Map: Rabbit Fire and two other wildfires prompt evacuations in Southern California
The report Saturday morning from Cal Fire said the Rabbit Fire was at 4,500 acres, or 7 square miles, with 5% containment.
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters in Southern California were battling three brush fires that started Friday afternoon amid a blistering heat wave.
The fires were within 40 miles of each other in mostly rural areas across Riverside County.
Nearly 1,000 homes were under evacuation orders at one point, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or property loss, according to officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Two of the fires — Reche and Highland — had stopped spreading by Friday evening. The third — Rabbit, southwest of Beaumont — grew at a “rapid rate” to more than 2 square miles in a matter of hours, Cal Fire said in a social media post.
The report Saturday morning from Cal Fire said the Rabbit Fire was at 4,500 acres, or 7 square miles, with 5% containment.
Riverside County’s emergency services page said the remaining evacuation warnings were advisory rather than mandatory.
California is bracing for its hottest weather of the year this weekend, and Riverside County is among areas under an excessive heat warning.
Already blistering temperatures are forecast to go even higher for Nevada, Arizona and California, soaring in some desert areas above 120 degrees during the day and remaining in the 90s overnight.
The causes of all three fires are under investigation, Cal Fire said.