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Bees blamed for ‘Mias Fire’ as flames spread to 540 acres

Published August 18, 2017 11:44 AM

Fire officials say the Mias Fire has decreased to 540 acres and is 95% contained.

For a second day, firefighters are battling the flames of a vegetation fire off Mias Canyon Road and Bluff Street in Banning. The fire was 80% contained late Wednesday night and had grown to 540 acres.

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300 firefighters are currently working to put out the fire, with one receiving medical attention due to an ankle injury. Fire officials expect to contain the fire by Thursday.

Watch live KESQ AM coverage from the fire scene now.

CAL FIRE and Riverside County Firefighters responded to reports of a vegetation fire shortly before 4:00 p.m. near the 10000 block of Mias Canyon Road.

A spokeswoman with Riverside County Fire Department said 30 engine crews and seven hand crews, numbering close to 278 personnel, were deployed to the fire, along with seven aerial tankers and three water-dropping helicopters.

Fire crews were able to drop retardant to save homes, but one family said flames destroyed a private chapel on their ranch.

The flames were not immediately threatening homes or other structures but were feeding on medium to heavy vegetation in the rural area, according to the fire department.

{“url”:”https://twitter.com/JoeGalliNews/status/897290926153900033″,”author_name”:”Joe Galli”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JoeGalliNews”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;&#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Update?src=hash”&#gt;#Update&#lt;/a&#gt;: &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/MiasFire?src=hash”&#gt;#MiasFire&#lt;/a&#gt; 600 acres, 5% contained, caused by tree branch that fell, hit power line and sparked blaze. &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/KESQ”&#gt;@KESQ&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/LocalTwo”&#gt;@LocalTwo&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/KKZOX9hpOC”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/KKZOX9hpOC&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Joe Galli (@JoeGalliNews) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JoeGalliNews/status/897290926153900033″&#gt;August 15, 2017&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}

Fire investigators determined the fire started when the branch of an oak tree, which was rotted out due to a bee hive in the tree, fell on a power line. Firefightes had found downed power lines in the area.