Early Sunday morning, July 8, Forest Service volunteers on their way to Tahquitz Peak Lookout Tower discovered a fire off Devil Slide’s Trail in Humber Park, according to Fire Chief Freddie Espinoza, for the Forest Service’s San Jacinto Ranger District.
Humber Park and the Trail are currently open for use.
The volunteers reported it. First on the scene was Riverside County Fire Department Engine 23 from Pine Cove.
“Capt. Katherine Garver did a good job,” Espinoza said. Forest Service Engine 56 and water tender 56 arrived quickly. Other units include RCFD engine 53, water tender 53, Brush 19, engine 4677 as well as Forest Service patrols 52 and 55.
He estimated the fire was contained to about .1 acre. It was reported about 5:30 a.m. within an hour it was contained, according to Garver. Three hours later it was controlled and the trail opened. Firefighters had to lay hose 1,000 feet into the forest, pump water from the water tenders. The fire was several hundred feet from the trail.
