According to the Hemet News (August 18, 1911), “Two campers pre-empted the house in the absence of its owners and carelessly built a camp fire in the back yard. The fire spread to the house, barn, and haystacks, destroying them, and from there got into timber.” The fire then moved towards the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation. “Forest rangers from different parts of the reserve responded to the call for extra help and private citizens and landowners turned out in large numbers to fight the flames. The section through which the fire swept was heavily covered with underbrush and small growth, which carried the flames along at a rapid rate and made the situation exceedingly difficult to handle. Only by a system of back firing were the fighters finally successful in stopping the fire.”

Henry Bergman rushed to the valley, and was relieved to find that his cattle were all safe. He told the papers that the fire burned more than six square miles of territory before it was stopped. He told reporters he planned to sue the men who started the fire.

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