Firefighters kept watch over a hillside community in San Bernardino overnight after a brush fire fueled by 28-mph gusts Monday burned multiple homes on a sweltering day.
The Little Mountain Fire grew to about 17 acres, heavily damaging three homes and caused minor damage to another six, according to Mike McClintock of the San Bernardino County Fire Department. About 100 people were evacuated as winds scattered embers in dry hillside brush.
Containment was at 80 percent early Tuesday.
"It's scary to think a small little fire can just pick up like that," Sonia Kibbe, an evacuated resident, said.
Five people, including a family of four, were treated smoke inhalation. One firefighter fell and was also taken to the hospital, according to the SBCFD.
Forty homes were threatened, the SBCFD said. Power lines were knocked down and containment was still an issue due to the slope and strong winds, which were expected to keep up through the night and into Tuesday, according to the SBCFD.
The earliest re-population of the area would be Tuesday morning because Southern California Edison would need to come and fix the downed power lines, McClintock said.
One person was rescued from a home that was in danger of being burned, the department's spokesman James Schiller said.
Some 75 firefighters were working to douse the flames.
One firefighter could be seen using a dust pan to scoop up pool water to toss onto burning brush off a hillside from a backyard while firefighters elsewhere used buzz saws to cut brush.
Others assisted evacuees down a steep hill with family pets, birds and dogs, in tow.
