Firefighters have 40 percent containment of a brush fire that charred 214 acres in an unincorporated area near Beaumont Saturday.
The non-injury fire ignited at about 11:30 a.m. near the intersection of Lamb Canyon Road and California Avenue, in the Badlands southeast of Beaumont.
The sparsely populated area is marked by rugged, hilly terrain difficult to access, except by dirt roads.
When fire crews first arrived on scene, the blaze was “burning at a moderate to dangerous rate of spread,” according to the Riverside County Fire Department, but as firefighters began to gain ground they reported it was “holding within the road structure, and burning on the west side of Lamb Canyon Road.”
By 12:52 p.m., fire officials said the blaze was holding at 30 acres and about an hour later reported that its forward progress had been stopped at 40 acres.
Fire officials reported about 3:35 p.m. that the fire was fully contained by lines of cleared vegetation , but revised the containment figure around 6 p.m. “Firefighters will remain on scene working on full containment throughout the night,” April Newman of the Riverside County Fire Department said.
Fire officials said the acreage burned ballooned to 214 acres once they updated their mapping of the fire.
About 180 county firefighters battled the blaze at its height, assisted by three Cal Fire water-dropping helicopter and four air tankers. Assistance was originally requested from Bureau of Land Management firefighters, but was later called off.
No structures were threatened or destroyed by the flames.
Last week, a fire ravaged 525 acres about five miles west of this fire, near Gilman Springs Road and Jerry Street, prompting the evacuation of numerous homes.