A brush fire in the Pala area of the North County is 15 percent contained Wednesday morning and holding steady at about 45 acres, authorities said.
Flames that spread from a burning house to trees and brush Tuesday afternoon blackened swaths of hilly open land and forced evacuations of about 100 people from surrounding residences as a precaution, according to Cal Fire officials. They were allowed back in their homes a few hours later.
The blaze initially engulfed a two-story home on Pala Temecula Road about 2 p.m. Tuesday, the ignited adjacent foliage and began moving through heavy vegetation, said Cal Fire Capt. Kendal Bortisser.
No other structures were damaged and no injuries reported. Investigators did not immediately determine what caused the house fire.
Within 2 1/2 hours, the burn area east of Interstate 15 and roughly a mile south of the Riverside County line had grown to about 45 acres as crews fought the blaze by ground and aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters.
About 200 firefighters from San Diego and Riverside Counties have been on the fire throughout night and into the morning. They were later joined by a team from the Orange County Fire Authority.
