Firefighters make progress containing fire near I-10 in Banning; traffic still crawling

Cal Fire says firefighters have gained the upper hand in the battle against a fire that exploded in Banning near Interstate 10 on Friday and grew to a size of 86 acres in about 90 minutes.

As of an update posted at 4 p.m., the fire was considered to be about 50% contained with its forward progress stopped and firefighters expected to be on scene until around 7 p.m. to fully contain it.

The agency first reported that the fire started when a recreational vehicle caught fire shortly before 2 p.m. in the 2000 block of Ramsey Street, which runs adjacent to the interstate just north of it. The fire had grown to five acres by 2:25 p.m. before exploding to the size of 86 acres reported about an hour later.

Rob Roseen, a public information officer for Cal Fire, reported that firefighters had been able to keep the fire from reaching the truck scales managed by California Highway Patrol on the west side of Interstate near where the fire was burning.

Cal Fire reported that one lane of westbound Interstate 10 remained closed as major traffic slowdowns that had resulted from the fire continued into Friday evening. The traffic monitoring service SigAlert showed as of 5:25 p.m. that westbound traffic continued to be backed up for about 13 miles from around the site of the fire near the Ramsey Street exit from Interstate 10 to the Haugen-Lehmann Way exit west of Palm Springs. Traffic was reportedly "stop and go" with delays of up to 30 minutes being reported through the area.

Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com .

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Firefighters make progress containing fire near I-10 in Banning; traffic still crawling