Morongo Basin firefighters were called to three fires Sunday. The first fire was reported at 12:51 a.m. in the area of Valle Vista and Barbara Lane in Wonder Valley. Arriving firefighters discovered two small motor homes fully involved in flames on an abandoned property on Pipeline Road. The fires were quickly extinguished. No witnesses or occupants were at the scene when firefighters arrived. The cause of the fire is under investigation, and is suspicious in origin.
As units were clearing the Wonder Valley fire, they were dispatched to a second structure fire at 2:22 a.m. in the 1500 block of Bermuda Avenue in Twentynine Palms, where an 1100-square foot, single family house was fully involved. Firefighters were able to quickly bring the fire under control and keep the fire from spreading to adjacent properties. The cause is under investigation, and both the Sheriff’s Department and Fire Department are investigating the cause of the blaze.
Then, just after 5 p.m., Yucca Valley firefighters were called to a motor home fire in the Vons parking lot in Yucca Valley. The owner of the motorhome had driven down from Big Bear and stopped at Vons to do some grocery shopping. While he was inside, a bystander ran into the store with news that the motorhome was on fire. An employee grabbed a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. Firefighters arrived to find a smoldering engine in the motor home, and they made sure the flames were completely out. Firefighters determined that a pack rat had made a nest in the engine compartment and the nesting materials had caught fire when the engine became hot. The rat was still alive and running around in the nest when firefighters opened the RV’s engine hood. No other vehicles were threatened by the fire, and there were no injuries in any of the three fires.
