Back in November, I reported that the Fire Department told me the fire at Adobe Falls was probably caused by transients. Today, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a man has been charged with arson in the case. Click here for the full story.

This morning a fire crew is working on hot spots still smouldering at the location of the fire at Adobe Falls in Del Cerro that started around 4pm yesterday. Adobe Falls is a waterfall on Alvarado Creek running through a rugged canyon in Del Cerro just north of SDSU.

Here’s a link to yesterday’s U-T item on the fire. This morning’s printed edition has an updated story “Fire copters drop gel on canyon blaze” but at the time of my writing it’s not available on their website.

At the nearby Camino Rico fire station, a crew member told me that the cause wasn’t known yet, but said “it’s a good guess it was started by urban campers” possibly cooking up an evening meal. He said this is a common problem in San Diego’s canyons.

Mar 19, 2010: La Mesa man charged with arson in brush fire / San Diego Union-Tribune

A resident who lives on Adobe Falls Pl. told me he felt frightened and sick as the fire burned up the steep slope and came within 50 feet of his home while he washed his roof down with a garden hose and waited almost 20 minutes before he saw firefighters. Fortunately, several large trees on his property which slopes down to the creek did not burn. He told me his neighbor, several doors away, suffered damage to his roof, even though it was fire-resistant Spanish tile, because flying embers worked underneath the tiles.

I’ve written before about Adobe Falls and Alvarado Creek .

I took these pictures from SDSU across the freeway to the south. The resident allowed me to take a picture of the falls from his back yard. Click pictures to enlarge.