SAGE -- A fire that broke out in the hills east of Temecula near Sage on Saturday burned at least 2,500 acres and forced the evacuation of about 500 homes by late evening, fire officials said.

Firefighters had the blaze, called the Melton fire, 10 percent surrounded by 10 p.m., at which point it was traveling east, threatening about 700 homes, fire officials said.

An evacuation center was set up at Hemet High School for the residents who left their homes.

Maddy Lopez, a spokeswoman for California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the fire started after someone was taking target practice in hills covered by dry brush. The person has been cited and will be required to pay a portion of the suppression costs, she said.

Authorities said 423 firefighters were called out to fight the fire, which broke out about 2:47 p.m. Four air tankers were brought in to assist them. Red Mountain Road was blocked off, along with streets in a neighborhood east of the road.

"It's completely out of control," Vogt said of the blaze about 8 p.m. "We have all available resources on it. We're hoping for weather that will assist firefighters in their efforts."

The blaze broke out near Melton Drive and Ballinger Road, in a rural community consisting mainly of horse properties and a few lightly populated neighborhoods nestled among undulating hills and thick scrub.

Ruth Hoos stood off the to side of Red Mountain Road at the peak of a hill near her truck, and watched as firefighters battled thick smoke that enveloped her 30-acre property about 1,000 yards below. She's been living on the property for about five years, she said, and she and her husband have made it a habit to clear brush around the perimeter of their home each year throughout the summer.

The smoke had obscured her view so completely, she said she couldn't tell if the blaze had surrounded her home or not. Authorities advised her and her husband to leave about 3 p.m., but allowed her husband to stay and keep watering around the house, she said.

She took a few items from home, a change of clothes and then took the truck up the hill to a vantage point where she could watch the fire's progress.

"I was just thinking, 'The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,'" she said as she peered below, watching fire engines drive near the property.

She said firefighters had been working for hours to save the homes in the area, but a lot depends on the wind, and it could shift and take her home with it, she said.

Robert Leonard was hosing down the lawn at his parents' house -- his childhood home -- along Red Mountain Road. He said his mother and father had left the country on vacation, and he drove down from his home in Hemet as soon as he saw smoke about 2:30 p.m.

He knew his parents' dogs, Jenny and a stray they refer to as black dog, were at the home, and he wanted to save them, along with a few keepsakes and photos in the house.

"I saw a couple homes go up in flames down the hill. I saw a giant plume of black smoke shooting up, and a few times I heard loud explosions over to the east," he said.

It's not the first time the home has been in danger from fire. When his parents, Robert and Elizabeth, moved there in 1970, he said, rocks had a red coating on them from flame retardant air tankers had dropped below.

The threat of fire is simply a part of living in the area, he said.

Contact staff writer Kelly Brusch at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or kbrusch@californian.com.