Welder sparks Inland wildfire

Santa Ana winds gusting up to 50 mph turned a small brush fire into a 640-acre blaze Monday morning, leveling a lumberyard and threatening hundreds of homes in Fontana and Rialto before firefighters got the upper hand.

San Bernardino County firefighters expect to have the blaze fully contained by this morning, but unpredictable Santa Ana winds on Monday kept them on guard for nearby spot fires, which flared up frequently in the hot, dry weather.

The fire began at 7:35 a.m. near the Sierra Avenue onramp to Interstate 15, where a welder was working on the Lytle Creek bridge. Sparks and melted metal fell into vegetation along the wash, and the winds quickly carried the fire south, San Bernardino County fire officials said. The damage is estimated at more than $1.2 million.

Sam Reveles, who owns San Gabriel Valley Lumber Co., which was destroyed by the fire, said he saw black smoke billowing up from the fire’s origin when he arrived at work.

After watching the fire move south in a narrow band along the Rialto-Fontana border, Reveles told his 20 employees to leave immediately.

The lumberyard was in an industrial yard, parts of which also sustained damaged.

“With this wind, I just knew it was going to be upon us quickly,” said Reveles, watching from across the road.

“Within a half-hour [or] 25 minutes it just overtook my property.... We just saw our place in flames.”

The flames unnerved residents of the Sierra Lakes neighborhood just 200 yards away.

Yvette Nava, 33, of Sierra Lakes said she and her 15-year-old son noticed a small puff of white smoke as she drove him to Summit High School in Fontana.

As she made her way home, she took a turn and suddenly found herself so close to flames that her car windows became hot.

“I thought we were going to catch on fire,” said Nava, who came back with her sons later in the morning to take video of the flames along Sierra Avenue. “You could hear it -- the booms -- everything was snapping and popping. The smoke looked red, so I was really scared.”

A firefighting helicopter refilled by dipping into water hazards at the nearby Sierra Lakes Golf Club. Neighborhood residents lined the club’s gates to record the scene with camcorders and camera phones. Four air tankers and three helicopters aided more than 150 firefighters on the ground.

“This is definitely something you don’t see every day,” said Ron Rumrill, 50, as gusts from the helicopter’s blades swirled leaves and debris around him. “But anything can happen when the wind is this bad.”

Smoke prompted evacuation of Sierra Lakes Elementary School in Fontana, but the school was not in full session. Only 50 children were present, according to a school official. The fire burned about two miles from the school.

Many of the neighborhood’s other residents, including Juan Romero, 40, rushed home to gather belongings.

“I was packing everything,” Romero said. “You could hear burning noises all around. It was scary.”

By Monday afternoon, the firefighters had boxed the fire at the industrial yard, and it was 50% contained.

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maeve.reston@latimes.com

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com