Nixon Fire

The fire burned 3,500 acres on day one in Chaparral with dry atmospheric conditions, a lack of recent burn history, warm temperatures, and strong winds helping the fire expand rapidly. On day two, the fire burned into the Beauty Mountain Wilderness area.^[3][4][5][6]

The fire began in near Tule Valley Road and Richard Nixon Boulevard in Aguanga, California.^{[7][4][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]} It is located south of state highway California State Route 371.^[3] California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) determined the cause was a freestanding, privately owned electrical panel.^{[13][16][17][18][19]}

The fire ignited just before 12:30 PM PDT (it was first reported at 12:28 PM^{[3][20][21][22]}) near Tule Valley Road and Richard Nixon Boulevard.^[23][14] By 03:04 PM, it burned 295 acres.^{[8][9][24][12]} The National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Tardy described the weather conditions "unfavorable" with low humidity and high temperatures.^[11] The fire was declared fully contained on August 7th.

The fire prompted evacuation orders for around 2,000 buildings in Riverside County.^[24] San Diego county was under evacuation warning.^[25] The smoke could be seen from San Diego county.^[17] One residential structure was destroyed while four others were damaged.^{[26][17][5][6]} It moved into San Diego County.^[17] California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and Riverside Fire Department set up an evacuation center in Temecula Valley High School in Temecula.^{[4][8][25][27][17][9][10][28][5][6][22][12]} It was closed as an evacuation center on Friday, August 2, 2024.^[14][15] A care and reception center was opened at Hamilton High School in Anza, California.^{[13][16][17][18][14][15][19]}