A brush fire that erupted Monday in the San Bernardino National Forest between Anza and Pinyon Pines charred more than 300 acres, prompting closure of Highway 74 and evacuation warnings.
The non-injury blaze was reported at 12:25 p.m. Monday on the north side of the highway at Santa Rosa Truck Trail, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The agency said multiple engine and hand crews from the county, U.S. Forest Service, Palm Springs Fire Department and other agencies were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a rapid rate to the north through heavy vegetation.
No homes or other structures were immediately threatened.
Six Cal Fire air tankers and two water-dropping helicopters made a series of runs on the brusher that seemed to slow its progress early Monday afternoon, but the flames continued to spread. As a public safety precaution, California Highway Patrol officers shut down both sides of Highway 74 between the junction at Highway 371 in Anza to the west and the outskirts of Pinyon Pines to the east — about a seven-mile stretch.
Evacuation orders were issued for scattered properties on the west side of Pinyon Pines.
Officials said the objective was to hold the fire well inside the preserve, to the west of the highway, which turns north toward Palm Desert after Pinyon Pines.
Firefighters established tentative containment lines on the back side, or “heel,” of the brusher, as well as the western segment, but they were contending with thick overgrowth to reach the head of the fire, where aircraft operations were concentrated.
Winds in the area were reportedly light and variable.
The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately known.