Evacuations were lifted Sunday night for homes on the northwestern edge of Moreno Valley that had been in the path of a fire that chewed through 1,000 acres of dry brush in the Box Springs Mountains.

By early Monday, the fire was 30 percent contained, the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department said.

As night fell, the thick smoke that had once filled the air was clearing up and no flames could be seen in the hills from the evacuated neighborhood.

The evacuation order had covered all homes west of Hidden Springs Drive from Greenridge Drive to Country Gate Road, in a neighborhood just west of the intersection of Pigeon Pass Road and Sunnymead Ranch Parkway, according to the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.

Sheriff’s deputies went door-to-door or drove streets using a public-address system to notify residents in the community of one- and two-story homes with tile roofs and nicely manicured lawns.

Photo's of the #BlaineFire courtesy of Volunteer Reserve Photographers: Ed Sherman and Tod Sudmeier. #CALFIREservingCA pic.twitter.com/2aVp3WZe9O — CAL FIRE Riverside (@CALFIRERRU) August 14, 2017

The Blaine fire was reported at 4:10 p.m. at the east end of Blaine Street on the Riverside side of the hills, fire officials said. It burned rapidly uphill into the Box Springs Mountain Preserve. The cause was under investigation.

Within the first hour, the fire tore through 500 acres; it reached 850 acres by about 6 p.m. and 1,000 acres about 7 p.m. The huge smoke plume could be seen from San Bernardino.

Communications towers line the ridge of the Box Springs Mountains. As the flames burned uphill toward them Sunday afternoon, tankers drew a line of retardant on the hillside — and it worked. The ground was charred on one side of the line and dead grass on the other, and the towers appeared not to be damaged.

Fire retardant hit more than the hillsides. Alta Brisa Way, the street closest to the mountains, was covered in it Sunday evening.

Country Crest Drive resident Jose Hernandez’s vehicles also were doused with retardant just before they were told to evacuate.

“I only heard the noise,” Hernandez said of the tanker that dropped the retardant. “You couldn’t see it. There was a lot of smoke.”

He and his wife loaded up their car and SUV with their Husky-shepherd mix, Marley, and Chihuahua, Leo, along with clothes and important papers, and drove a few blocks down the hill. A stranger let him use a hose to wash off their vehicles.

Hernandez said he’s lived there for four years, and this was the first time he’d had to evacuate because of a fire.

Earlier in the evening, Billy Swain, 29, said fire trucks were parked near his property off Pigeon Pass Road where he has horses, chickens, goats and ducks.

He set up sprinklers in his yard for fire protection. At the peak of the fire, some embers landed on his arms. He used a T-shirt to cover his nose and mouth against the smoke.

More than 315 firefighters from Riverside County and surrounding agencies helped battle the fire, aided by resources including 45 engines, eight air tankers and four helicopters.