Wildfire near Banning spreads to 1,635 acres

A wildfire spreading near the Morongo Indian Reservation northwest of Banning has burned about 1,500 acres, officials said Monday morning.

[Updated at 11:03 a.m.: The fire is now reported to have burned about 1,635 acres.]

The Hathaway fire started just before noon Sunday in Hathaway Canyon and is about 15% contained, officials said. No houses or structures have been threatened by the blaze, but authorities said it was sending a plume of smoke toward Big Bear.

About 1,000 firefighters were fighting the fire, aided by nine air tankers and five helicopters.

The blaze is fueled by heavy chaparral and timber with no history of being burned in past fires, officials said.

Elsewhere, firefighters in Los Angeles County battled small brush and grass fires in Gorman and Lake View Terrace on Sunday but brought them quickly under control.

A brush fire was reported at 5:31 p.m. in Gorman near the northbound 5 Freeway, just south of Vista Del Largo, and burned through 10.2 acres before firefighters brought it under control by 7:10 p.m., said Ed Pickett of the L.A. County Fire Department.

About 40 firefighters were dispatched in seven fire engines and four helicopters, and were assisted by 80 state and county inmates in four camp crews, officials said.

No structures were threatened and no injuries were reported, Pickett said.

In Lake View Terrace, a fire was reported at 4:26 p.m. near the 11200 block of North Gladstone Avenue and burned through two acres of grass before firefighters knocked it down 20 minutes later, said Katherine Main of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

“At no point were any structures threatened,� Main said, adding that no injuries were reported.

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