Right on the San Andreas Fault in California: The Apple Fire explodes out-of-control overnight, spreading across 20,500 acres and prompting 8,000 evacuations

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A wildfire in Southern California that began Friday evening amid blazing temperatures spread across 4,000 acres overnight.

The Apple Fire is now 20,500 acres and remains 0% contained. EVACUATION ORDERS and WARNINGS remain in place. And that’s occurring along the San Andreas fault! Ever heard about it?

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The Apple Fire exploded out-of-control in California. Picture via Youtube video

More than a thousand Southern California firefighters and multiple aircraft were working Sunday morning to battle the Apple Fire near Beaumont, which has spread to more than 20,000 acres, sent smoke drifting to Arizona and continues to threaten thousands of homes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. 

The massive blaze, which began Friday evening as two smaller fires that eventually merged, has continued to grow overnight — fed by low humidity, a slight breeze, thick vegetation and triple-digit temperatures. 

20,000 acres, 0% containment, 7800 evacuations

As of 10 a.m. Sunday, the Apple Fire had scorched 20,516 acres — more than 32 square miles — destroyed three structures and was 0% contained amid efforts of 1,200 firefighters and scores of water and fire retardant drops from the air on.

About 7,800 people from 2,600 residences have been ordered to evacuate, officials said late Saturday. No injuries have been reported.

The leading edge of smoke from the fire has pushed as far as the city of Globe, Ariz., roughly 400 miles away, according to the National Weather Service’s Phoenix office. The main body of smoke is visible across south-central and southwest regions of the state. 

Two fronts

According to published media reports, witnesses called 911 soon after the fires started, stating a man was seen walking along Apple Tree Lane near Oak Glen Road in unincorporated Cherry Valley, igniting each blaze.

Fire officials say a cause remains under investigation.

The fire is burning on two sides. The western edge is in the Forest Falls area in San Bernardino County, while the eastern flank has headed toward the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ reservation in Riverside County.

As of Sunday morning, a portion of the reservation remained under an evacuation order, while other sections fell under a warning. Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, located slightly to the south, has not been affected by evacuation notices.

Throughout the night, firefighters, with the help of bulldozers and hand crews, built fire lines in anticipation of continued aerial attacks that would take place after the sun had risen Sunday. 

It is steep terrain, rugged terrain,” he said. “Access is limited. We can’t really get to it on foot. We rely a lot on the aircraft to do the work during the day.”

Officials brought in the Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) on Saturday, which along with a number of other air tankers were used to target the northwest corner of the fire. The VLAT, as it is called, is capable of dropping roughly 10,000 gallons of fire retardant at a time.

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Officials brought in the Very Large Air Tanker on Saturday. The Apple Fire continues to burn out of control in the Banning bluff area of Riverside County on Saturday, August 1, 2020. Picture: Taya Gray / The Desert Sun

The Apple Fire began shortly before 5 p.m. Friday in the 9000 block of Oak Glen Road in Cherry Valley, which is a few miles north of Beaumont, Cal Fire said. 

At the request of the fire department, Southern California Edison turned off electricity along Oak Glen Road and the surrounding side streets to prevent additional fires from breaking out as burned power poles collapsed and dropped transmission lines.

The practice is known as a “public safety power shutoff.”

The western edge of the fire near the Forest Falls area of San Bernardino County is full of heavy vegetation. The eastern side also has heavy vegetation, but thins and becomes rocky and grassy closer to the unincorporated community of Whitewater.

As of Saturday night, the only structures lost have been a single-family home and two outbuildings near Avenida Miravilla in Cherry Valley. 

Evacuations

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for Cherry Valley residents north of Dutton Street, east of Oak Glen Road and south of County Line Road, according to the Riverside County Emergency Management Department. 

Also, those living north of Gilman Street in the Banning Bluff area and north of Cherry Valley Boulevard, west of Highland Springs Avenue and east of Beaumont Avenue, were also ordered to evacuate. 

All ongoing evacuations orders remain in effect Sunday.

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Apple Fire evacuation map: More than 7800 people evacuated amid dangerous wildfire in California

Residents of the west Potato Canyon area to Raywood Flat in Oak Glen are under an evacuation warning, while residents in the Banning area who live north of Wilson Street, east of Sunset Avenue and west of Hathaway Street are under mandatory evacuation orders, officials said. 

An evacuation warning means mandatory evacuation orders could come with “little or no notice,” officials said.

Residents of the unincorporated communities of Oak Glen and Forest Falls are under voluntary evacuation orders as of 5 p.m. Saturday.

By 6:30 p.m. Saturday, an evacuation warning was issued for residents north of Morongo Road, east of Millard Canyon Road and west of Whitewater Canyon Road.

This particular area is north of the Interstate 10 and Highway 111 interchange on the western edge of the Coachella Valley, in the unincorporated community of Whitewater.

An evacuation center has been set up at Beaumont High School, 39139 Cherry Valley Blvd., in Beaumont. 

The blaze was threatening 2,586 homes and affecting as many as 7,800 residents, according to figures released Saturday night.

Weather a factor

The fire has prompted a number of road closures in Banning. The following closures were still in effect early Sunday:

  • Northbound on Oak Glen road from Orchard Avenue
  • Northbound on International Park/Cherry Ave at Bridge Street
  • Northbound Ave San Timoteo at Orchard Street
  • Northbound Winesap at Dutton Street
  • Northbound Bellflower Ave. at Cherry Valley Boulevard
  • Northbound Highland Springs at Oak Valley
  • Northbound Sunset Ave at West Wilson Street
  • Northbound Bluff St. at Mias Canyon Road.

Due to the Apple Fire, forest officials announced Saturday evening that they had closed the San Gorgonio Wilderness, a roughly 96,000-acre area north of the fire. Also, the Pacific Crest Trail, a route popular with hikers, was closed between the forest boundary and Onyx Summit. 

In addition, the South Coast Air Quality Management issued a smoke advisory for the Coachella Valley that has been extended into Sunday, cautioning residents to remain indoors, avoid physical activity and to use air conditioning or run their air purifiers.

The Apple Fire broke out amid an extended heat wave across the Inland Empire and in the Coachella Valley, where temperatures topped out at 111 degrees Saturday in Palm Springs, according to the National Weather Service.

Summary: Nearly 8,000 residents of Riverside County in Southern California were forced to evacuate their homes on Saturday as a wildfire spread uncontained across more than 4,000 acres, the county fire department said. The fire, dubbed the Apple Fire by local firefighters was reported Friday in Cherry Valley, a community about 75 miles east of Los Angeles and had destroyed at least 3 family homes as of Saturday evening.

More wildfire news on Strange Sounds and Steve QuayleNow if you are looking for supplements to increase your healthy lifestyle and sexlife please visit Natural Health Source. [Desert Sun, RVC Fire, CalFire]

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3 Comments

  1. we have had many quakes already and from 6.4 to 6.0 and 5.3
    range . As i have predicted it very goodly. We are headed for the biggest catastrophe yet to be come to planet earth. Earthquakes and Hurricanes and it seems 24 of them hitting USA. We are in trouble indeed. I call it Third Shaking of Planet is in full motions.
    You can call it end times , you can call it anything that you understand. http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/

  2. will have 110 plus quakes between 6.0 and 7.0 please make correction for some reasons shows i said 110 it should be 11plus quakes of 6.0 to 7. Thanks a lot

  3. AUGUST 3 2020 Predictions by Mohsen

    Increased quakes in ring of fires around the globe , we also see volcano activities will be more as well. We have had many fires around the globe and North America in which fires will burn more cities after cities due by design. They want you leave you from big cities since we told you many times cities will be cent-er of storms as we have we have witnessed. Corona Virus 2.0 will still kill many people around the globe. Corona-virus Cases in the world is about 18,252.000 and diseased in the world are 700,000.
    In the USA the total are closer to 5,000,000 are infected and diseased are 159000 and i will predict following numbers for the USA 6 Millions and deaths by SEP 2-2020 will be closer to 180,000.
    Regarding quake predictions we will have at least 65 plus quakes of 5-6.0 and we will have 110 plus quakes between 6.0 and 7.0 and we will have 5 quakes of 7 to 8.0 and 2 quakes of 8.0 in the world.
    Economic things are being very expensive in the world and many jobs lost will never get back again.
    USA economic will crush called mother of all crashes. Regarding protests will keep going on and many times clashes between police and protectors will get nasty. Federal troops are part of exercises in the USA and see how people will react. USA will be Tiananmen Square like Chinese people will go in front of tanks and Martial Law is coming to USA. We are still on phase 1 of Corona Virus 2.0 and soon second wave will be hit with more people will be dying in the streets. Third wave of virus is reserved for before election . I have told many times in past predictions there will not be election in USA or any other nations that is due. Look at Latin people are dyeing in the street also middle east and world. We have no choice to battle this Corona Virus 2.0 all together and we need global response to this virus is very urgent indeed. There are 166 Vaccines as we speak nations of world big and small are working on it. Only 1 of them will get almost 1 Billion Dollars in prize. The majority of vaccines are indeed have to change your DNA so it means when is full moon, we will turn in to wolves? Vaccines for the Corona Virus will be at least 3-7 years away and Deagle sites shows USA population is 100 Millions and what happens to rest of 500 Millions? Here is web site http://www.deagel.com/country/forecast.aspx
    So continue of series of chain events as burning or explosion in IRAN and tanker fires and ships shows that Israel is in process of bringing CANCER of MIDDLE EAST IRAN to its knees. World War 3 is already started at least 6 months ago and IRAN soon will have mock exercise to bring down artificially made USA carriers with 40 Missiles and that should happen in by SEP 11 2020. If anything goes wrong during exercise and American ship goes down , then God help mankind indeed. Global Warming continues to break ices from north poles and rise of oceans continues with hottest weather on the planet. The fires burning in California and other states shows we are in big trouble indeed. We ask all to prepare prepare for more emergency news across the globe please tune in to the Strangesounds.org . Mohsen B.C

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