Firefighters extinguish 15-acre Queen fire east of Julian

Firefighters worked until Sunday night to put out a fire in Banner, a small community east of Julian, that charred 15 acres.

Cal Fire crews returned Monday morning to make sure the fire had been completely extinguished, said Cal Fire San Diego Capt. Frank LoCoco.

The fire, which is being called the Queen Fire, started around 1:30 p.m. near the Desert Queen Mine. It had been spreading slowly and was moving east, LoCoco said.

No buildings or structures were threatened and firefighters attacked the blaze from the air and on the ground, according to LoCoco.

While there weren’t strong winds complicating the fire response, firefighters were working on a day when there was excessive heat, LoCoco said.

Cal Fire deployed about a dozen fire engines, four air tanker planes, two helicopters, a reconnaissance plane, two hand crews and two bulldozers, LoCoco said.

Tankers dumped flame retardant on the fire while the helicopters dropped water, he said. The engines, hand crews and bulldozers built containment lines around the fire.

Investigators were on the scene Sunday and Monday trying to determine to cause of the fire, he said.

Staff writer Sofia Mejias-Pascoe contributed to this report.