A fast-moving brush fire that broke out Monday in the Badlands southwest of Calimesa burned 1,500 acres with zero containment, prompting an evacuation order and nine evacuation warnings.
The non-injury Shore Fire blaze was reported at 3:23 p.m. Monday in a sparsely populated area near Lake Shore Drive and San Timoteo Canyon Road, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The agency said multiple engine and hand crews from the county, Hemet Fire Department, Palm Springs Fire Department and Cal Fire-San Bernardino County were sent to the location, which is on the north side of the rugged expanse between Interstate 10 to the north and the Moreno Valley (60) Freeway to the south.
According to the Riverside County Fire Department, at approximately 5 p.m., the fire initially burned up to 120 acres.
Flames were moving at a moderate to rapid rate northward amid gusty afternoon winds, which were expected to abate around nightfall, enabling crews to begin encircling the fire, according to reports from the scene.
Fire crews reported that the blaze had burned 450 acres of vegetation as of 6 p.m.
An evacuation order was issued at 6:15 p.m. for the area with scattered residential and commercial properties on the perimeter of the fire bordered by San Timoteo Canyon Road and the Moreno Valley Freeway due to the immediate threat to life, the Riverside County Fire Department announced.
An evacuation center was established for people and pets at Valley View High School in Moreno Valley. Large animal intakes were also available at the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus in San Jacinto.
By 8:15 p.m., the fire had expanded to 1,500 acres with zero containment, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
Two Cal Fire water-dropping helicopters and five air tankers had begun runs on the fire by 4:20 p.m. The agency’s contract “Very Large Air Tanker,” or VLAT, usually a DC-10 or Boeing 767 capable of carrying over 8,000 gallons of water, was requested Monday afternoon.
The terrain is difficult to negotiate on foot.
San Timoteo Canyon Road, between Redlands Boulevard and Lake Shore, was ordered closed.
The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately known.