The Silver Fire broke out around 2 p.m. Wednesday Aug. 7 near Wolfskill Truck Trail and Mt. Edna Road, according to Cal Fire.
Smoke from the fire was immediately visible from Banning, Beaumont and Cabazon.
The blaze was burning at "a critical rate," according to Cal Fire. Banning-Beaumont Patch arrived in Poppet Flats before evacuations were ordered. By sundown the fast-moving blaze had ripped east into Twin Pines and the Esperanza Fire burn area, where five firefighters were killed in October 2006.
By early Thursday Aug. 8, at least one fire commander in Cabazon said the Silver Fire was believed to be significantly larger than 6,000 acres.
Regardless of the mapped, estimated size or acreage of the blaze, it destroyed more than a dozen structures, including several homes, in a matter of hours, burned a civilian from head to toe who was airlifted and hospitalized in critical condition, and resulted in two firefighter injuries.
Related:
SILVER FIRE UPDATE: Blaze is 'Considerably Larger' Than 6,000 Acres
Beaumont Unified School District Employee Loses Everything in Silver Fire
Cherry Valley Ranch Offers to Host Fire Evacuees' Horses
Silver Fire Evacuation Center, Fire Camp Set Up in Beaumont
Video, Pics: Silver Fire South of Banning
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