Valley Fire at 17,665 acres and 32% contained

JAPATUL VALLEY (CNS) - Fire crews will spend a sixth day Thursday, Sept. 10 trying to quell a wildfire that has blackened thousands of acres in rural eastern San Diego County, leveling dozens of homes and outbuildings and forcing widespread evacuations.

The blaze, dubbed the Valley Fire, erupted for unknown reasons early Saturday afternoon off Spirit Trail and Carveacre Road in Japatul Valley, southeast of Alpine, according to Cal Fire.

As of about 7:45 a.m. today, the wind-driven inferno had burned 17,665 acres and was 32% contained, the state agency reported. The blaze has destroyed 30 ``hab...