CHINO VALLEY: Brush Fire Destroys Home

On Sunday Afternoon, July 28, 2019, Chino Valley Fire with assistance from San Bernardino County and the Los Angeles County Fire Departments responded to multiple reports of a vegetation fire in the hills above Chino Avenue. The fire was reported around 2:00pm in the area of Chino Hills Parkway and Chino Avenue. The fire quickly grew to 80 acres and destroyed a home in the 2000 block of Miramonte Court. According  to Toni Forrest, the homeowner, she was about to leave when she smelled smoke and saw the fire quickly moving towards her home. She says as the fire moved up the hill behind her home, it started “raging” forcing her and her family to flee their home, which they built 27 years ago. A neighbor, Eric Balich, says his grandpa smelled smoked and when they went outside, the street was covered in thick smoke. That’s when he noticed his neighbors house on fire. Firefighters were struggling to extinguish the house fire as they reportedly had low water pressure. Chino Hills Parkway between Falling Star and Chino Avenue were closed as well as Chino Avenue between Chino Hills Parkway and La Sierra Drive while Firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze. As of 4:30pm the fire was 0% contained however, the forward progress of the fire had been stopped. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.