1,000 Battle Brush Fire in National Forest

More than 1,000 firefighters from throughout California, Oregon and Washington battled a 3,500-acre brush fire that continued to rage out of control in the Cleveland National Forest this morning near the Orange-Riverside county border.

By mid-morning, a U.S. Forestry Service spokesman said that the speed of the blaze had slowed substantially and that 30% of the fire had been contained.

Because conditions in the area are the driest in 30 years, however, officials said they have brought in an extraordinary number of firefighters to attack the blaze from the air and ground.

“We’re ready for a battle,” Tom Horner, U.S. Forestry Service spokesman, said this morning.

The cause of the fire, which erupted about 4 p.m. Tuesday near the Upper San Juan campground 15 miles east of Interstate 5, had not been determined, Horner added.

Ortega Highway, the primary link between south Orange County and Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, has been closed since the fire broke out, meaning long detours for commuters. The California Highway Patrol said this morning that, even if the fire is contained today, the highway will remain closed between Caspers Regional Park and Grand Avenue in Lake Elsinore for at least two days to repair fire damage.

Residents--officials said they did not know how many--were evacuated as the blaze threatened up to 100 homes in the area. However, none of the 125 buildings dotting the remote canyons and hills in the area was damaged.

The American Red Cross opened two evacuation centers in the Lake Elsinore area--one at Lake Elsinore High School--but they were virtually empty.

Two firefighters were injured at the edge of the blaze. One hurt his back and was taken by helicopter to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. The other suffered a minor foot injury, officials said.