A deadly blaze near Hemet was burning on all sides and stubbornly outpacing firefighters’ efforts to contain its spread Wednesday, ballooning to 9,846 acres by afternoon, fire officials said.
The Fairview fire, which has killed two people, has forced officials to continue expanding evacuation orders as the flames move dangerously close to homes and communities over two days. The blaze remained at 5% containment as it continued to burn past fire lines, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
By Wednesday evening, the most active flames were moving mostly in a south and southeast direction, officials said.
Crews work fighting the Fairview fire work on a controlled burn along Bautista Canyon Road near Hemet on Wednesday.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A firefighter attacks a brush fire along Bautista Canyon Road on Wednesday.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The air assault continues on the Fairview fire near Hemet on Wednesday.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Fire crews prepare for deployment on Fairview Avenue in Hemet on Wednesday.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A horse stands along State Street as heavy smoke billows from the Fairview fire in Avery Canyon on Tuesday near Hemet.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
The Fairview fire burns along Batista Road near Hemet.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
A Chinook helicopter makes a water drop in Avery Canyon on Tuesday.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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A firefighter battles the Fairview fire along Batista Road near Hemet.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
Robert Monje gives water to his dogs after evacuating his residence along Batista Road near Hemet.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
The Fairview fire burns along Batista Road near Hemet on Tuesday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
A horse marked by red fire retardant waits for its owner on Gibble Road, where many structures were burned.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
A firefighting jumbo jet is dwarfed by a plume of smoke from the Fairview fire.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
The front of a car on Gibble Road melted in the heat of the Fairview fire.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Motorists flee the Fairview fire as it burns along Batista Road.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
A firefighter battles the Fairview fire along Batista Road.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
A jumbo jet drops fire retardant ahead of the Fairview fire near Hemet.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
The Fairview fire lights up the night sky over Hemet on Tuesday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
The sun sets behind a pall of smoke from the Fairview fire on Tuesday.
Irfan Khan was a staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times from 1996 to 2024. He previously served as a freelance photographer for the publication beginning in 1989. Khan started his career as a commercial photographer in 1973 in Pakistan and moved to Dubai in 1977, where he worked for an advertising agency and at a leading English newspaper. Khan’s assignments have taken across Southern California and the U.S. Internationally, he has photographed the Hajj in Saudi Arabia and war zones of the Pakistan/Afghanistan border in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was part of the team awarded the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for coverage of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino. In his spare time, he enjoys listening to semi-classical music of the Indian subcontinent and playing cricket on Sundays.
