A fast-moving wildfire tore through a San Bernardino hillside community Monday afternoon, sending residents fleeing and homes engulfed in black smoke and billowing flames.
The Edgehill Fire broke out in the 3300 block of Beverly Drive in Little Mountain around 2:40 p.m., according to San Bernardino County fire officials, who immediately requested 10 additional engines upon arrival and reported the fire was already burning.
Early reports said the fire had spread to at least 100 acres. Around 6 p.m., county officials said the fire had stopped spreading and it had grown to 54 acres and was 25% contained.
The San Bernardino Police Department said in a statement late Monday that the cause of the fire was still being determined and “one person is in custody as part of the investigation.”
Dramatic footage from the scene showed at least three homes destroyed by the fire as residents scrambled to leave their burning homes amid dark, smoke-filled skies. A video circulating on social media shows a man rushing as fast as he can with a large turkey he may have rescued from the raging fire.
San Bernardino homeowner Martin Schneider poured a bucket of water over the burning ground behind his home on Monday.
(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Directly downwind of the burning house, more than eight neighbors scrambled to help Martin and Sandra Schneider save their home from flying embers.
They could see the house on the ridge fully ablaze and used everything at their disposal – garden hoses, rakes, buckets – to help buy the Snyders time while firefighters up the hill called for additional backup.
“I’m so grateful that the community has come together,” Sandra Snyder said. “They were the real heroes until the fire department came.”
Temperatures in San Bernardino soared above 100 degrees on Monday. The National Weather Service issued a heat warning for the area just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, saying the weather will reach dangerously high temperatures, with temperatures expected to reach 110 degrees.
Evacuation orders have been issued to all residents south of Ridge Line Drive, north of Edgehill Road, west of and including Beverly Drive, and east of Circle Road.
Marshall Elementary School, 3288 NG St., San Bernardino, is serving as an evacuation center, and the Red Cross is also at Cajon High School, 1200 W. Mountain Ave., for anyone affected by the fire. Overnight shelter.
A resident used a garden hose to help save a home on West Edge Hill Road in San Bernardino Monday afternoon.
(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)
