Backfires on Palomar Mountain fail

this from Cal Fire:

Firefighters tried setting backfires yesterday on Palomar Mountain, hoping that depriving the Poomacha fire of flammable vegetation in that area would close the last eight miles of open line still left on that fire.

It didn't work.

Rather than go through that exercise again, firefighters have decided today to take matter into their own hands -- literally -- and close those last eight miles themselves. That means bulldozers where possible, but mostly, a lot of cutting and digging with hand tools.

Which is why the full containment of the Poomacha fire, which had been expected today, has been pushed back to next Tuesday.

--Greg Gross, Breaking News Team