A two-acre fire that erupted Wednesday in a field surrounded by residences south of San Jacinto injured a firefighter and a resident, as well as damaged multiple sheds, before it was stopped.
The blaze was reported just before noon Wednesday in the area of Fairview and Olive avenues within the unincorporated community of Valle Vista, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The agency said multiple engine crews from the county and Soboba Reservation Fire Department were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a moderate rate across the overgrown field, bounded by roads on all sides.
Within 20 minutes of firefighters establishing hose lays, a crewman transmitted an emergency broadcast, saying he was trapped with flames on all sides, according to reports from the scene. Additional Cal Fire resources immediately responded, but moments later, the firefighter was declared accounted for and safe, officials said.
He suffered minor smoke inhalation and was initially slated to be taken to nearby Hemet Global Medical Center for treatment, but he reportedly declined the ambulance.
Officials said an unidentified civilian suffered unspecified minor burns, but the circumstances weren’t immediately clear. An ambulance was summoned for the man, but he too declined medical treatment, according to the fire department.
Three outbuildings, or sheds, sustained damage before the fire’s forward rate of spread was halted shortly before 1 p.m., officials said. No homes were threatened.
By 1:15 p.m., the blaze was near full containment.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.