Freeway closed, mall evacuated by brush fire
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A late afternoon brush fire in San Bernardino shut down the 215 Freeway for nearly two hours Wednesday, charring two vacant buildings and forcing the evacuation of a mall.
The four-acre fire broke out about 4:30 p.m., just hours after firefighters had contained a smaller blaze about 100 yards away.
The cause of both fires is under investigation, officials said.
“It was an awesome sight to see,” San Bernardino Fire Capt. Mike Bilheimer said of the larger blaze, which began on the east side of the freeway just north of Interstate 10 and quickly spread to two vacant structures near the mall. “Visibility was down to virtually none, which caused a hazard in itself.”
The flames charred a storage building of the former Buffalo Bill’s Restaurant and damaged the roof of a vacant Pier 1. As plumes of smoke filled the sky, mall employees evacuated hundreds of shoppers as a precaution, officials said.
Firefighters saved the main buildings of both structures, containing the fire and reopening the freeway by 6:30 p.m.
The blaze “had huge potential,” Bilheimer said, “but a very good outcome.”
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