WOODCREST, Calif. (CNS) — At least one family was without a home Sunday after it was burned by a fire that started in a grove of palm trees in the unincorporated community of Woodcrest and led to area residences being evacuated for about seven hours.

The roughly three-acre fire was first reported at 12:16 p.m. Saturday in the 15000 block of Cartwright Drive, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

Fire officials said the flames were burning near structures, and as a precaution, the area south of John F. Kennedy Drive, north of Van Buren Boulevard, east of Porter Avenue and west of Dauchy Avenue was evacuated. Mop-up operations were underway by 6:08 p.m. and the evacuation warning was lifted at 7:30 p.m.

One resident, Katy Valenson, told local media that her family’s home was destroyed by the fire.

“It just erupted. I was up in the street and I just heard an explosion. The palm trees went up like fires you see in the movies — just 20 foot flames just in the air,” she told the station.

Another resident, Gilbert Robles, told a freelance videographer with OnScene.TV that two trailers and eight all-terrain vehicles he owned were burned by the flames.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.