A small but fast-moving brush fire that broke out Saturday afternoon in San Bernardino on a Southern California hillside burned five homes and injured three people.
The fire broke out in San Bernardino and quickly spread to about 10 acres before firefighters got a handle on the blaze, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department said.
Four hilltop homes were destroyed – one had only a swimming pool remaining after being burned to its foundation, county fire Engineer Jeff Allen said. A fifth house suffered serious damage on the inside.
Authorities evacuated residents in the four blocks closest to the fire, Capt. Jeremy Kern said.
Two firefighters and a civilian were treated for smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Meanwhile, a wildfire burning in steep, inaccessible terrain is threatening at least 300 homes in or near a gated community in central California.
The fire has grown to 2.8 square miles since it began Friday afternoon, Phil Neufeld, a spokesman for the Kern County Fire Department said Saturday. It is zero percent contained.
Firefighters were focused on keeping the fire from climbing over a ridge and potentially threatening another 1,000 homes in Bear Valley Spring, a private community of 7,500 in the Tehachapi Mountains and several hundred homes in the Hart Flat community.
“It if blows over the ridge, it can cause damage,” Neufeld said.
The fire was burning a number of dead trees devastated by California’s four-year drought and a severe bark beetle infestation. Firefighters were hampered by the rough terrain, 20 mph winds and hot, dry weather.
The blaze is among 12 wildfires burning in California.
The fire is about 60 miles south of a deadly 75-square-mile blaze that broke out near Lake Isabella last week. That fire is 85 percent contained, and resources from it are being diverted to fight the new fire.