A cluster of small roadside blazes combined Tuesday into a 75-acre brush fire on a rocky hillside in Nuevo, where Cal Fire aircraft significantly slowed the brusher’s advance, enabling crews to begin establishing tentative containment lines.
The non-injury spot fires were reported at 11:55 a.m. Tuesday in the area of Ramona Expressway and Rider Street, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The agency said multiple engine and hand crews were sent to the area and encountered three separate fires, initially amounting to less than two acres. The spot fires, however, merged within minutes and raced up a hill east of the expressway.
Three Cal Fire air tankers and two water-dropping helicopters initiated runs on the enlarged blaze by 12:45 p.m., eventually closing off the heel and western flank, allowing firefighters to gradually encircle the brusher, according to reports from the scene.
No homes or others structures were immediately threatened.
Full containment was not anticipated until the overnight hours.
The California Highway Patrol said motorists called just after the spot fires erupted, saying a heavy-loaded truck was throwing sparks along the expressway, igniting the extremely dry roadside vegetation amid 100-degree heat.
Officers shut down the expressway, between Rider to the west and Lakeview Avenue to the east, as a public safety precaution. Detours were in place. The CHP said the west- and eastbound lanes would likely remain closed until after dark Tuesday.