A fire that erupted Thursday in the Santa Ana River bottom in Jurupa Valley scorched roughly three acres before crews reached it after pushing their way through thick vegetation.
The non-injury “Beach Fire” was reported at 12:55 p.m. Thursday near the south banks of the dry channel, just off of Beach Street and Limonite Avenue, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The agency said that multiple engine and hand crews from the county and Riverside Fire Department were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a slow rate to the northeast, amid heavy overgrowth.
Two Cal Fire water-dropping helicopters were summoned to make runs on the brusher.
Firefighters were encountering challenges accessing the blaze due to the amount of vegetation and lack of footpaths.
No homes or other structures were immediately threatened.
The river bottom is replete with transient encampments between Highgrove and Norco, and cooking, warming and debris fires are frequent year-round. The highest concentration of homeless camps is between Jurupa Valley to the north and Riverside to the south.