Firefighters on Thursday, Nov. 2, anticipated to make extra progress in containing the Highland fireplace in Aguanga as winds from the ocean have been forecast to extend the humidity within the mild grasses and medium-sized shrubs which were burning since Monday in rural southwest Riverside County.
“It’s going to help within the management and permit us to button up this fireplace and get house,” Justin McGough, a spokesman for Riverside County incident command, mentioned in a video briefing.
Crews on Wednesday have been capable of strengthen the maintain on the east finish of the fireplace by scratching out strains with hand instruments. They deliberate to return with fireplace hoses to proceed the job, McGough mentioned.
“There’s nonetheless fairly a little bit of sizzling materials on the east finish of the fireplace,” McGough mentioned.
The fireplace had burned 2,487 acres as of Thursday morning and was 25% contained. Containment refers back to the share of a fireplace’s perimeter that has been surrounded by a management line or pure obstacles equivalent to a pond that officers imagine the flames is not going to cross.
However the flames had diminished sufficient that officers on the scene mentioned air tankers wouldn’t be required for operations on Thursday. Two helicopters have been doing mop-up work alongside the fireplace strains.
#HighlandFire 11/2/2023 | Day Operations Part Chief, Justin McGough, gives an replace from right this moment’s morning operational briefing:
Evacuation Map: https://t.co/PDAXaQ7bZl
CAL FIRE/RVC Hearth: https://t.co/zegCDxU27r
Alert RivCo: https://t.co/yk1azX1up8 pic.twitter.com/OF5qOl0ioz
— CAL FIRE/Riverside County Hearth Division (@CALFIRERRU) November 2, 2023
Seven buildings have been reported destroyed and 6 have been broken. 4 residents have confirmed to Southern California Information Group that their properties burned down, together with the residence of a retired couple.
Jose Quiñonez, 34, mentioned in an interview Thursday that he was not house when the flames approached his father’s home the place Jose lived. Brother Eduardo was shifting in and known as Jose and requested what he ought to seize from the doublewide trailer that sits on 5 acres.
“I mentioned, ‘Dude, seize my laptop computer and get out of there,’ ” Jose Quiñonez mentioned.
His Pokemon card assortment, which he estimated was value $5,000, was left behind.
“I went again yesterday,” Quiñonez mentioned. “There was nothing left.”
The house throughout the road the place the daddy lives was not broken.
“On the finish of the day, no one acquired damage,” Quiñonez mentioned. “That’s all that issues.”
The Highland fireplace erupted about 12:40 p.m. Monday within the space of Highlands and Aguanga Ranchos roads, close to the junction of highways 79 and 371. Some evacuations and street closures remained in impact Thursday. The trigger was beneath investigation.
For updates, follow Cal Fire at @calfirerru on X, previously often known as Twitter.
