Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire Cost Now $12 Million, Incident Command at Banning Airport

Update 7:05 p.m. Hot Shot crews from Mill Creek and Del Rosa were among more than 200 personnel assigned Friday to contain the Hathaway Fire in rugged steeps of the San Gorgonio Wilderness northeast of Banning.

The Hathaway burned area was still estimated at 3,825 acres and 85 percent contained as of 7 p.m. June 21, according to a Forest Service update. The cost to-date for fighting the 13-day-old fire as of Friday afternoon was around $12 million, acting incident commander John Ellison said in an interview at Banning Municipal Airport.

A total of 204 personnel were assigned to the fire, up from 170 earlier Friday.

Posted 5:05 p.m. Hot Shot crews from Mill Creek and Del Rosa were among more than 120 firefighters still at work Friday trying to contain the Hathaway Fire in rugged steeps of the San Gorgonio Wilderness northeast of Banning.

The Hathaway burned area was still estimated at 3,825 acres and 85 percent contained, and the cost to-date for fighting the 13-day-old fire as of Friday afternoon was around $12 million, acting incident commander John Ellison said in an interview at Banning Municipal Airport.

"Today it's around $12 million," said Ellison, whose regular job is crew superintendent for Mill Creek Hot Shots, based at Highway 38 and Bryant. "I don't have the exact figure right now because daily it's changing. It's estimated at about $12 million."

Incident command was moved Thursday from Noble Creek Park in Beaumont to Banning.

The cause of the fire, which broke out Sunday June 9 on the north edge of the Morongo Indian Reservation, was still under investigation, Ellison said.

"I'm only aware of one point of origin," Ellison said. "I have not been notified that anything has been ruled out, as far as the cause."

Personnel assigned to the fire as of Friday afternoon totaled 170, including four Hot Shot crews and two helicopters from the Angeles and Cleveland national forests, Ellison said.

"The helicopters, they've mainly been used for recon missions so we can keep tabs on the edges of the fire," Ellison said. "If they do need water they're going to be using the dip site near the origin. . . .

"All crews are assigned to the fire today and up on the fire working the edge," Ellison said. "Of the 170, 130 to 140 of them are actively engaged on the fire line."

The size of the fire appeared to be holding at around 3,825 acres as of Friday afternoon, Ellison said.

"Yesterday it increased in size by approximately two acres," Ellison said. "Up in Division Whiskey there's some terrain in there that's very steep and we were unable to get crews into the area. It's held up in rocks and cliffs in the Whitewater drainage. It's just continuing to burn out the fuels that are up there in the cliffs.

"We did a recon this morning. It looked the fire was holding in place, sitting there and burning out," Ellison said. "What we're hoping the fire does from this point on is it sits where it's at and burns out."

Ten firefighters have sustained minor injuries on the Hathaway Fire since June 9. A Burn Area Emergency Response team has been assigned to evaluate the burn area.

To read previous Banning-Beaumont Patch coverage of the Hathaway Fire click the following links:

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire Now 3,825 Acres, 85 Percent Contained, Noble Creek Park Open to Public

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire NE of Banning Now 3,823 Acres, 83 Percent Contained

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire NE of Banning Now 80 Percent Contained

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire Cost to Date Estimated $9.3 Million, 73 Percent Contained

Hathaway Fire NE of Banning Remains at 3,807 Acres, Now 63 Percent Contained

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire NE of Banning Now Estimated 3,816 Acres, 52 Percent Contained

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire Burns Fuel Near Whitewater River, Now Estimated 3,596 Acres

Hathaway Fire Camp Prompts Venue Change for 4th Annual Ho'olaule'a to Beaumont Sports Park

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire NE of Banning Estimated 3,520 Acres, 43 Percent Contained

PHOTO GALLERY: Hathaway Fire Helicopter Pilots Take on Retardant, H20 at Sundown

UPDATE: Hathaway Fire NE of Banning Grows to 3,130 Acres, Estimated 40 Percent Contained

UPDATE: Fire NE of Banning Grows to 2,372 Acres, Estimate 30 Percent Contained

UPDATE: Mountain Blaze NE of Banning Estimated 1650 Acres, 25 Pct Contained

Beaumont's 'Movies Under the Stars' Canceled Due to Hathaway Fire Near Banning

UPDATE: Fire NE of Banning Grows to 1,500 Acres, Concern for 'Significant Growth Potential'

Banning Woman with Family on Morongo Reservation: 'My Rez is on Fire'

Fire NE of Banning Grows to 1,300 Acres, Smoke and Aircraft Visible in Redlands

Agencies that have worked the fire include the U.S. Forest Service, Cal-Fire Riverside County, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and Morongo Tribal Bureau of Indian Affairs.


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