Smoke hung to the west of our Morongo Basin from an estimated 1,300-acre wildfire in the mountains northeast of Banning yesterday. San Bernardino National Forest San Bernardino National Forest spokesman John Miller said the Hathaway Fire has the potential to reach several thousand acres, but is burning in a wilderness area where there are no structures to threaten, said, San Bernardino National Forest for. It was 5 percent contained as of 8:30 last night.
The fire was reported shortly before noon at the base of Hathaway Canyon on the Morongo Indian Reservation, moving at moderate speed through chaparral and timber in steep, rugged terrain. “It started on the reservation and burned into the San Gorgonio Wilderness,” Miller said. The biggest concern, he said, is for the Snow Peak communications site, a radio repeater site used by the Forest Service and other agencies. The fire was sending up a huge cloud of smoke that could be seen for miles. Resources assigned to the fire included about 400 firefighters, nine air tankers and five helicopters, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which was fighting the fire with assistance from Cal Fire/Riverside County, Cal Fire/San Bernardino County and the Morongo Reservation Fire Department.
SMOKE FROM MORONGO RESERVATION FIRE IN OUR SKIES
