Banning Brush Fire Scorches 25 Acres

BANNING, CA — A brush fire erupted Monday on a mountainside south of Banning amid stiff Santa Ana winds, quickly scorching 25 acres.

The non-injury blaze was reported at 3:40 p.m. in the area of Wolfskill Truck Trail and Old Idyllwild Road, in the San Bernardino National Forest, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.

The agency said that multiple engine and hand crews from the county and U.S. Forest Service were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a moderate rate upslope, away from homes and other structures at the foot of the mountain.

Six Cal Fire air tankers and four water-dropping helicopters were summoned and initiated runs on the brusher shortly after 4 p.m.

Winds dissipated after sundown.

No evacuation orders were imminent.

The fire was less than a mile west of Highway 243.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.