Campo Band's casino serves as command center for growing fire

Monday, June 18, 2012  

The casino owned by the Campo Kumeyaay Nation is serving as a command base for a growing fire in southern California.

The Old Fire burned about 820 acres as of Sunday afternoon, with only about 30 percent contained. Conditions are expected to worsen today for crews battling the blaze.

"It was frightening," Miriam Santana, a patron who watched the fire from the Golden Acorn Casino, told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The casino lost power temporarily on Sunday but is back up with a generator. In addition to being used as a command center, the facility is housing at least one evacuee -- a woman who watched from the parking lot as her her mobile home and her mother's mobile home went up in flames.

"We didn't get to grab nothing," an emotional Mary Kanel told the paper. "We put three dogs and two cats in the cars. That was it. We had to go."

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Firefighters continue to battle fire near casino (The San Diego Union-Tribune 6/18)