Update 10:07 a.m. One lane of northbound State Route 79 was temporarily closed Wednesday morning due to a motor home fire near the turnoff for Lamb Canyon Landfill, but all lanes were open as of 10 a.m., a CHP dispatcher in Indio said in a phone interview.
The cause of the fire was being investigated.
Posted 9:32 a.m. A motor home caught fire Wednesday morning on State Route 79 in Lamb Canyon and a resident in Beaumont said she noticed a strong smell of gas before she saw a black mushroom cloud from the blaze.
The fire was reported at 7:50 a.m. June 26 on the 79 near the landfill, according to the California Highway Patrol. One caller reported the motor home was still moving, and it was on fire.
"We arrived at 7:53 and we had clean knockdown at 8:13," Mark Annas of Cal Fire Riverside County said. "It was a motor home and the fire did not spread to vegetation. No injuries were reported."
Arianna Mabon, who lives near Beaumont Avenue and 1st Street, called Banning-Beaumont Patch about the fire and shared what she saw.
"I went outside at 7:30 a.m. and smelled something pretty bad," Mabon said. "It smelled like gas. It was so potent it made me concerned about my neighborhood.
"So I called Beaumont PD and told them there was a possible gas leak," Mabon said. "The fire department came out, they checked but they couldn't find anything.
"I took my daughter to summer school and when I was driving back I saw this huge black mushroom cloud down the canyon," Mabon said.
Stay with Banning-Beaumont Patch for updates.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
