SILVER FIRE UPDATE: 26 Homes Destroyed, 6 Injuries to Date

–> Click here for Friday, Aug. 9, updates on the Silver Fire.

Update 11:50 p.m.: Details emerged Thursday about a man who was severely burned in the Silver Fire shortly after it first broke out Aug. 7, but the incomplete account of where he was when firefighters found him and how he got there raised more questions.

As of 9:15 p.m. Aug. 8, five firefighters had sustained injuries in the Silver Fire. The civilian was the only fire-related casualty confirmed badly burned in the fast-moving blaze, and he was the only one who was helicoptered out for treatment, according to Silver Fire incident commanders.

Read more here:

SILVER FIRE BURN VICTIM: Man Was Found on Old Banning-Idyllwild Road

Update 9:30 p.m.: The Riverside County Fire Department said late Thursday the Silver Fire had grown to 14,000 acres, though containment had also grown.

The fire is now estimated at 20 percent contained after breaking out more than 30 hours ago.

Mandatory evacuations remain in place for all below listed communities.  Just before 9 p.m., crews remained stationed in the community of Snow Creek Village, preparing to take a "defensive stance" and perform structure protection as it crept closer to the area.

To date, a total of six people have been injured, four of them firefighters, according to Cal Fire.  As reported by Patch in previous updates, the civilian was burned Wednesday and had been listed in critical condition.

A total of 26 homes have burned, along with a commercial building.  Two other buildings are listed by Cal Fire as "damaged."  539 structures remain threatened.

The following emergency equipment has been assigned to the Silver Fire:  139 fire engines, 48 fire crews, 4 bulldozers, 9 helicopters and 4 water tenders. 

Total personnel is listed as 1,431.

Update 4:30 p.m.:  As the Silver Fire's size grows, mandatory evacuations have been ordered for the community of Snow Creek, according to the Riverside County fire and sheriff's departments.

Cal Fire now says the blaze has consumed 11,000 acres, and is still about ten percent contained.

"The fire is actively burning in the San Jacinto wilderness," the department's latest update states.

Shortly after the fire department announce the new size, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department issued another mandatory evacuation order; this one for the community of Snow Creek Village in the Cabazon area.

As of this posting, the following communities are all under mandatory evacuation orders:

• Snow Creek
• Poppet Flats
• Silent Valley
• Twin Pines
• Twin Pines Ranch
• Vista Grande
• Mt. Edna
• The extreme south end of Cabazon (Peach Street, Plum Street, Eucalyptus Street, Riza Street, Ida Avenue and Helen Avenue east to Elm Street)
  

Evacuation center information can be found here.

Update 2:35 p.m.: Federal funding has been promised to help cover up to 75 percent of whatever it costs to fight the Silver Fire south of Banning and near Cabazon, FEMA officials announced Thursday.

Here's part of the statement from the feds:

On August 7, 2013, the state of California submitted a request for a fire management assistance declaration for the Silver Fire. . . . 

At the time of the request, the fire was threatening 393 primary residence mes in and around the communities of Poppet Flats, Twin Pines, Silent Valley and Cabazon.

The fire is also threatening . . . businesses, watershed, local powerlines, 115 Kv powerlines, 500 Kv powerlines, telecom vault, and two communications repeater sites in the area. The State of California further reported that the fire at one point burned in excess of 5,000 acres of state and private land.

In less than 24 hours the blaze destroyed at least a dozen structures, including homes in Poppet Flats and Twin Pines, injured four firefighters and burned a civilian head to toe, who was hospitalized in critical condition, according to Cal Fire-Riverside County Chief John R. Hawkins and others with incident command.

Update 1:10 p.m.: The 10,000-acre Silver Fire has prompted authorities to issue an evacuation warning for lower Cabazon east of Elm Street and the community of Snow Creek.

Evacuation routes recommended by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department:

• Lower Cabazon use Elm Street North or Esperanza Avenue West to Broadway North
• Community of Snow Creek use Highway 111 to the North 

Other evacs already in place: Poppet Flats, Silent Valley, Twin Pines, Twin Pines Ranch, Vista Grande, Black Mountain, Mt. Edna, and the extreme south end of Cabazon, including Peach Street, Plum Street, Eucalyptus Street, Riza Street, Ida Avenue and Helen Avenue east to Elm Street.

Update 11:15 a.m.: Incident commanders are estimating the 10,000-acre Silver Fire is 10 percent contained as of Thursday morning.

In less than 24 hours the blaze has destroyed at least a dozen structures, including homes in Poppet Flats and Twin Pines, injured four firefighters and burned a civilian head to toe, who was hospitalized in critical condition, according to Cal Fire-Riverside County Chief John R. Hawkins and others with incident command.

Firefighters Thursday morning reiterated how fast this fire took off once it sparked at 2:05 p.m. Wednesday.

“In the first hour, we estimate that this fire burned an excess of 3,000 acres,”  Night operations Fire Chief Tony Mecham said at the morning firefighter briefing.

Update 10:57 a.m.: The rapid spread of the Silver Fire from Poppet Flats through Twin Pines to the outskirts of Cabazon, and the potential threat to lives and property, have now prompted evacuations for all of Black Mountain, including Boulder Basin and Black Mountain campgrounds.

Black Mountain is south of Vista Grande on the east side of Highway 243, and the campgrounds on Black Mountain Road have been closed through Aug. 15, Cal Fire announced Thursday morning.

"Black Mountain has been evacuated and closed as a precaution," Cal Fire officials said in an update.

Other evacs already in place: Poppet Flats, Silent Valley, Twin Pines, Twin Pines Ranch, Vista Grande, Mt. Edna, and the extreme south end of Cabazon, including Peach Street, Plum Street, Eucalyptus Street, Riza Street, Ida Avenue and Helen Avenue east to Elm Street.

Near the north edges of the fire closest to Banning and Cabazon, according to the Sheriff's Department, "Preemptive fire containment measures have been started on the south side of the Larry Smith Correctional Facility in order to prevent any fire danger."

Translation: Fire crews did backfiring operations overnight and early today to burn fuel before the active fire reaches Smith Creek, which flows east behind the county's largest jail toward Cabazon.

Update 8 a.m.:  The Silver Fire is now estimated at 10,000 acres in size and more injuries reported, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Julie Hutchinson says the fire is about eight to nine miles long at this time, stretching from Cabazon to across Highway 243 in the Banning area.

"It's not super wide, but it did expand to the north and south a bit overnight as it was just creeping down those hillsides," she told Patch following a morning briefing on the fire's latest activity.

As for injuries, there are a total of five injuries to date now-- four firefighters and one civilian.  The civilian suffered second and third degree burns, according to Cal Fire personnel in a morning briefing.  The status of the firefighters is not known at this time.

15 structures have burned.

Update 3:40 a.m.:  Fire crews working through the night focused part of their attention at the north flank of the Silver Fire, as it crept closer to Cabazon, where additional evacuations were ordered just after midnight.

Though the last official size estimate of the fast-moving blaze was estimated at 6,000 acres, Patch is told the fire is now much larger than that.

"It has grown significantly since [that estimate was given]," Cal Fire Division Chief Kevin Gaines told Banning-Beaumont Patch just before 2 a.m. while out in Cabazon.  "But at nighttime it's hard for us to map it, so I do feel that it is considerably larger than that, but I don't have an accurate map or acreage at this time."

Now that mandatory evacuations have been called for Poppet Flats, Silent Valley, Twin Pines, Vista Grande, Mt. Edna and the southeast portion of Cabazon, Gaines says a "rough estimate" of total evacuated residences is about 250.

The chief said there were approximately 1,000 personnel assigned to the incident as of early Thursday morning, and some of those firefighters were working to light backfires to stop the Silver Fire from getting to those Cabazon homes.

"The fire continues to burn towards the east, towards Cabazon," Gaines said. "Right now we have engine crews doing some backfire operations on the north edge of the fire to tie it into the Smith Creek wash area from Cabazon all the way to Highway 243."

Gaines said that the area burning hasn't burned since the October 2006 Esperanza Fire in the San Gorgonio Pass that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters.

Update 12:25 a.m. Thursday:  Portions of Cabazon are now under mandatory evacuation orders, according to Cal Fire.

The following areas are included in the order: 

• Peach Street
• Plum Street
• Eucalyptus Street
• Riza Avenue
• Ida Avenue
• Helen Avenue East to Elm Street

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PREVIOUS UPDATES:

Update 11:45 p.m.:   Fire crews have added up more than a dozen structures that were destroyed Wednesday in the fast-moving Silver Fire south of Banning.

According to Jody Hagemann of the Riverside County Fire Department, a total of 15 building were burned.  Several homes burned to the ground on Ellis Drive and Keyes Drive in Poppet Flats.

Update 9:53 p.m.:  The Riverside County Fire Department has updated the estimated size of the Silver Fire to 6,000 acres and called for more mandatory evacuations.

According to Spokeswoman Jody Hagemann, the communities of Vista Grande and Mt. Edna are now under mandatory evacuations.

Here is the updated evacuation list: 

• Vista Grande
• Mt. Edna
• Poppet Flats
• Silent Valley
• Twin Pines

Hagemann says firefighting efforts will continue through the night with more than 500 personnel assigned.

"There are three night flying helicopters (two from Los Angeles County and one from the USFS)," her latest report from the Riverside County Fire Department stated.

Update 9:40 p.m.: As of this evening, fire officials have not updated the estimated acreage of the Silver Fire burning south of Banning, however we have learned that a third person has been injured.

The Riverside County Fire Department reports that a total of three people have been hospitalized with injuries sustained from the fast-growing blaze.

Riverside County Fire Chief John Hawkins tells Patch that the civilian was transported in critical condition with "head-to-toe" burns.  The extent of injuries on the other two people is not known at this time.

Update 6:50 p.m.:  The Riverside County Fire Department is reporting an additional injury from the Silver Fire.

According to Spokeswoman Jody Hagemann, a civilian injury was reported in addition to the firefighter injury.

Right now, the fire's size is still estimated at 5,000 acres, and there is zero containment.

Evacuation centers are now at both Hemet High School and Beaumont High School.

Pets can be taken to the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, 581 South Grand Avenue.

UPDATED PHOTOS HERE.

Update 5:55 p.m.:   The Silver Fire has doubled in size, growing to an estimated 5,000 acres, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

What's more, one firefighter has been injured in the blaze, according to the agency.  The extent of those injuries is not yet known.

The fire was first reported less than four hours ago, south of Banning.

Update 5:36 p.m.:  Some residents in the Poppet Flats area that were not able to get out of the immediate path of the fire have been instructed by fire crews to "shelter in place," Patch has confirmed.

Jody Hagemann with the Riverside County Fire Department says it's not known at this time how many people are stuck.

For those who have managed to get out of the mandatory evacuation zones of Poppet Flats, Twin Pines and Silent Valley, Red Cross officials say volunteers are on hand at Hemet High School to assist.

"Red Cross volunteers will provide evacuees with food, hydration, shelter, emotional support and other services," an emailed statement from the organization read at 5:25 p.m.

Hemet High is located at 41701 Stetson Ave.

Update 5:24 p.m.:   A DC-10 is now at the scene of the Silver Fire.

Patch has spotted the massive aircraft which can haul more than 10,000 gallons of retardant has just flown overhead.

It is refueling at the San Bernardino Airtanker Base in between drops, according to base officials.

Update 4:44 p.m.:  Some homes have burned down in the Silver Fire burning south of Banning, Patch has confirmed.

"I'm looking at one that has burned to the ground now," Patch Editor Guy McCarthy said, adding that some crews are currently doing structure protection on homes in the area of Ellis Drive, while others battle flames in at least two other houses.



Update 4:39 p.m.:  More photos and video of the Silver Fire can be found in a separate gallery here.  We have video of evacuations being ordered, and photos of structures burning.

Update 4:22 p.m.:  Some structures have now burned in a fast-growing fire south of Banning which has consumed an estimated 2,500 acres, according to our reporters on scene and Cal Fire.

"Some structures have burned here near Ellis Drive," Patch Reporter Guy McCarthy says.

McCarthy has seen at least two structures burning.  At this point, it's not clear if those were homes.

The Riverside County Fire Department now says the Silver Fire has spread to 2,500 acres.

Mandatory evacuations are still in place, and an evacuation center has been set up at Hemet High School, 41701 East Stetson Avenue Hemet, CA.

There are now 450 firefighters assigned to the incident, along with five helicopters and four air tankers.


Update 4:05 p.m.:  Our Patch reporter on scene says he just witnessed the Silver Fire jump a road as it continues to spread near the community of Poppet Flats, south of Banning.

Patch Editor Guy McCarthy says the fire is moving from west to east near Ellis Drive.

Update 3:44 p.m.:  

As the so-called Silver Fire south of Banning continues to grow at a "critical rate," mandatory evacuations are now in place for: 

• Poppet Flats
• Twin Pines
• Silent Valley

“Several fire engines just retreated from this road with a wall of flames behind them,” Patch Editor Guy McCarthy said from the scene.  “As they turned onto Ellis, they then said, ‘Evacuate now, the fire is extremely close.’”

Update 3:39 p.m.:  The Poppet Flats community is under mandatory evacuation orders, according to a Patch reporter on scene.

“Mandatory evacuations leave now," firefighters are saying over a loud speaker while driving down Poppet Flats Road.   “Evacuate to Idyllwild.”

Update 3:27 p.m.:  A California Highway Patrol spokesman tells Banning-Beaumont Patch that Highway 243 is now closed from Banning to Pine Cove.

Update 3:20 p.m.:   A fire burning south of Banning in the Poppet Flats area has spread to more than 300 acres, fire officials report.

Riverside County Fire Department Spokesman Mark Annas says there are now 215 firefighters assigned to the incident, which has been dubbed the "Silver" fire.

There are 5 helicopters and 4 air tankers also assisting.

Right now, Highway 243 remains open, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Original story published at 2:30 p.m.:

A fire is burning in the mountains south of Banning, and fire crews are en route, it's been confirmed to Patch.

Riverside County Fire Department Spokesman Mark Annas says Cal Fire got the report of the fire around 2:05 p.m.

It's burning in the area of Mt. Edna Road in the Poppet Flats area, Annas said.

So far, 70 firefighters from 11 engine companies have been dispatched to the blaze.  Two helicopters and two air tankers are also on the way, fire reports indicate.

A size estimate is not yet known.

Stay with Banning-Beaumont Patch for more details as they become available.