UPDATE:Four firefighters killed battling Southern California wildfire
Pastor Dale Morgan
UPDATE:Four firefighters killed battling Southern California wildfire*
Updated 10/26/2006 5:30 PM ET
CABAZON, Calif. — Four firefighters were killed and one critically
injured as they battled a wind-whipped wildfire today that drove
hundreds of people from their homes near Palm Springs, the U.S. Forest
Service said.
The firefighters were trying to protect a house early Thursday when the
flames swept in.
"The engine was in the area, and with the wind conditions like they
were, the fire just overtakes and burns the entire engine," said Pat
Boss, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman. CNN later broadcast a video of
the area, taken by helicopter, showing the charred remnants of the fire
engine in an area blackened by the fire.
All Forest Service personnel were pulled off the fire after the deaths
so they could "gather their thoughts, say their prayers," Boss said.
Names of the firefighters who were killed and injured were not
immediately released, but Boss said they were members of a five-person crew.
"I knew probably all of them," he said. "They were very personal friends."
Three firefighters died at the scene and two were hospitalized in
critical condition. One of those two died several hours later.
The fire, pushed by dry Santa Ana winds of 25 mph or more, quickly
blackened more than 4,000 acres and destroyed at least three homes.
A Twin Pines man suffered minor burns as he was leaving his home. He was
treated at San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning, several miles from
the blaze.
"He was singed leaving his area," hospital spokeswoman Becky McGuire
said, adding that she could see the fire from where she works. "It looks
terrible from here. The fire is sweeping across the horizon."
The cause of the fire wasn't immediately clear. It started early today,
burning in a valley with a few scattered ranch homes. The hamlets of
Poppet Ranch and Twin Pines were evacuated along with a juvenile center,
Twin Pines Boys Ranch.
There were about 30 people at the Banning Community Center earlier
today, said Lynette Espinoza, executive secretary for the Banning
Community Services Department.
There was no smoke in the area, but there is a huge "blanket over the
mountains," Espinoza added.
Aerial attacks are underway, with planes and helicopters dropping
retardant in an effort to protect structures and help contain the blaze.
About 500 fire personnel, including inmate fire crews from the
California Department of Corrections, are on the scene, with crews
working to lay fire lines and keep the blaze from spreading.
There is no reported estimate of containment. State Route 243 near
Banning has been shut down, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The National Weather Service this morning declared a red-flag warning in
effect for much of Riverside County, including the Cabazon area,
predicting extremely dry conditions through Saturday.
Strong offshore winds and single-digit humidity are likely to create "an
extreme fire hazard through Saturday," the service stated.
Santa Ana winds from 20 to 40 mph are expected today in and below the
county's mountain pass areas, gusting at times to 60 mph in the Cajon
Pass, the San Gorgonio Pass and the Santa Ana Mountains. Peak winds are
expected, decreasing late this afternoon.
Miguel Miller, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in
San Diego, said conditions in the Cabazon area could pose a threat for
the fire to spread quickly, increasing the challenges for those battling
the blaze.
"It will be just as dry on Saturday, but less windy," Miller said.
Contributing: The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun and the Associated
Press