A large but slow-moving brush fire in a federal preserve in Riverside County on the border with San Diego County was originally sparked by a faulty electrical panel on private property, officials confirmed Friday.
“Cal Fire peace officers, after an origin and cause investigation, determined the cause of the ‘Nixon Fire’ was electrical, caused by a privately owned electrical panel,” the agency said on Friday.
No other details were available.
The fire was one-fifth contained and no longer threatening any homes or other structures, situated within the Beauty Mountain Wilderness, maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
One Cal Fire water-dropping helicopter was making targeted drops around the perimeter of the brusher as of Friday afternoon.
Four structures were destroyed by the brusher, which prompted an evacuation order for the scattered homes south of Highway 371, north of the county line, west of Terwilliger Road and east of Foolish Pleasure Road.
One flank of the fire briefly crossed into San Diego County earlier this week, blackening two open acres before firefighters extinguished that section of flames.
A temporary evacuation center was established at Temecula Valley High School. A county official said earlier this week there was no demand for space at the center.
The blaze began at about 12:30 p.m. Monday in the area of Richard Nixon Boulevard and Tule Valley Road, per a Cal Fire incident report.
At its height, more than 1,000 personnel were battling the blaze, including county fire crews, Cal Fire-San Diego County crews and BLM firefighters.
City News Service contributed to this report.
