170-Acre Controlled Burn Scheduled Wednesday

Plan to see a smoke plume east of the 15 Freeway -- near the Lake Mathews area -- Wednesday as Cal Fire, in cooperation with Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency and the Bureau of Land Management, conduct a 170-acre controlled burn in the Estelle Mountain Reserve.

The fire will be south of the Cajalco and La Sierra intersection and is expected to begin after 7:30 a.m. and conclude by 3 p.m.

According to a Cal Fire news release, the controlled burn has two benefits.

“First, this is part of a pre-fire plan to keep a major wildland fire from moving into the reserve and to provide safe emergency egress for citizens and ingress for firefighting equipment. Second, the burn will help manage the non-native weeds and help the ecosystem on the reserve. In addition, the fuel-modified zone will better enable the fire department to keep fires that might start in the reserve into moving into the surrounding communities,” the news release stated.

The burn operation will utilize Cal Fire and BLM fire engines, as well as Cal Fire Conservation Camp Fire Crews, according to the news release.