Southern California wildfire forces evacuations at Camp Pendleton

SAN DIEGO, May 14 (UPI) -- A large brush fire at Camp Pendleton in Southern California threatened an elementary school and some base housing Wednesday.

The blaze, reported around 9:30 a.m. at the Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station, spread quickly over 40 acres of the major U.S. Marine base. Residents of some of the base's housing were ordered to evacuate, the Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary School was emptied and personnel at the weapons station also left.

Hot, dry, windy weather has put the San Diego area at extreme risk of fire. The Bernardo fire, which forced thousands of evacuations in the northern part of San Diego County, was only 25 percent contained Wednesday morning after spreading over almost 1,600 acres.

In Carlsbad, another elementary school was evacuated because of a fire, which had reportedly reached some homes.

A fire that began in a truck at a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 5, the main north-south highway on the west coast, spread to grass on both sides. The highway was temporarily closed.