Silver Fire Prompts Local Smoke Advisory

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory today for parts of the Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Hemet, Perris and San Jacinto valleys due to ash and smoke from the Silver Fire, a 10,000-acre brush fire burning south of Banning.

The air quality could reach an unhealthy level, according to air quality officials, and residents should avoid vigorous outdoor activity, keep windows and doors closed and run an air conditioner. People with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly and children should remain indoors, according to the AQMD.

A large plume of smoke from the Silver Fire—which started Wednesday afternoon and has already destroyed at least a dozen structures, injured four firefighters and left a civilian severely burned—remains visible from Murrieta and Temecula.

For continual updates on the Silver Fire, visit Banning-Beaumont Patch.

Heavier smoke and ash have been moving down the Banning Pass into the Coachella Valley, which are also affected by the advisory.

Another blaze, the Falls Fire—still burning five miles west of Lake Elsinore as of Thursday—may also be affecting local air quality.

Some Murrieta firefighters had been providing mutual aid—for which the department receives reimbursement—on the Falls Fire until they were called to join at least 1,000 others on the Silver Fire, Murrieta fire Chief Matt Shobert told Patch.

The Silver Fire was 10 percent contained as of Thursday morning, according to CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department.

Riverside County proclaimed a local emergency Thursday because of the Silver Fire, a step that could make the county eligible to receive disaster funds if state and federal officials recognize the emergency and make assistance available, according to a news release.

On Wednesday night, county officials also received word that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had approved the county's request for a federal management assistance grant. The grant helps the county recover direct suppression costs for expenses such as firefighters and emergency support operations.

—City News Service and Maggie Avants contributed to this report.