Snow falls in some local mountain communities, Indian Canyon remains closed in Palm Springs

People living in the local mountains, near the Cranston fire burn scar, saw several hours worth of rain Thursday.

“We need the rain, we need the rain. We get our water from the mountain,” said Larry Kueneman, of Pine Cove.

It rained steadily on Highway 74 from Pinyon Pines to Garner Valley. Cal Trans had signs up, reading, “Flood Watch” and warning a potential road closures for 74 and 243 if weather conditions worsened. The on-going concern over mud and debris flows near burn scar was not an issue, for well traveled roads, as of Thursday night. However, some mountain communities got to see snow flurries.

Meanwhile, the U.S Forest Service and other responding agencies held a community town hall meeting, where they announced plans for prescribed burning near Idyllwild.

“(We do prescribed burning for) Community protection, we do them to prevent fuels, we do them to provide the lower intensity fires, where firefighters are going to be working. We try to do fuel treatments at strategic locations, so they’re at an advantageous location for aircraft to be affective and firefighters to make access to them,” Freddie Espinoza, Division Chief with U.S Forest Service, said, explaining the projects are largely done to prevent the quick spread of fires. A duty not taken lightly after the Cranston Fire flattened more than 13,000 acres, which has now left communities near the burn scar vulnerable to mud and debris flows for the next few winters.

Areas of potential concern are Apple Canyon, Mountain Center, Hurkey Creek, and the Lake Hemet area.