The fire started around noon near the intersection of Highway 243 and Highway 74, two mountain roads that wind through some of Southern California's most cherished wilderness. Within hours, evacuations reached Idyllwild, Mountain Center, and the Lake Hemet recreation area. A Girl Scout camp emptied. Garner Valley residents packed cars in the fading afternoon light. By nightfall, over 7,000 people had been ordered from their homes, watching from evacuation centers as orange light flickered on the ridgelines above Palm Springs. Twelve buildings were destroyed and five more damaged in those first furious hours. The mountain communities, connected by narrow roads and surrounded by dry brush, became islands of anxiety in a sea of smoke.

The flames did more than burn. They severed the electrical lifelines connecting these mountain towns to the outside world. For eleven days, residents who remained endured triple-digit temperatures without air conditioning, without refrigeration, watching food spoil and sweat soak through sleepless nights. Southern California Edison crews worked to install new power poles, their progress measured against the fire's stubborn persistence. The Pacific Crest Trail closed to through-hikers who'd walked thousands of miles only to find their path blocked by flame. The San Bernardino National Forest, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Mount San Jacinto State Park, the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument - all shuttered, the summer recreation season collapsing into ash.

Containment came slowly, grudgingly. By July 31, the fire had consumed over 13,000 acres but was 89 percent contained. Light precipitation that day helped crews secure the fire's edge around Idyllwild, and repair work began immediately to reduce erosion and protect the scarred landscape from mudslides. By August 2, containment reached 92 percent. Finally, on August 10, 2018, fire managers declared full containment. Parts of the National Forest remained closed for nearly a year afterward, until July 31, 2019, as the land slowly recovered from the burn scars that marked where McGlover's match had found fuel.

The investigation traced the Cranston Fire, and several other blazes ignited that same day, to a single man. Brandon M. McGlover pleaded guilty to arson. His sentence: twelve years and four months in prison, mandatory registration as an arsonist for life, and restitution to his victims - a legal accounting that could never fully measure the trauma of 7,000 evacuees, the eleven days of darkness and heat, or the charred acres of national forest that would take decades to heal. The mountain communities rebuilt, but summer now carries a different weight in Idyllwild. The memory of watching the hills glow orange is not easily forgotten.