A brush fire that broke out Monday afternoon near the Cahuilla Casino in Anza charred more than 100 acres and threatened a mobile home park, prompting the closure of a highway, as crews worked to stop its spread with the help of Cal Fire aircraft.
The non-injury blaze was reported at 3:08 p.m. in the area of Cary Road and Highway 371, a half-mile east of the casino, and was threatening 20 properties in or around the Anza Pines Mobile Home Park, just south of Highway 371 and west of Anza Trail.
The Riverside County Fire Department reported that 25 engine crews and four hand crews — numbering nearly 200 personnel — were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a brisk clip to the east amid light to moderate winds.
Four Cal Fire air tankers and two water-dropping helicopters were making runs on the brusher, trying to prevent it from reaching the structures.
According to reports from the scene, some residents voluntarily evacuated, but there was no word on mandatory evacuations by Cahuilla Indian Reservation authorities or sheriff’s deputies.
As of 4:15 p.m., the brusher was at 125 acres with zero containment.
The California Highway Patrol shut down the 371 between Homestead Road to the west, in front of the casino, and Howard Road to the east for public safety.
The blaze was in the vicinity of two other brush fires that burned more than 30 acres last week, though both of those brushers were on the north side of the highway.
There was no word on what might have triggered the current blaze.
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