- The 46 Fire, broke out early Thursday morning around 12am in Jurupa Valley and razed through 300 acres
- The 46 blaze erupted after a police chase of a possible stolen vehicle ended in a crash
- Two people fled that vehicle before it was engulfed in flames and were taken into custody
- They’re being held on suspicion of felony evading, outstanding warrants, possession of a stolen vehicle and will likely be charged with arson
- The Hillside Fire erupted in San Bernardino around 2am on Thursday and scorched more than 200 acres
- Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in both areas surrounding the new wildfires
- The Easy Fire razed through over 1,600 acres by Thursday and is just 5% contained
- There are more than 10 major wildfires burning up and down the Golden State
The 46 Fire that has razed through over 300 acres in Southern California ignited when a police car chase of a stolen vehicle ended in a fiery crash in a rural vacant lot early this morning, police have revealed.
The devastating blaze in Riverside County was one of two furious wildfires, along with the Hillside Fire in San Bernardino County, to erupt early Thursday morning.
Riverside police officers were on patrol around 12.15am when they spotted a stolen vehicle traveling northbound on Van Buren Boulevard near the Riverside County line and followed in hot pursuit, Riverside Police Department spokesman Ryan Railsback said.
At first the officers tried to pull over the vehicle, but when the car sped off, the officers followed it into a vacant field in the city of Jurupa Valley where the suspect vehicle crashed and burst into flames around 12.30am.
Within minutes that car and nearby brush exploded in flames ‘with a rapid rate of spread’, Cal Fire officials told DailyMail.com. At first a quarter acre of vegetation was on fire but it quickly expanded fanned by gusts reaching 25mph. By 6am the fire consumed 150 acres of land, by 8.25am it expanded to 300 acres.