Fire in Southern California

My aunt lost her home yesterday in this fire in California. Pray for those that lost loved ones, or their homes and are having to start over...



October 27, 2006
4 Firefighters Killed by Blaze in California
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD and JENNIFER STEINHAUER

BEAUMONT, Calif., Oct. 26 — Four firefighters were killed on Thursday and one was seriously injured when an arson fire ripped through a hilly patch of Southern California, destroying thousands of acres and forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes.
By Thursday night, the fire was still uncontained and, buoyed by strong and gusting winds, rolling west along the thick desert terrain.

Officials said the fire, which began about 1 a.m. Thursday just northwest of Palm Springs, was deliberately set but did not give details. Carried by 25 mile an hour winds, it spread throughout craggy, mostly unincorporated areas in Riverside County, where residents began to evacuate in the dark of night.

The flames quickly encountered the Santa Ana winds, which are common this time of year, and streaked through the parched vegetation, igniting ranch homes, some of which burned to their foundations, and scorching at least 24,000 acres, including 10,000 acres in just four to five hours.

By midday Thursday, a long and wide churning curtain of orange-beige smoke cloaked a wide strip of desert, and the smell of smoke lingered as far west as downtown Los Angeles, 90 miles away.

Officials painted a horrific scene in Cabazon, where five firefighters were working to protect a home and found their truck suddenly engulfed in flames when the wind shifted.
Three firefighters died at the scene, and one died hours later at the hospital. A fifth was in critical condition Thursday night. The names of the firefighters, members of the United States Forest Service, were not released.

It was the worst loss of life among firefighters in Riverside County in over 50 years.
Officials said they would offer $100,000 to any informant who led them to an arrest of the arsonist.

“A deliberately set arson fire that leads to the death of anyone constitutes murder,” Chief John Hawkins of the Riverside County Fire Division of the California Department of Forestry said.
Residents of Twin Pines, an area near the origin of the fire, awoke in the middle of the night to the strong odor of smoke and an orange glow over the top of the mountains. By 3 a.m. emergency workers were ordering them out, and they hustled to collect clothes, family photos, insurance papers and pets.

“Does anybody know anything about Wonderview?” Lilly Arroyo, 77, called out through tears at an evacuation center at the Banning Community Center, near Cabazon.

A dozen neighbors huddled around a television hoping for a glimpse of their homes from news coverage, but shook their heads, “No.”
Her cockatiel, Toots, died, Ms. Arroyo said, as she sped from her trailer home in the path of a wall of flames. Officials said roughly 700 people had fled their homes.
Chief Hawkins said that 11 structures had been destroyed but that he did not have details of what they were. The chief said at a news conference last night that the fire was 5 percent contained. “That may not sound like a lot,” he said, “but it truly is.”

The rocky terrain and lack of open roads made it hard for emergency workers to get water to the fire-fighting sites; 400 people in recreational vehicles on a mountain near the fire’s center were told to stay put, protected by firefighters, so as not to clog the only open road to the area. Fire officials said winds hampered efforts to drop water and fire retardant.
“Dry, windy weather can push a fire like this to grow very quickly,” said Patrick Chandler, a spokesman for the Riverside County Fire Department. ”

Dennis Watkins, 54, just finished building his “dream home” in May and, following the authorities’ precautions against wildfires, had cleared away much of the brush and trees near the house. On Thursday he asked neighbors at the community center if they had heard anything and waited for definitive word.

Some residents snaked their way up a one-lane road out of town; using a leash, one farmer pulled his lama alongside his truck.

With 1,000 firefighters already at work and 2,000 more coming, officials worried that the fire could reach an area of the San Bernardino National Forest where a bark beetle infestation had killed trees that could easily fuel a blaze.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the state “will put the full force of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection behind fighting this fire and will reach out to evacuees to see what can be done in their time of need.”

The governor also declared a state of emergency in Riverside County.
Wildfires in California’s national forests are common this time of year. Almost exactly three years ago, fires killed 17 people and burned more than 376,000 acres and 2,600 homes across San Diego County.