View Fire turbine blaze spreads to rangeland near Whitewater, California
2012Published 1 May 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- San Gorgonio Pass wind resource area, near Whitewater, east of Cabazon in Riverside County, California, United States
- What
- Onshore wind turbine caught fire and burning material started a wildfire
- Cause
- Root cause of the turbine fire itself was not disclosed
- Outcome
- Wildfire spread across rangeland and burned a few hundred acres before containment
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What happened
In June 2012, an onshore wind turbine in the San Gorgonio Pass wind resource area, near Whitewater, east of Cabazon in Riverside County, California, United States, caught fire in what became known as the View Fire. Burning material from the elevated turbine reached the surrounding vegetation and started a wildfire, which spread across rangeland before being contained by fire services drawing on resources from more than one agency. Reported burned area was in the order of a few hundred acres.
Brush and debris had previously been cleared around the turbine bases as a vegetation management measure, and the clearance did not prevent ignition of vegetation beyond the cleared area. The event is cited in later commentary on wind turbine fires as an example of ignition spreading from an elevated turbine fire to surrounding land.
Contributing factors
Reported by the source, and with the caveat that no formal investigation findings were available in the material reviewed: the root cause of the turbine fire itself was not disclosed; burning material from the elevated part of the turbine is understood to have fallen or been carried by wind beyond the cleared area at the tower base; the surrounding arid rangeland near Whitewater carried cured fuel; local wind conditions in the San Gorgonio Pass area supported spread; and the source of the fire was at height, beyond the reach of ground based suppression, so containment depended on perimeter control of the wildfire.
Lessons learned
- Burning material from a nacelle fire at height can travel beyond ground clearance zones, so operators should set radii using site wind conditions.
- An elevated turbine fire cannot be reached from the ground, so site plans must cover perimeter control of any resulting wildfire.
- Cured fuel in arid rangeland supports rapid spread, so operators should review seasonal fuel state around turbines at peak fire risk.
More lessons on structural integrity and turbines, weather and external hazards, spacing, layout and fire spread, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Root cause of the turbine fire
- Turbine model and age
- Cost of firefighting and land remediation
- Duration of site shutdown
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Published 2026-05-01. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
