said. “[We] keep our house clear and clean and water as much as we can. That’s about all we can do personally for our own property, is just to keep it green and the weeds cleared,” Hendrickson continued. “So if it does spark off, we have a little bit more coverage that won’t ignite our landscaping.” Dunn said his childhood years in scouting impressed upon him the importance of taking the necessary fire precautions. “You’re taught that you have to have a certain, like a fire ring. You have to have brush so far away. You have to have everything so far away. But when you’re hopping from place to place, your last thought is to make everything safe,” he said. “You’re just hungry. You’re trying to make something. And if you’re making it right there, even on small little twigs, something that’s been dry for a long time could spark something from small to big rather quickly, especially with the gusts, the winds we have now.”