Also beginning near the Estates , the Witch Fire began October 21 , 2007 and was part of a series of fires that ravaged Southern California . The Witch Creek fire caused the evacuation of the thousands of residents of the Estates area and evacuating cars were bottlenecked on the San Vicente Highway , a main artery leading to San Diego Country Estates from Ramona . It was feared that the fire would sweep west from the ridge separating the Estates and Ramona , catching vehicles evacuating west through North County , however , the wind changed the course of the fire . The Witch Creek fire was initially feared to be larger than the Cedar Fire but instead resulted in becoming the second largest fire in California history . Ultimately the Witch Creek burned 197,990 acres ( 801 km2 ) and forced the evacuation of an estimated 1,000,000 people in the San Diego metropolitan area , the largest evacuation in California history
fires
October 2007 California wildfires
San Diego Country Estates, California