Fire forces evacuation of Lewis Center
safety : Brush blaze burns about 25 acres.By SCOTT VANHORNE/Staff Writer
APPLE VALLEY — The first big brush fire of the year swept through a stretch of the Mojave River bed Friday afternoon, sending nearly 150 students scampering for safety.
Officials from the Lewis Center for Educational Research noticed the blaze about 2:58 p.m. when they smelled smoke inside the building.
"In the last hour, it has spread from one small spot all the way down the river," Lewis Center Executive Officer Rick Piercy said.
Nearly 150 students from the school were evacuated after the fire started to get out of control. By 8 p.m., fire officials were estimating the size of the fire at between 20 and 25 acres.
More than 50 firefighters from various departments including the Apple Valley and Hesperia fire protection districts and the Victorville, Fort Irwin and San Bernardino County fire departments battled the blaze as it was fed by dry leaves in the river bed.
One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion. The fire came close to one home and an outbuilding, but there were no reports of damage.
"I have no concerns about our facility other than the fact that it's going to smell smoky inside," Piercy said.
About 10:30 a.m. Friday, a group of juveniles were caught having a camp fire in the river bed about a mile north of the Lewis Center, but it was apparently not related to the larger fire.
"We've got transients living within the river bottom, and it could have just been a misguided camp fire," Apple Valley Fire Protection District Investigator Rita Gay said. "We'll have to determine that."
It is illegal to start any type of fire in the Mojave River bed, she said.
"This brush is very dry," she said. "It's very old. A lot of it hasn't burned for years."
Embers floated through the air by the Lewis Center while firefighters doused the fire. A jack rabbit darted through the brush as a Bureau of Land Management helicopter dropped water from above.
By 8 p.m., firefighters had nearly succeeded in getting a hose line around the fire the first step to bringing it under control, Apple Valley Fire District Chief Art Bishop said.
The weather had improved as well, he said. Temperatures had cooled, the winds had died and there was a higher fuel-moisture level.
As night fell, Bishop pulled firefighters back.
The fire left several cottonwood trees more than 30 feet in height charred from top to bottom in the river bed.
Bishop said these trees known as "widow makers" can topple suddenly, causing serious injuries to firefighters.
"We've had a number of these trees falling," Bishop said. "It's just too dangerous to leave firefighters working down in the center of the fire tonight. We're just going to work the perimeter."
Used with persmission by Daily Press, Freedom Communication, 2001