Fire Engulfs East County Tow Yard

Firefighters have put out a dramatic fire that raged in East County on Monday morning.

The two-alarm fire, at an auto recycling and tow yard on old Highway 80 in Flinn Springs east of Lakeside, could be seen for miles, especially the heavy black smoke.

“Oh, I imagine 60 to 80 foot in the air at least with black smoke just rolling to beat the band," Tim Parker, who lives across the street from the yard.

The fire location was almost exactly the same scene as a similar fire a year ago.

Fire fighters from Lakeside, Santee, and Alpine all responded and took about 45 minutes to put out. But that was just the start, as crews had to clean up what was leftover from the cars in the yard.

"There's always a concern because being an auto yard doesn't always neessarily mean just autos," said Jim kirkpatrick of the Lakeside Fire Department. "It's whatever was in the trunks of the vehicles, the back seats of the vehicles."

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