2 Riverside County Fires Contained; Others Erupt Elsewhere in the State

Firefighters who spent the week battling two wildfires that blackened 25,000 acres in Riverside County will be putting out hot spots and patrolling for flare-ups this weekend after containing both blazes Friday.

Crews had surrounded the 8,900-acre Eagle fire near Temecula and the 16,400-acre Cerrito fire near Corona with firebreaks by early Friday morning.

Officials predicted the Eagle fire would be fully extinguished by 6 p.m. today and the Cerrito fire by 6 p.m. Monday.

“We will continue to patrol this weekend,” said Mike Richwine, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He said most of the firefighters from all over the state who manned the fire lines would be sent home by this morning.

California 79, in the path of the Eagle fire, was open to traffic late Friday by pilot-car escort between Pauba Road and Vail Lake.

Elsewhere, fire agencies have had their hands full. More than 130 firefighters tried to get the upper hand on a fast-moving wildfire that closed Interstate 80 near Lake Tahoe for four hours Friday at the California-Nevada state line.

Smoke and advancing flames forced the Nevada and California highway patrols to shut down a 30-mile stretch of the interstate just west of Reno about 3 p.m. It reopened shortly after 7 p.m.

Firefighting efforts were hampered initially by winds gusting to 20 mph as the blaze burned sagebrush and timber on steep, rocky hillsides on both sides of the interstate along about a two-mile stretch near Farad, Calif., about 10 miles southwest of Verdi, Nev.

Fire officials were optimistic that they would be able to contain the blaze, which had grown to about 150 acres, before this morning. No structures were immediately threatened. Its cause was unknown

In San Diego County, the 2,050-acre India fire on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base remained contained Friday.

And in Santa Barbara County, firefighters were still battling a blaze in the Los Padres National Forest. The 1,127-acre fire was 80% surrounded, with full containment expected by 6 a.m. today.

Even as firefighting efforts were winding down in Riverside County, a new blaze erupted about 2 p.m. near Cabazon at the Whitewater Fish Hatchery. It had grown to 75 acres by evening. The cause was under investigation.

Crews battling the Eagle and Cerrito fires got a “very welcome break” with cooler weather that moved in Thursday, replacing 100-degree-plus temperatures that hampered the first several days of firefighting.

“The big thing was that the humidity came back up, especially overnight,” Richwine said. The critical overnight humidity was measured in the low teens until midweek, when it edged into the less dangerous range of 20% to 30%.

It also helped that the Eagle fire advanced into two areas that had already burned during the last seven years and had less fuel.

Suppression costs for the Eagle fire were estimated at $4.9 million, and for the Cerrito fire at $2.3 million or more.

About a dozen firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the blazes, which destroyed 28 homes and about three dozen outbuildings.

“We were very fortunate we didn’t have more injuries or even deaths,” Richwine said.

Although the cause of the Eagle fire was still to be determined Friday, authorities blamed the Cerrito fire on a man driving a pickup truck while dragging a metal plate with a chain, causing sparks from the pavement to ignite dry brush.

Richard Drew Brown, 44, of El Cerrito is to be arraigned Friday on a charge of recklessly starting the fire. Officials said he could face seven years and eight months in prison and be ordered to pay $1 million or more in restitution for firefighting costs.

Associated Press contributed to this report.