2 homes and 2 patrol cars catch fire after pursuit ends in Moreno Valley

At least two houses, an outbuilding and several vehicles caught fire Thursday afternoon when flames from a field ignited by vehicles at the end of a sheriff’s pursuit spread to a Moreno Valley neighborhood.

The fire also burned the two Riverside County sheriff’s patrol cars and the suspects’ vehicle, said Deputy Robyn Flores, a department spokeswoman.

No injuries were reported.

The pursuit began about 4 p.m. when deputies checked the license plate of the vehicle and discovered it was stolen, Flores said. The deputies tried to pull it over, but the driver wouldn’t stop, she said.

After a short pursuit, the vehicle went through a gate at the end of a long driveway on Bay Avenue near Grant Street and onto the field. The deputies followed. The suspects – a man and a woman – fled on foot but were arrested, Flores said.

The five-acre fire started where the cars sat on a 100-degree day and spread to at least two homes on Phyllis Avenue.

Firefighters arrived to see two homes burning.

“They received major damage,” said Cal Fire Capt. Fernando Herrera, a department spokesman.

Pushed by winds, the flames had spread from the field and its 4-foot-high brush, through wooden fences and into trees. From there, the fire spread to at least two homes, an outbuilding and several cars parked behind the homes, Herrera said.

“If we didn’t have wind, it probably would have been a normal grass fire,” he said.

Herrera said some residents created a defensible space between the field and their homes, but there was too much brush in the back of the homes that burned.

As many as eight vehicles, including the patrol cars and the reported stolen car, burned.

Ella Avenue resident Judy Kelley, 76, laughed and sighed and threw her arms up in the air as she described the chaos that ensued as she evacuated her home of more than 40 years before flames burned her back bedrooms and bathroom.

Her son, James Gleason, 54, said he heard the patrol car sirens and then saw a suspect being arrested by numerous deputies. “It looked like a swarm of ants coming from every direction,” he said.

Kelley said deputies then entered her home and ordered her and Gleason to leave – and added they would be forcibly removed if necessary, her son recalled.  Gleason was trying to pack up their eight cats, six birds and four dogs, but had to leave so fast that they could take only two dogs.

Kelley fled quickly.

“I left my teeth on the coffee table,” she said.

Homes on Bay, Phyllis and Grant were evacuated. An evacuation center staffed by the American Red Cross was set up at TownGate Elementary on Ellsworth Street.

The scene remained active, with additional fire crews arriving, as of 5 p.m.

Bay and Cottonwood Avenues were closed from Grant Street to the West and Elsworth to the East. Edison and other utility crews were on scene, said sheriff’s Deputy Mike Vasquez.

TownGate Elementary School, at 22480 Dracaea Ave., served as an evacuation site. The American Red Cross opened what it calls a care and reception center, offering food, water and a cool place to stay, said Nancy Hatzidakis, a Red Cross recovery chief.

Among the evacuees was Bertie Avenue resident Jesus Espinoza, 58.

“I heard the police. All of a sudden my roommates said, ‘We’ve got to get out of here,’ “ Espinoza said.

The four of them grabbed their dog and two cats as the wind blew heavy smoke onto their street.

“Police did a good job getting everyone out,” he added.