A brush fire broke out Friday just south of Interstate 10 in Beaumont, quickly consuming 20 acres.
The blaze was reported about 3 p.m. along Highland Springs Avenue, within a mile of I-10, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
Multiple engine and hand crews from the county and Soboba Indian Reservation were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a “critical rate.”
Cal Fire air tankers and water-dropping helicopters were requested and diverted away from a larger brusher north of Moreno Valley that was slowing and nearly stopped as of 3:45 p.m.
There was no word on possible evacuation orders in Beaumont. The fire was moving to the southeast, apparently not threatening homes in several nearby subdivisions.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.