Heritage fire holding at 500 acres in Victorville; crews push containment to 30%

Crews continued to battle the Heritage fire Tuesday, a day after the blaze broke out in unincorporated San Bernardino County before growing quickly and crossing into Victorville city limits overnight.

The fire was holding at 500 acres and containment had risen to 30% as of early Tuesday evening, said Eric Sherwin, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District.

“We’re not seeing the extreme behavior we saw yesterday and last night,” Sherwin said.

Firefighters spent Tuesday extending containment lines, he said. Voluntary evacuation warnings affecting two dozen homes remained in place.

The evacuation zone runs south of Melrose Avenue to Roy Rogers Drive, and between Bryman Road and the Mojave River bottom, according to the Fire Protection District.

Electricity in the area was out because of downed power lines and poles, Sherwin said.

Jeff Monford, a spokesperson for Southern California Edison, said the outage was logged at 1:31 p.m. Tuesday and more than 100 customers were without power at its peak.

As of early Tuesday evening, that number had dwindled to seven customers, Monford said.

Crews are continuing to work on repairs and coordinating with firefighters to keep track of conditions and ensure workers are kept safe, he said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Sherwin said.

This is a developing story and will be updated when new information is available.