San Diego County officials on Wednesday, Aug. 19, warned that critically dry fuels and the seasonal threat of Santa Ana winds put communities near coastal canyons at elevated risk, detailing more than a billion dollars in cumulative fire protection investments over two decades.
The announcement lands as Del Mar and Solana Beach face their first full fire season since adopting expanded CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps in summer 2025. Both cities significantly grew their High and Very High hazard areas in eastern canyons and hillsides where the San Dieguito River Valley funnels embers from inland fire zones toward homes.
"The greatest concern remains the alignment of critically dry fuels with the onset of Santa Ana wind events, when the potential for large, fast-moving wildfires will be at its highest," CAL FIRE Unit Chief Tony Mecham said in the county's wildfire readiness briefing.
What the county is deploying
The county's CAL FIRE force now numbers more than 1,000 firefighters operating out of more than 40 fire stations, fire camps and aviation facilities, according to the briefing. Aerial capacity includes a Sikorsky S70 Firehawk helicopter capable of 1,000-gallon drops and nighttime response, and a C-130 Hercules air tanker based at Ramona Airport.
The Sheriff's ASTREA aerial unit responded to more than 5,500 missions in 2025, including 285 fire dispatches and 985 water drops. The Sheriff's Office is pursuing funding for a second Bell 412 EPX helicopter to extend coverage into nighttime hours.
New technology includes the AWARE California platform, which integrates UCSD wildfire cameras, satellite detections and weather feeds. Residents can access live camera imagery and incident information through the public-facing application.
In 2025, County Fire crews cleared more than 800 lane miles of vegetation, created more than 200 acres of fuel breaks, completed more than 37,000 defensible-space inspections and supported 17 new Fire Safe Councils countywide.
Local picture: canyons and new rules
For Del Mar residents, the Very High and High fire hazard zones form a broad core through eastern canyons near the San Diego city boundary. In Solana Beach, those zones concentrate in east-central canyons near the unincorporated county line, around San Andres, Solana Hills and Canyon Drive. Santa Ana winds turn those canyons into wind tunnels that can carry embers up to a mile, according to the cities' joint fire hazard assessment.
The Del Mar Heights Fire Safe Council received a grant in July 2026 from the San Diego Regional Fire Foundation, the San Diego River Conservancy and SDG&E for SparkSecure26, a fuel reduction project targeting Crest Canyon. That canyon sits north of Del Mar Heights Road, where a June 2024 fire scorched 19 acres in the adjacent Torrey Pines Natural Reserve Extension and forced emergency evacuations.
The Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District authorized a new self-contained breathing apparatus contract funded by a FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant at its July 15 board meeting. The district's board was scheduled to adopt its FY2026/2027 budget on Aug. 19.
What's ahead
California's Board of Forestry and Fire Protection was also scheduled to vote on final Zone 0 regulations on Aug. 19, according to USA Today. If adopted, the rules would require homeowners in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones to remove combustible materials within the first five feet of their homes. Existing homes would face a phased timeline: removal of combustibles within three years, structural changes within five.
Parts of Del Mar and Solana Beach fall within those Very High zones.
Daryl Arbuthnott, director of the County Office of Emergency Services, said OES recently reorganized around the emergency management lifecycle, creating dedicated divisions for preparedness, planning and response. Over the past year, OES conducted more than 70 community outreach events and updated the county's Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan with new wildfire actions.
Residents can sign up for evacuation alerts at AlertSanDiego.org.
