A fire burning in a rural area north of Escondido was set by an arsonist and will take longer to extinguish than was anticipated, state officials said Friday.
Two firefighters were slightly hurt fighting the blaze, they said.
Firefighters expected the fire to be extinguished Friday, but the battle has proven to be "slow-going," and the projected time of control has been pushed back to 9 a.m. Saturday, said California Department of Forestry spokeswoman Roxanne Provaznik.
The blaze, dubbed the Castle Fire, began spreading in a hilly area off Old Castle Road and Champagne Boulevard in the Hidden Meadows area shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday, according to the CDF.
Within two hours, the burn area had grown to roughly 100 acres, department public information officer Audrey Hagen said.
"The official cause of the fire is arson," Provaznik said Friday.
About 75 firefighters had the blaze completely surrounded Friday morning and worked through steep, rocky terrain to make sure there were no hot spots hidden in "nooks and crannies," Provaznik said.
Some 300 firefighters from several agencies attacked the blaze Thursday night, backed up by four air tankers, four helicopters, 45 engines and two bulldozers, according to the CDF.
Two firefighters were slightly injured when they were overcome by heat, Provaznik said, adding they were treated at a hospital and released.
The blaze moved in the general direction of a few scattered neighborhoods but posed no imminent danger, and no structural damage was reported.
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