A brush fire that erupted Tuesday near a Riverside County landfill, just over a mile south of Beaumont, scorched 13 acres before it was stopped.
The non-injury brusher was reported at 10:20 a.m. in the area Lamb Canyon Road and Highway 79, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The agency said that multiple engine and hand crews from the county and city of Hemet were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a slow rate across open space near the northbound side of the highway.
Three Cal Fire air tankers and a water-dropping helicopter based at Hemet-Ryan Airport less than 10 miles to the south initiated a series of runs on the blaze that stopped its forward rate of spread in less than an hour, enabling crews to encircle and establish tentative containment lines.
As of 1 p.m., the fire was largely knocked down.
Because of firefighters’ activity along the northbound 79, the California Highway Patrol shut down that side of the corridor, forcing motorists to detour onto Gilman Springs Road to reach the Moreno Valley (60) Freeway or Interstate 10.
The closure was slated to remain in effect until 3 p.m.
No homes were in the immediate vicinity of the brusher. However, the county’s Lamb Canyon Landfill was just to the south of where the blaze started.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.