Fanned by powerful Santa Ana winds, the Witch Creek Fire rapidly spread westward and consumed large portions of San Diego County.

On the morning of October 22, 2007, about a day after the Witch Creek Fire had ignited, residents of San Diego County were ordered to evacuate through the Reverse 911 system.

[6] The Witch Fire quickly spread to San Diego Country Estates, Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, and Escondido.

From there, the fire jumped over Interstate 15 and continued west, causing significant damage in Lake Hodges, Del Dios, and Rancho Santa Fe.

[9] While many coastal communities were evacuated as the fire moved west, the shifting winds prevented it from directly threatening those areas.

With powerful Santa Ana winds gusting over 100 mph (160 km/h), the Witch Creek Fire then jumped over Interstate 15, rapidly burning into Rancho Bernardo.

[10][11] Residents located between the Del Dios Highway and State Route 56 along with the unincorporated area of Escondido were ordered to evacuate.

[10] At 3:13 a.m. on October 23, the Poomacha Fire was ignited in the La Jolla Indian Reservation in northeastern San Diego County.

[10] By October 26, the Santa Ana winds had finally subsided and the onshore flow had fully returned, slowing down the spread of the remaining wildfires and aiding firefighters in their efforts to contain them.

[28] The Navy moved all non-essential personnel from Naval Base San Diego barracks onto nearby vessels to accommodate refugees.

[8] On October 24, the Ammo (Horno) Fire forced the closure of Interstate 5, as well as the Amtrak California Surfliner service between Oceanside and San Clemente.

[29] Six crews from the Navy's Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 85 based at Naval Air Station North Island were assigned to battle the Witch Creek fire.

They flew MH-60 Seahawk helicopters equipped with a 420-gallon water bucket and were the only local Navy teams trained to fight fires from the air.

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar contributed several aircraft as well as fire fighting trucks to operations based in Ramona.

[35] One of the larger airtankers, the 7,000-gallon Martin Mars, was sent through a private contract from its home in Port Alberni, British Columbia, on October 25, landing on Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, California.

[38] Rep. Duncan Hunter criticized state fire officials for delaying the use of Marine helicopters until CalFire spotters were in position to coordinate their efforts.

[45] In August 2017, administrative law judges S. Pat Tsen and Sasha Goldberg ruled that the utility did not reasonably manage its facilities and that the wildfires were not outside of its control.