“Fire will become active with primary movement to the east due to the west winds. Schools in the Hemet Unified School District were closed because of the fire it wasn’t clear when they would reopen.

The heat wave could last even longer because of the effects of a strengthening hurricane along Mexico’s Pacific coast. The rapidly growing fire comes as California and many states on the West Coast swelter in a brutal heat wave, which is setting record high temperatures, fueling destructive wildfires and threatening rolling power shutoffs in California. The blaze was “burning in all directions, on all flanks” Wednesday morning, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Josh Janssen said then. “A lot of them don’t know if they have a home or not.”įire is ‘burning in all directions,’ officials say “We’ve been running 24/7 … and we have right now we have about 55 clients,” he said, adding that the county animal control has been taking in people’s pets for free. Details about how many people were affected by orders weren’t immediately available.Ī Red Cross shelter in Hemet opened Monday for evacuees, said shelter supervisor Ken Rieger.

The blaze, which killed two people in a vehicle earlier this week, forced a string of new evacuation orders and warnings in the area that Cal Fire announced early Thursday.

The cause of the fire, believed to have started Monday afternoon, is under investigation, Cal Fire said. This comes as the region battles a scorching heat wave, authorities said. Nielson and Delmark are just two of the presumably thousands in the Riverside County community who were under new evacuation orders this week as the Fairview Fire nearly quadrupled its reach from a day earlier.Īs of Thursday afternoon, the fire has burned 18,657 acres and is only 5% contained, said Cal Fire, formally known as the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. And no matter where we are, that’s home,” she said. “I’m very blessed that we’re all together. “I just grabbed my whole suitcase of paperwork for like, the kids… because I got four kids with me here, and I got my mom here,” she said, adding that her husband stayed behind to wet the house so it does not get consumed by the flames. The firefighters came knocking on Kristina Delmark’s door in Hemet, too, she said.

“As we get deeper into the summer and vegetation that grew up during the wet spring dries out, we are seeing an uptick in wildfire activity,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said at a Wednesday news briefing.A firefighting helicopter drops water as the Fairview Fire burns on September 7, 2022, near Hemet, California. Credit: AP/Terry PiersonĪlready blistering temperatures are forecast to go even higher for Nevada, Arizona and California, soaring in some desert areas above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius) during the day and remaining in the 90s (above 32.2 Celsius) overnight.Ĭalifornia leaders warned earlier in the week about the fire danger. Hundreds of firefighters were dispatched, along with firefighting helicopters and airplanes.Ĭalifornia is bracing for its hottest weather of the year so far this weekend, and Riverside County is among areas under an excessive heat warning.Ī helicopter makes a water drop on the Reche Fire west of Mountain Ranch Road as the fire grows to over 400 acres in the Reche Canyon near Moreno Valley, Calif., on Friday, July 14, 2023. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.

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