Spread of Riverside County blaze is halted

Authorities lifted an evacuation warning Sunday for a small number of Riverside County residents as a wind- driven wildfire that broke out overnight burned through 1,933 acres of rugged terrain south of Beaumont.

An attack by ground crews, air tankers and helicopters stopped the forward spread of the f lames before midday, but f irefighters were still struggling to contain the edges of the blaze, officials said.

“It’s no longer growing,” said Tawny Cabral, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Riverside County Fire Department.

No injuries or structural damage was reported. The evacuation warning centered on fewer than a dozen homes north of Gilman Springs Road and south of Timothy Lane, Cabral said. Authorities lifted it at 12: 45 p. m. The f ire was 24% contained by Sunday evening.

By noon, smoke from the fire had created unhealthful air conditions down the I- 15 corridor, from Corona to Lake Elsinore and beyond, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Dubbed the Sanderson f ire, the blaze erupted near Laborde Canyon Road around 1 a. m., officials said. Winds of up to 30 mph pushed it through the canyons. About 130 f irefighters battled the f lames on the ground with the help of air tankers and helicopters.

Cabral said the retardant- and water- dropping aircraft were crucial to the effort. “The terrain has been difficult,” she said. “There aren’t roads that go back into those areas.”

As of Sunday, California had been struck by 9,639 fire incidents, burning 4.1 million acres, killing 31 people and damaging or destroying more than 10,400 structures, according to Cal Fire.

December f ires are not unusual in the Inland Empire and other parts of Southern California. Earlier this month, the Cerritos fire broke out near the rural community of Nuevo in Riverside County, prompting evacuations. That followed two other early December f ires in Riverside County and the Bond fire in Orange County.