Crews Battle Multiple Brush Fires Amid Searing Heat Wave

INLAND EMPIRE, CA — With temperatures near the 115-degree mark Friday across Riverside and San Bernardino counties, conditions are brutal for firefighters battling several wildland blazes.

Below are updates for a few of the fires they were tackling Friday:

Kirby Fire near Anza (between Palm Desert and Temecula)

On the eastern edge of Anza near the San Bernardino National Forest, a blaze dubbed the Kirby Fire burned 122 acres Friday before it was stopped.

The noninjury fire was reported at 12:35 p.m. in the area of Highway 371 and Kirby Road, in a field on the north side of Anza Electric Co-Op, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.

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 to the north in medium vegetation.

Air tankers and a water-dropping helicopter were used to combat the fire, which was 80% contained as of 4 p.m. Friday.

Sheriff's deputies and California Highway Patrol officers shut down Kirby at the highway for public safety.

Temperatures in the Anza Valley were 112 degrees as of 2 p.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Ribidoux Fire in Riverside

A brush fire that broke out Friday in the Santa Ana River bottom in Riverside scorched two acres in heavy vegetation and prompted the arrest of a combative transient detained in the immediate vicinity of the blaze.

The noninjury blaze was reported just after 1 p.m. Friday near the Mission Inn Avenue bridge, west of Carlson Dog Park and north of Mt. Rubidoux, according to the Riverside Fire Department.

The agency said that multiple engine crews from the city, Corona Fire Department and Cal Fire were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a slow rate through thick brush, complicating access.

A Cal Fire water-dropping helicopter was summoned to make drops on the blaze, which did not threaten homes or other structures.

A municipal arson investigator looking for parties who were spotted fleeing the fire's point of origin confronted a transient along a bike path where crews were deploying and attempted to detain him. The suspect, whose identity was not released, became hostile and reportedly tried to break a window on the investigator's city-owned SUV. The man was wrestled to the ground by the investigator and another firefighter, then handcuffed, according to reports from the scene.

Riverside police spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback confirmed to City News Service that patrol officers went to the location and took the individual into custody. There were no reports of injuries, though the man was taken to Riverside Community Hospital for medical evaluation.

The fire's forward rate of spread was stopped at 1:55 p.m., and full containment was expected by 5 p.m.

No road closures were in effect.

The dry river bottom is strewn with homeless encampments, mostly between Jurupa Valley and Riverside, and cooking, warming, debris and other fires are common year-round.

Cove Fire near Idyllwild

A brush fire that started north of Idyllwild-Pine Cove in the San Bernardino National Forest Friday consumed nearly 10 acres before Cal Fire aircraft slowed it down.

The non-injury "Cove Fire" was reported at 2:20 p.m. Friday east of Highway 243 near the mountain communities, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.

The agency said that engine crews from the county and U.S. Forest Service were sent to the location and encountered flames in thick stands of trees, moving at a slow rate.

No structures were immediately threatened.

Three Cal Fire air tankers and two water-dropping helicopters initiated runs on the brusher that slowed its advance, but there was zero containment as of 3 p.m., according to reports from the scene.

Ground crews were cutting through heavy vegetation to reach the blaze.

The cause of the fire wasn't immediately known.

Line Fire in Highland

A brush fire that erupted in Highland in San Bernardino County has burned 1,180 acres and prompted evacuation warnings Friday. A smoke advisory that extends across a large swath of the Inland Empire — reaching as far as Southwest Riverside County — was also issued.

As of Friday afternoon, there was zero containment on the Line Fire, which was first reported at 6 p.m. Thursday near Baseline and Alpine streets.

Read more about the Line Fire here.

—City News Service contributed to this report.