Amid large evacuations in Southern California, a fire that started Friday afternoon, the “Apple Fire”, has burned through 20,500 plus acres.
What We Know:
- The fire started Friday evening in Riverside County, which then grew overnight into Sunday morning. As of 6 a.m Sunday morning, the fire had covered at least 20,516 acres stated the San Bernadino National Forest.
- Riverside and San Bernardino Counties were under evacuation orders as of Saturday evening, officials advised. At least 7,800 people from a group of 2,500 residences have been ordered to evacuate.
- This is California’s first major wildfire this year. No deaths have been reported by officials as of now and at least one home and two outbuildings in Cherry Valley were destroyed by the fire.
- All precautions are being taken to cease the Apple Fire, with workers on the ground, in helicopters and air tankers, including about 1,300 firefighters on the scene.
- According to San Bernardino National Forest’s Twitter bio, they manage 680,000 acres in four mountain ranges in Southern California, including portions of two national monuments. They have been updating the progress of the fire and evacuation calls through their tweets.
Officials believe that the fire was caused from arson, started from two individual fires that later became one. They are working continuously to cease the fire.
