Still, residents of about six dozen surrounding addresses were directed to evacuate Wednesday evening as a safety and health precaution. Traffic control in that radius was scheduled to begin at 3 a.m, with deputies closing the area entirely three hours later, according to sheriff’s officials.

Others who live somewhat farther from the doomed dwelling just west of Interstate 15 have been told to “shelter in place” during the blaze, which is expected to begin about 9 a.m., authorities said.

The freeway will be shut down as a precaution between State Route 78 and Centre City Parkway for roughly three hours. The closure will go into effect about 30 minutes before the start of the prescribed burn.

George Djura Jakubec, 54, who lived in the now-condemned house with his wife for about four years, pleaded not guilty Monday to eight federal criminal counts and was ordered held without bail.

The Serbian native is charged with making and possessing destructive devices, as well as robbing three banks and trying to rob a fourth over the past two years. A federal indictment handed up last week alleges that Jakubec made destructive devices, including nine detonators and 13 grenade hulls, along with unknown quantities of high explosives.

The hoard of hazardous compounds — including substances favored by suicide-bomber terrorists — is “the largest quantity of these types of homemade explosives (ever found) at one place in the United States,” Deputy District Attorney Terri Perez said at Jakubec’s initial court appearance in the case.

Perez told a judge the defendant had turned his home into a “bomb factory.”

Authorities have disclosed no suspected motive for the defendant’s alleged bomb-making activities.

The purported crimes came to light Nov. 18, when a landscaper, 49-year-old Mario Garcia of Fallbrook, stepped on and detonated some type of explosive in Jakubec’s back yard, suffering serious injuries.

An FBI special agent and bomb technician, James Verdi, testified that experts entering the house found volatile explosives in “amounts we’ve never seen before” — either domestically or internationally.

Bomb experts eventually decided that a controlled fire was the only reasonable way to dispose of the bomb-making materials, the discovery of which prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare the San Diego region a disaster area.

On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors ratified a local emergency declaration that will allow authorities to torch the home.

To prepare for the burn, crews erected a 16-foot-high metal-framed barrier covered with fire-resistant dry wall alongside it to the north. The edifice, which also will be coated with flame-retardant gel, will protect the

nearest neighbor’s home, sheriff’s spokeswoman Melissa Aquino said.

Additionally, workers removed shrubs, trees and wooden fences that could catch fire during the blaze.

The county Air Pollution Control District installed a portable weather station on the roof of nearby Escondido Fire Department Fire Station 3 to get real-time readings and “minimize surprises” on the day of the burn, Aquino said.

Hazardous materials experts, meanwhile, strategized on air monitoring to take place during the fire and planning for the subsequent cleanup task. The state Department of Toxic Substances Control has agreed to fund removal of all the debris from the site except for the house’s concrete slab.

Sheriff’s officials also have been meeting with Escondido police and firefighting personnel to plan the evacuations and traffic-control measures that will be necessary on the day of the controlled fire, Aquino said.

Those who had to vacate their homes for the prescribed burn have the option of going to a special Red Cross shelter set up at Clarke Field House Gym on the campus of Cal State San Marcos, according to sheriff’s officials. Meals, cots, showers and a designated area for pets are available at the facility.

In the final hours prior to the fiery demolition, firefighting and law enforcement personnel will have a 4:30 a.m. safety briefing. At 6 a.m., deputies will begin final door-to-door notification checks within the

evacuation zone, and an hour later the sheriff’s Bomb/Arson Unit will begin final preparation inside the burn home. Firefighters, meanwhile, will spray protective gel on adjacent houses.Residents of the shelter-in-place zone are to receive “reverse 911” calls about 8 a.m., reminding them to make sure their doors and windows are securely shut.

After 3 p.m., they are asked to check for an all-clear by calling 211, checking the incident website, www.sdcountyemergency.com, or tuning in to local television or radio stations.