RivCo Fire Near 60 Freeway Sends Smoke For Miles

JURUPA VALLEY, CA — Two brush fires that erupted in Jurupa Valley Wednesday less than a quarter-mile apart together scorched more than 20 acres before one of them was stopped and the other partially contained.

The non-injury fires were reported at 3:20 p.m. in the area of Granite Hill Drive and Pedley Road, just north of the Pomona (60) Freeway, according to a Cal Fire/ Riverside County Fire Department spokesperson.

Multiple engine and hand crews from across the county and surrounding agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, were sent to the location and encountered flames moving at a moderate rate along the foot of a hill.

One home was briefly threatened by one of the fires, but crews established a protective perimeter that prevented any damage and no evacuation warnings were issued.

The smaller of the two blazes consumed two acres before it was contained just after 4 p.m.

With the aid of Cal Fire water-dropping helicopters, crews were gradually establishing tentative containment lines around the larger fire shortly before 6 p.m. The blaze was bounded by paved and dirt roads, according to reports from the scene.

There was no word regarding what might have triggered the fires. Homeless people are known to camp out in the surrounding hills, the agency said.