About 60 percent of the fire is contained and fire officials expect full containment could be reached this week as long as current weather conditions and fire trends remained intact.
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There are 513 fire personnel working to contain the blaze, with crews from Cal Fire, the San Bernardino County Fire Department, Beaumont, March Air Reserve Base and Morongo Band of Mission Indians assisting the U.S. Forest Service and Riverside County Fire Department.
The fire broke out Tuesday afternoon and moved quickly through tinder-dry brush.
Brown said officials have been receiving tips from potential witnesses, but she didn’t know if any of them were solid leads.
Evacuations southeast and northwest of Bogart Park took effect shortly after the fire ignited at 12:25 p.m. Tuesday.
Mandatory evacuations were issued for all residences on the Banning Bench, fire officials said.
Firefighters are battling a brush fire in Cherry Valley for a third day today.
Firefighters planned to work Wednesday to keep the flames between Brookside Avenue and International Truck Trail and between Avenida Miravella and Bluff Street.
Cal Fire Riverside posted a tweet letting people know the smoke they were seeing was coming from the Orange County blaze.
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The fire likely was human-caused, authorities said Tuesday evening, CBS Los Angeles reported.
