A “very aggressive” fire in Southern California’s San Jacinto Mountains grew to 8,000 acres Tuesday, damaging several structures, forcing mandatory evacuations and spreading heavy smoke into the Coachella Valley, reports NBC News.
“There’s a disaster area in there. It’s devastating,” said Scott Visyak, a spokesman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“There’s several homes lost. There’s several homes standing. The fire had just gone through there very aggressively,” Visyak said.
The so-called Mountain Fire, which ignited Monday, was burning Tuesday afternoon near the Idyllwild Pine Cove, according to the joint state and federal incident report. Visyak said it was headed over Palm Canyon and into Andreas Canyon.
About 650 firefighters were battling the fire, which nearly doubled in size, from 4,700 acres to 8,000 acres, in just a few hours overnight.
The incident report said it was only 10 percent contained.
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