The Coast News Group
A firefighter with the Camp Pendleton Fire Department ignites vegetation with a drip torch during controlled burn training on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton on June 3. Today, firefighters were battling two large wildfires on the base that had consumed about 7,400 acres as of this morning. Courtesy photo by Alison Dostie
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Wildfires char thousands of acres at Camp Pendleton

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 7:02 p.m. June 10 with additional reporting about the wildfires at Camp Pendleton.

CAMP PENDLETON — A trio of large wildfires continued burning across open terrain on the grounds of Camp Pendleton amid a late-spring heat wave today, sending plumes of smoke over northern San Diego County but posing no threats to military or civilian structures.

The flames, which began spreading through training areas at the Marine Corps base over the weekend, had charred roughly 8,600 acres by this afternoon, according to Camp Pendleton public affairs.

Military firefighters have been aided by Cal Fire ground and airborne crews in their effort to corral the blazes. Military training maneuvers sparked the blazes, said John Crook, deputy chief of the Camp Pendleton Fire Department.

Earlier

A pair of large wildfires continued burning across open terrain on the grounds of Camp Pendleton today, sending plumes of smoke over northern San Diego County but posing no threats to military or civilian structures.

The flames, which began spreading through training areas toward the center of the Marine Corps base on Monday, had charred roughly 7,400 acres as of early this morning, according to Camp Pendleton public affairs.

Military firefighters have been aided by Cal Fire ground and airborne crews in their effort to corral the blazes.

Officials have disclosed no cause for the fires. It is not uncommon for munitions training to set brushy native vegetation ablaze at the 125,000-acre USMC base north of Oceanside.