Two brush fires that erupted Wednesday less than a mile apart in Aguanga scorched more than 300 acres, destroying structures, prompting evacuations and forcing the closure of a highway.
The non-injury blazes were reported at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday — the first in the area of Riverdale Drive and Highway 371, the second about three-quarters of a mile south at Bradford Road and Gelding Way — according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The agency said multiple engine and hand crews from the county and surrounding agencies were sent to the area and encountered flames moving at a rapid rate at the larger brusher along Riverdale.
At least two structures, possibly vacant outbuildings, were consumed by the flames, according to officials. The second fire at Bradford was slower but also damaged two to three structures, burning about three acres before its forward rate of spread was stopped shortly before 2 p.m. It was completely contained less than an hour later.
Seven Cal Fire air tankers and three water-dropping helicopters initiated runs on the larger fire at 1:10 p.m. The flames continued progressing in the direction of Cahuilla Creek Motocross and the Cahuilla Casino Hotel, both south of Highway 371, east of the brusher.
Evacuation orders were implemented by sheriff’s deputies for the race track, remote properties southeast of the Lake Riverside Estates and elsewhere on the south side of Highway 371. Other properties in and around the Cahuilla Indian Reservation were under evacuation warnings as of 5:30 p.m.
A care and reception center was established at the Anza Community Center, 56630 Highway 371. The Department of Animal Services was accepting evacuated pets at the agency’s San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, 581 S. Grand Ave.
The aircraft operations closed off the southern flank of the main fire, which was estimated at 330 acres by 5 p.m. Crews made a succession of drops in front of the brusher that slowed its advance as it moved across largely open space south of the 371. Firefighters had hoped to stop the brusher’s forward rate at the intersection of Homestead and Tribal roads, less than a quarter mile west of the casino, but the fire jumped the roads and turned northeast-bound, slowly crossing open ground. No structures were threatened as of 5:30 p.m.
Both sides of the highway were shut down for public safety between the casino turnoff at Homestead to the east and Barbara Trail to the west, spanning roughly seven miles.
The source of the fires wasn’t immediately known. The area has been ground zero for a cluster of minor and major wildfires going back three years.