Firefighters battle brush fires in Inland Empire amid strong heat
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- Firefighters were hard at work on several fronts on Sunday, trying to make progress before another day of extreme heat across Southern California.
Fire crews battled a brush fire that broke out north of Moreno Valley. The fire started about 3 p.m. near the area of Reche Canyon Road and Haugen Drive, according to Cal Fire and Riverside County Fire Department officials.
The fire burned about 40 acres by 5 p.m. and spread to 153 acres within three hours.
By about 8 p.m., Cal Fire officials said the blaze was at 60 percent containment after more than 200 firefighters and a water-dropping helicopter helped battled the fire.
No injuries were reported and no structures were threatened, officials said.
In Bloomington, a huge cloud of smoke filled the air as a field of dry, tall grass went up in flames. Two water-dropping helicopters were quickly dispatched to help the 65 firefighters on the ground from San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
The fire burned about 20 acres before crews were able to keep it from spreading.
Firefighters expect the fire danger to increase, and so too will their resources.
"As the temperatures have increased over the last couple of days, so has our activity. Often these crews are going from one fire to the next fire, so it's been very physically taxing," said Josh Janssen of Cal Fire.
Although it is unknown how the fires started, authorities remind anyone working outdoors to be extremely careful.
On Saturday, evacuation orders were temporarily issued due to a small brush fire near homes in Wrightwood. In Castaic, a fast-moving wildfire was at 20 percent containment as of Sunday night. No injuries were reported in either fire.
