Residents were evacuated Friday as 50mph winds whipped up two separate brush fires in Southern California.
The Springs fire broke out Friday afternoon near the city of Moreno Valley in Riverside County and had burned through 4,176 acres, while the Crown fire, approximately 50 miles north of Los Angeles, was at 345 acres.
The two fires are the first wildfires of the season and just over a year after the deadly fires in January 2025 that killed 31 people and destroyed 13,000 homes in Los Angeles County.
Crews worked throughout the night to contain both blazes as residents in Los Angeles County were warned Friday to “Gather family, pets and LEAVE NOW.”
Some evacuation orders in Moreno Valley, which has a population of approximately 200,000, remained in place Saturday, according to the latest information on the Cal Fire website.
Some residents posted about the evacuations on social media and shared photos of the hillside ablaze.
The Spring fire was at 75 percent as of Saturday morning, County Riverside Fire Department said in an update.
“Crews and aircraft worked throughout the night cutting line, laying hose, and dropping water & retardant on the active fire perimeter,” the update said. “Hand crews and Firefighters will continue working throughout the day to build and strengthen containment lines.”
While gusts up to 45 mph were also predicted Saturday, Terra Fernandez, public safety information specialist for the Riverside County Fire Department, said winds had “dissipated a bit” since Friday, helping the efforts of fire crews.
“We’re feeling confident. The winds have died down so it’s assisting us in making more progress,” she said. Fernandez also credited efforts to build and strengthen containment lines around the fire perimeter.
So far, no structures have been damaged or destroyed, Fernandez said.
Less than a dozen zones in the county remained under mandatory evacuation orders, while evacuation warnings in other parts of the county were lifted. It was not immediately known how many households were affected by the orders.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Residents of the region are still picking up the pieces and rebuilding their lives since the devastating fires in January 2025. Wildfires are commonplace in Southern California but last year’s fires were some of the most destructive in the state’s history.
Fewer than a dozen homes have been rebuilt in Los Angeles County since January 7 last year, when the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted.
The Palisades Fire burned for 31 days before it was extinguished. Investigators determined the 37-square-mile blaze had actually grown out of the earlier fire that started on January 1.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass hit out at insurance companies this week and said “too many fire survivors are still waiting” for the firms to pay out what’s owed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
