A fast-moving fire swept toward the mountain community of Idyllwild on Wednesday, burning 4,700 acres and five residential structures while threatening hundreds of homes.

The Cranston fire began about noon and spread rapidly, San Bernardino National Forest officials said. It has forced evacuations of more than 2,100 homes and is sending a massive tower of smoke rising over the San Jacinto Mountains. By 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, it was 5% contained.

Authorities said a suspected arsonist set multiple fires — including the Cranston fire— in Riverside County on Wednesday. The fires burned in southwest Riverside County and on federal land along State Highway 74 in the San Bernardino National Forest.

Brandon N. McGlover, 32, of Temecula was booked on suspicion of five counts of arson to wild land, according to the San Bernardino National Forest officials.


1 / 33 Cows graze as a DC-10 air tanker drops fire retardant on the Cranston fire burning along Highway 74 near Hemet Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 33 An Orange County firefighter douses hotspots along the road above Highway 74 while battling the Cranston Fire in Idyllwild. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 33 The Cranston fire has burned more than 11,500 acres in Idyllwild and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. Above a burned car on McCall Park Road in Mountain Center. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 33 A helicopter drops a load of water as the air assault on the Cranston fire continues in Garner Valley in Lake Hemet, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 33 Former firefighter Josh Whitney was able to save his McCall Road house, but the wildfire destroyed his lumber and sawing machines in an adjacent lot. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 33 Firefighters extinguish hot spots along Highway 74 near Mountain Center. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 7 / 33 The Cranston fire burns on a hillside off Highway 74 near Mountain Center. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 8 / 33 Smoke lingers after the Cranston fire burned through an area off Apple Canyon Road near Mountain Center. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 9 / 33 A plane drops fire retardant as seen from Highway 74 near Mountain Center. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 33 The Cranston fire burns Thursday near Mountain Center. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 11 / 33 The Cranston fire burns off Apple Canyon Road near Mountain Center and Lake Hemet on Thursday afternoon. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 12 / 33 A Cal Fire inmate crew captain cleans the windshield of his crew’s buggy after it was hit with flame retardant from an air tanker drop Thursday afternoon in Mountain Center. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 13 / 33 Riverside County firefighters extinguish hot spots in the Cranston fire off Highway 74 near Mountain Center. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 14 / 33 A road sign near Mountain Center lies on the ground after its wood support beams were destroyed in the Cranston fire. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 15 / 33 Hand crews march to fight the Cranston fire raging along Highway 74 in Mountain Center. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 33 Steve and Suzanne Coffer hug in the driveway of their fire-retardent covered home that was saved from the brush fire. The Coffers have lived in Idyllwild for 40 years. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 33 The Cranston fire rages near Mountain Center, viewed from Highway 74. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 33 A helicopter makes a water drop on the Cranston fire raging along Highway 74 in Mountain Center. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 33 A firefighter takes care of a hot spot surrounding a burned structure on Deer Foot Lane in Idyllwild. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 33 Structures on Deer Foot Lane burned by the fast-moving Cranston fire near Idyllwild. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 33 Structures on Deer Foot Lane burned by the fast moving Cranston fire in Idyllwild. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 33 Structures on Deer Foot Lane burned by the fast moving Cranston fire in Idyllwild. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 33 The Cranston fire burns late Wednesday evening off Highway 243 near Idyllwild. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 24 / 33 An Orange County Fire Authority firefighter hoses down a smoldering tree near homes off Marian View Drive in Idyllwild. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 25 / 33 A structure destroyed by the Cranston fire smolders under a nearly full moon early Thursday morning. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 26 / 33 Outbuildings and industrial equipment burn off McCall Park Road near Mountain Center early Thursday morning. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 27 / 33 An Orange County Fire Authority firefighter hoses down a smoldering tree in Idyllwild late Wednesday evening as the Cranston fire burns nearby. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 28 / 33 The Cranston fire burns late Wednesday evening near Idyllwild off Highway 243. (Stuart W. Palley / For The Times) 29 / 33 A fire crew keeps an eye on the Cranston fire near the town of Idyllwild in the San Bernardino National Forest. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for Idyllwild, Pine Cove, Fern Valley and other areas. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 33 Smoke from the Cranston fire clouds the skies over Highway 243, south of Idyllwild. (Richard Lui / The Desert Sun) 31 / 33 The Cranston fire burns off Highway 74 near Idyllwild, forcing evacuations. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles TImes) 32 / 33 A house is covered in pink fire retardant as the Cranston fire burns near the town of Idyllwild. The fire broke out on a day of extreme heat across Southern California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 33 A smoky haze fills the landscape in Idyllwild. The Cranston fire began about noon and spread rapidly, San Bernardino National Forest officials said. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Witnesses described a vehicle possibly involved in starting the fire to authorities, California Highway Patrol spokesman Darren Meyer said. Authorities spotted a vehicle matching the description about 12:30 p.m. at the intersection of Newport and State roads south of Hemet. Hemet police officers pulled the vehicle over for an enforcement stop, Meyer said.

About noon, Joe Achtner, 65, noticed the sky above his Idyllwild home getting dark and flakes of ash falling in his yard. He drove for about a quarter-mile and saw flames cresting a nearby hillside, threatening homes in his neighborhood of 30 years.

By the time he and his family loaded up their trucks with their three dogs and suitcases full of clothes, sheriff’s deputies had swarmed the area, ordering evacuations.


“It came up on us really, really quickly. Within a half-hour, the whole town was overwhelmed with flames,” Achtner said. “This one seemed to come up on us without any notice at all. And all of a sudden, it was right there — and it was huge.”

While Achtner lives in Idyllwild permanently, many of his neighbors live there only part time and their homes were empty.

“I just pray for the town. We live in a beautiful town,” he said. “The whole the town is the trees and the town is the people and it’s all jeopardized right now.”

Tamara Friemoth, 56, and her husband, Steve, own the Chevron Idyllwild Garage on State Route 243. She was working at the gas station and auto shop when she heard about the evacuation.


She rushed home, grabbed some clothes and family heirlooms, and ran back to the Chevron, where she watched the fire wrap around the mountaintops in front of the gas station.

Soon, she would hear that houses about a block from her own had burned, including the home of one of her mechanics.

“It’s the scariest feeling you can have because you’re helpless,” she said. “But you move forward and do what you can do.”

An evacuation center has been set up at Banning High School.


Mandatory evacuations were expanded to include residents in Idyllwild, Pine Cove, Fern Valley, McGaugh Road and McCall Park Road.

“Leave immediately,” forest officials urged in a tweet.

Roads are closed at Highway 74 from Cranston Fire Station to Lake Hemet and Highway 243 between Pine Cove and Mountain Center.


The fire broke out on a day of extreme heat across Southern California and as the deadly Ferguson fire continued to rage west of Yosemite.

The Ferguson fire grew to more than 41,500 acres as of late Wednesday and was 26% contained. At its closest point, the fire is two miles from the park, Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said.

Visitors were given until noon to evacuate Yosemite Valley, the heart of the 1,200-square-mile park. Officials have also closed Highway 41, the north-south artery that carries travelers from Southern California to Yosemite, and Glacier Point Road.

A stream of cars, campers and trailers flowed out of the park in the morning as the blaze inched closer. Heavy smoke from the blaze has blanketed the valley and created air quality conditions worse than in Beijing, China’s heavily polluted capital, Gediman said.


“With this hot, dry weather pattern, you just got the smoke sitting here,” he said. “The air quality fluctuates throughout the day but it’s really poor midday — noon to 6 p.m.”

Officials have been handing out high-grade filtration masks and set up “clean air” centers around the park where employees and visitors can get a break from the smoke-filled air, Gediman said. Still, after days in the smoke, he said his voice has become raspy and he feels a dryness in his throat.

On Tuesday night, officials taped evacuation notices on hotel doors and campers. Even before the order went out, however, visitors had begun packing up when they saw dark clouds of smoke filling the sky.

Forecasters said temperatures Wednesday were expected to break records. At UCLA, a predicted high of 96 degrees would beat the 1943 record of 91; in Burbank, a forecast of 103 degrees would beat the record of 101; and in Palmdale, the forecast of 110 degrees would beat a 1975 record of 109.


Downtown Los Angeles could hit a sizzling 97 degrees, but that won’t best the record of 109, which was set in 1891, forecasters said.

The blistering weather comes courtesy of a “heat dome” that settled over the desert Southwest this week and has shifted gradually toward Southern California. Though the coasts have been relatively cooler than inland areas, humid conditions have helped equalize the misery.

The notoriously sweltering towns of Thermal, Palm Springs and Borrego all broke heat records Tuesday with temperatures reaching 122, 121 and 118 degrees, respectively. They’re expected to reach similar temperatures Wednesday before seeing a slight decrease Thursday.

Impressive #pyrocumulus cloud developing in very hot, unstable airmass surrounding #CranstonFire in San Bernadino County. Convection column of this magnitude/height can produce dangerous, unpredictable winds & perhaps even generate a few lightning strikes of its own.#CAwx #CAfire https://t.co/4A3JjfKshn — Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) July 25, 2018


angel.jennings@latimes.com

Twitter: @AngelJennings

UPDATES:


11:20 p.m.: This article was updated with an interview with a resident.

10:45 p.m.: This article was updated with new acreage and containment figures.

9:20 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the arson suspect.

8:45 p.m.: This article was updated with a new acreage figure.


6:55 p.m.: This article was updated with an interview with an Idyllwild resident who evacuated.

5:55 p.m.: This article was updated with a new acreage figure and information about the Ferguson fire.

5:45 p.m.: This article was updated with a new acreage figure.

5:20 p.m.: This article was updated to include expanded evacuation orders.


4:50 p.m.: This article was updated with the arrest of a suspect in starting the fire.

2 p.m.: This article was updated with additional background on weather conditions.

This article was originally published at 1:50 p.m.