UPDATE: At 6 p.m. all mandatory evacuations were lifted. Residents with identification were allowed to return to previously evacuated areas.
Earlier this evening, Anza Electric Cooperative announced that power was restored to all homes affected by an outage caused by the fire.
Officials are calling lightning the cause of a massive wild land fire burning in Sage and Aguanga in Riverside County. The “Buck Fire” has consumed 3,000 acres in less than 24 hours. According to Riverside County Fire Department, the Fire is about 15 percent contained.
Reported at about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14, it has move swiftly through the southwest Riverside county countryside. RCFD reports that a civilian has been seriously burned and taken by air ambulance to an area hospital. Two firefighters also sustained minor injuries, as did a civilian.
In addition, more than 30 homes have been evacuated. The Riverside Emergency Animal Rescue System has been activated to help evacuate small and large animals.
The American Red Cross has opened an evacuation center at the Community Recreation Center, 30875 Rancho Vista Road, Temecula. Animal evacuation center has been established in San Jacinto and Menifee. The primary small animal evacuation center is the Ramona Animal Shelter, 690 Humane Way, San Jacinto, (951) 654-8002. The other center is at the horse shelter Helton Hay and Feed, 26852 Bradley Road Menifee, (951) 775-2226.
Within three hours of the fire’s start, three structures were damaged and another one subsequently.
Substantial air and ground resources have been allocated to this Fire. As of Wednesday morning, there were more than 400 firefighters on site and six airtankers and six helicopters.
Yesterday afternoon, Third District Supervisor Jeff Stone participated in an aerial survey of the fire. Below of two photos which he shared.
