Brush fire burning in Thermal grows to 25 acres
Firefighters worked to contain a growing brush fire burning in Thermal Tuesday afternoon.
It ignited around noon Tuesday on Avenue 66 between Pierce Street and the 86 expressway. The first arriving engine found 5 acres burning in heavy brush, fire officials said. It quickly grew at least 5 times in size. Tuesday night, fire crews were holding the fire at 25 acres with 20 percent containment.
#64Fire [UPDATE] The fire is currently 20 acres. pic.twitter.com/HxaZWtCour
— CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department (@CALFIRERRU) May 25, 2021
A Cal Fire spokesperson said the fire is burning at a moderate rate of spread in dense brush.
The weather was a concern for firefighters. "Weather conditions are always bad down here," said CalFire Battalion Chief Joe Taylor. "We're looking at triple digits right now; relative humidity is in the teens and the wind has been shifting between the southeast and the east with gusts up to about 8 miles an hour, which is causing an issue for us."
Air tankers gave fire crews the upper hand, with precise drops of fuel retardant helping to box the fire in. "We have 3 air tankers that are flying in and doing drops with fire retardant," Taylor said. "What that does is it slows the fire and we follow up with ground resources with hose."
RRU “64” - A240 pic.twitter.com/0hDJQ0Drtq
— David Hudson (@captain2500agl) May 25, 2021
Fire crews attacked flames from the ground and the air, pushing to boost containment before property and infrastructure were threatened. "We did have a structure threat initially that has been mitigated, but to the east of the fire we do have a threat to some high tension power lines," Taylor said.
Palm Springs and Thermal have climbed into the 100s this afternoon! #CAwx pic.twitter.com/sFdxOFtGko
— Haley Clawson KESQ (@KESQHaley) May 25, 2021
Imperial Irrigation District was requested to the scene due to power lines in the area.
Officials said there were 200 acres of dry brush nearby that the blaze could spread to.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates on this incident.
