Morongo Basin firefighters were busy from one end of the Basin to the other Wednesday.
County Fire Battalion Chief Donnie Viloria said Yucca Valley firefighters were called to an oven fire at 2:30 p.m. in the 7100 block of Barberry Avenue. Firefighters were able to quickly put out the fire and dragged the oven out of the house and cleared the house of smoke with large fans. There was no other damage to the home.
Then at 5:20 p.m., Yucca Mesa firefighters responded to a cooktop fire in the 5000 block of Balsa Avenue. This fire extended into the kitchen cabinets. Viloria said the residents put out the fire with a garden hose before firefighters arrived.
Just a few minutes later, at 5:48 p.m., Twentynine Palms firefighters, with assistance from the Combat Center, were called to the 3400 block of Mesquite Springs Road for a structure fire. A motorhome, that had ramshackle additions built on to it, had caught fire and was sending up a black plume of smoke. Viloria said the motorhome was on a piece of abandoned property used by squatters, and no one was at the scene when firefighters arrived. Firefighters managed to contain the blaze to the motorhome and kept it from spreading to vegetation and other structures on the property.
