Fire Crews Contain 30-Acre Brush Fire East of Temecula

TEMECULA – County fire crews stopped the spread of a 30-acre brush fire that broke out east of Temecula today.

The fire was reported around noon near East Benton and San Ignacio roads, said April Newman of the Riverside County Fire Department.

Nearly 150 firefighters from Riverside County,the San Bernardino Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management responded to the blaze, which had blackened about three acres by the time they arrived. The so-called Valley Fire grew to 30 acres by 1 p.m., but the forward rate of the spread was halted about that time, Newman said.

Crews had the fire about 20 percent contained as of 1:15 p.m.