Firefighters Tuesday continued to battle a fire of mulch piles that were burning in an unincorporated area of Riverside County near Thousand Palms.
The fire was initially reported at 2:28 a.m. Monday in the 27500 block of Rio Del Sol Road, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. Firefighters arrived to find two acres of 15-foot mulch piles and landscape debris burning in the area.
Resources remained on the scene throughout Monday to work on containment, fire officials said. By 9:42 a.m. Tuesday, the fire grew to five acres, but the blaze was 20% contained. There was no threat to the surrounding area, authorities said.
“Smoke will continue to be visible throughout the valley today and tomorrow as the heavy equipment spread the piles out so that smoldering mulch deep in the piles can be extinguished,” fire officials wrote.