A brush fire erupted Wednesday on the south end of Anza, quickly burning over 10 acres and threatening multiple properties before Cal Fire aircraft initiated runs that slowed the brusher’s advance amid triple-digit heat.
The non-injury Chapman Fire was reported at 12:52 p.m. in the area of Chapman and Ramsey roads, on the eastern boundary of the Cahuilla Indian Reservation, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The agency said numerous engine and hand crews were sent to the location, but they were preceded by Cal Fire aircraft, whose crews encountered flames moving at a rapid rate to the southeast in medium brush, in the general direction of nearly a dozen properties.
Six tankers and a water-dropping helicopter initiated a series of runs on the blaze that slowed it down.
Sheriff’s deputies were summoned to stand by for mandatory evacuations, but as of 1:45 p.m., no orders had been declared.
Electrical lines collapsed in the vicinity of the fire, and SoCal Edison de-energized all transmission lines in the immediate area for public safety. It was not immediately known how many residences were impacted by the outage.
The temperature in the Anza Valley as of 1:30 p.m. was 106 degrees, with a mid-afternoon high of 110 in the forecast, according to the National Weather Service.
There was no word on what might have triggered the blaze.