The blaze was reported just after 7:45 p.m. in the 4600 block of Soto Avenue near Sedona Drive, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.
Just heard an airplane that zoomed over our house. Came back as a US Forestry Service Fire Grumman S2 Tracker so I followed it up to a place along the Pacific Crest Trail called Fuller Ridge which is just NW of San Jacinto peak in the San Jacinto National Forest where it began circling.
Now the same plane went over us following a similar route back to it’s base and landed at Hemet Ryan Field. Could be a readiness drill, a lost hiker or a possibly a fire. Winds in the area are 7-10 mph from the west.
Edit: No additional aircraft dispatched so probably the former, maybe they got bored sitting around and scrambled to see if there is any snow up there.
Follow up: Now their other plane at the base took off and flew around closer to the airport for about 20 minutes then landed back again. So false alarm.
Was over by the airport and CalFire tankers were airborne and circling. Near 80 degrees F and dry northeast winds coming over the mountains making for high fire danger.
Better safe than sorry.
I would say that hidden cameras in the trees etc in places arson is likely is about the only real, if expensive solution.
Well; that and setting the arsonist himself on fire, publicly, once found.
You might then urinate on him/her (just to make them smell more like decent human beings for a while) before relighting the fire!
Two people have died after a fire erupted in the San Gabriel Valley. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for residents in communities such as La Cañada Flintridge, Altadena, and Sierra Madre.