Two people were killed and a third was injured during a fast-moving wildfire that also destroyed at least seven structures in southern California, officials said.
The blaze sparked around 2 p.m. local time and rapidly ripped across 2,000 acres in the city of Hemet in Riverside County. Cal Fire Captain Richard Cordova said the so-called Fairview Fire was “spreading very quickly, before firefighters even got on scene.”
According to the Riverside County Fire Department’s website, 265 firefighters, 38 engine companies, six air tankers and four helicopters were deployed to fight the blaze. By late Monday night, they managed to contain about 5% of the flames, which have been fueled by dry and water-starved vegetation in the region.
Cordova warned breezy weather Tuesday morning and hot temperatures forecast for the afternoon will make it all the more difficult to battle back the blaze. Highs in Hemet are expected to reach at least 100 degrees for the next three days.
The fire also forced the closure of the Hemet Unified School District on Tuesday and evacuations were initially ordered for the foothills of Hemet Valley, south of Thornton Avenue, north of Polly Butte Road, west of Fairview Avenue, east of State Street. Officials later expanded the emergency notice to include areas south of Stetson, north of Cactus Valley Road, west of Fairview Avenue, and east of State Street.
Fire officials said seven structures, some of them reportedly homes, have been destroyed and several others have been damaged. Two people were also killed in the blaze, but authorities have not released their identities. The victims were in a “one way in, one way out” area of a dangerous canyon overgrown with vegetation that hasn’t burned in years, Cordova told KCBS.
A third person was injured in the flames and rushed to the hospital with serious burns to their arms, back and face.
The Fairview Fire was only one of several wildfires ripping through parts of California during the holiday weekend. In Northern California’s Siskiyou County, two women, ages 66 and 73, were killed in the Mill Fire, which has burned through 4,263 acres and destroyed 98 structures as of Monday night.
