A long-awaited report describing the origin and causes of three of the most destructive fires that burned across the county in October is expected to be released Wednesday.

Cal Fire spokeswoman Janet Upton said the lengthy report about the causes of the Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice Canyon fires, which combined killed two people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes, will be posted on Cal Fire's Web site.

Anticipated for months, the release of the report has been delayed recently because of the fires raging in northern and central California.

“The holdup has been technology and lack of personnel,” Upton said. “We've just been too frickin' busy.”

Less than a month after the fires, Cal Fire said in a one-page statement that all three fires were caused by power lines or equipment owned by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. No additional details have been released, however, as the agency continued its investigation.

Nevertheless, the statement sparked at least nine lawsuits against SDG&E, involving hundreds of fire victims.

Upton said the report will go into great detail about how and why the fires began. Experts say the conclusions could be valuable in determining liability.

“The reports are important in the sense you have a governmental agency saying SDG&E is responsible for the fires,” attorney Todd Macaluso said Tuesday. “It definitely will give us all the evidence we will need to prove in court they are responsible.”

Macaluso was the first lawyer to file suit against the utility on behalf of several people who lost houses. Since then, he said, “lawyer frenzy” has ensued.

Not only people who lost houses are involved. The city of San Diego has sued SDG&E to recover losses and firefighting costs in the Witch Creek and Guejito fires; the state is expected to try and recover more than $20 million it spent fighting the blazes.

In addition to the three San Diego County fires, the Cal Fire report will also include details about two fires north of the county.

Attorneys involved predict that most or all of the lawsuits will be combined by a judge into one case that could take years to litigate.

A separate report being prepared by the California Public Utilities Commission about the role power lines and equipment played in the 2007 fires is expected to be released by the end of this month. The commission has been waiting to incorporate Cal Fire's findings into its analysis.

Last month, most of the lawyers who have filed suits, accompanied by their by paid experts as well as by representatives of SDG&E and Cal Fire, gathered for a week to conduct tests where the Witch Creek fire began beneath a 69-kilovolt power line south of state Route 78 near Santa Ysabel.

At issue is whether SDG&E's equipment was negligently maintained or designed. The utility has blamed 90 mph Santa Ana winds.

The Witch Creek and Guejito fires are often described as a single blaze.The Guejito fire, however, started in the San Pasqual Valley and burned into Rancho Bernardo several hours before the Witch Creek fire reached there. John “Chris” Bain and his wife, Vicky Fox, died when the Guejito fire swept through their rural neighborhood on Highland Valley Road northeast of Poway.

The Rice Canyon fire began in Fallbrook just north of state Route 76 off Rice Canyon Road. It burned 206 homes, most just west of Interstate 15.

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