A wind-whipped wildfire started by an arsonist killed four firefighters and stranded up to 400 people in a campground when flames burned to the edge of the only road out, officials said.
The Forest Service crew was trying to protect a house on Thursday as dry desert winds of 40kph or more blew a wall of flames down on them in the hills northwest of Palm Springs.
"They had left their truck to do structure protection when the fire overran them," said Forest Service spokesman Pat Boss, adding that the flames came down so quickly they had no time to retreat to their engine or use protective sheltering.
Fire officials said the blaze was deliberately set around 1am on Thursday. Fire Chief John Hawkins said the arson "constitutes murder."
It was the deadliest wildfire firefighting disaster in the US in five years.
Thursday's fire left 400 campers at the Silent Valley Club park stranded for hours but in no immediate danger, said Charles Van Brunt, a park ranger.
"Everybody is hunkered down here. They're fighting the fire around us. It's across the street from us," Van Brunt said.
Three of the firefighters killed on Thursday died at the scene, and two were hospitalized in critical condition.
One of those two died several hours later. The other had burns over 95 percent of his body, Boss said.
The surviving firefighter had severe respiratory damage, said Dev Gnanadev, a trauma surgeon at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
Homicide detectives were sent to the scene to work with FBI agents during the investigation. One official believed the blaze was set just as the winds picked up in order to maximize destruction.
Authorities planned to offer a US$100,000 reward in the case.
"Turn that scum in, please," Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley said.
In less than 24 hours, the fire blackened almost 97km2, and more than 1,100 firefighters were brought in along with water-dropping helicopters and planes. Ten structures were destroyed, and at least five were homes.
The fire, which was only 5 percent contained, roared 24km to the west from where it began.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS