A massive desert brush fire was blamed on a complex series of coincidences Wednesday after a beehive weakened a tree limb, the tree limb fell onto power lines and the ripped power lines ignited the blaze.
Firefighters battled the blaze on the northeast edge of Banning that had blackened roughly 540 acres as it burned toward the Morongo Indian Reservation.
The fire was 50 percent contained Wednesday.
The blaze broke out shortly before 4 p.m. Monday in the 10000 block of Mias Canyon Road, near Bluff Street, when a tree branch fell into power lines, according to the Riverside County Fire Department, which reported that the branch had been weakened by an active beehive.
A fire department spokeswoman said 30 engine crews and seven hand crews, numbering more than 250 personnel, were deployed to fight the non-injury blaze, aided by seven air tankers and three water-dropping helicopters. The flames were not threatening homes or other structures, according to the fire department.
Along with county firefighters, Morongo Fire Department and U.S. Forest Service crews were working to encircle the blaze.
–City News Service