Thread: Big California wildfire possibly spread from immigrants' cam

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/monte ... 113013.htm

Posted on Mon, Jul. 24, 2006

Big California wildfire possibly spread from immigrants' campfire

ALLISON HOFFMAN
Associated Press

ALPINE, Calif. - A 7,000-acre wildfire that forced the evacuation of more than a hundred homes near the California-Mexico border may have been caused by an abandoned campfire set by illegal immigrants, authorities said Monday.

The fire had burned nearly 11 square miles of brush and chaparral in the Cleveland National Forest in southern San Diego County.

It appeared to have spread early Saturday from an abandoned campfire set in a side drainage of a canyon, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement. Evidence at the scene suggested "the campfire was left by undocumented immigrants," it said.

Forest Service spokeswoman Anabele Cornejo said she had no details on what evidence investigators found.

The wildfire was the latest in a series of blazes around California that have put fire crews to work in temperatures 100 degrees and above.

It prompted sheriff's deputies to order 125 homes evacuated in the town of Alpine starting Sunday. Residents throughout parts of Pine Valley and Lake Morena, where there are about 1,350 homes combined, were told to remain on standby, said sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Plese.

More than 1,500 homes and 100 commercial properties could be threatened by the fire, which was about 5 percent contained, but the threat was not immediate, officials said.

Fire crews worked in blistering temperatures as California's heat wave lengthened. Five firefighters around the state have suffered heat-related illnesses in recent days, officials said.

"If you get behind on drinking water, you can't catch up," said firefighter Jon Sanchioli, 46, who was protecting structures from the forest fire. "We had one guy go down yesterday. We know you've got to be careful. If you keep on pushing, your body shuts down."

Monday's high in the forest was expected to reach 105 degrees, compounded by humidity, according to the National Weather Service. With a 40 percent chance of showers, the area could cool down soon, officials said.

In Joshua Tree National Park - where a blaze had consumed 1,050-acre acres of dense, desert vegetation - fire supervisors were asking crews working in temperatures up to 103 degrees to remove their helmets every hour to make sure they were still sweating, said fire spokesman Dennis Cross.

No sweat, he said, could mean a firefighter had "dried up" - a sign of heat exhaustion.

"It probably feels like it's 150 up there," said Dennis Cross, spokesman for the Joshua Tree fire, adding that crews were drinking about the twice the amount of water and Gatorade they might otherwise consume.

"When you have this humidity and this heat, it really takes a toll on your body," he said.

The blaze, burning across 1.6 square miles near the Riverside-San Bernardino county line, destroyed a park-owned cabin. It was 67 percent contained.

Farther north, more than 800 firefighters worked to cut lines around an 8,200-acre, or nearly 13-square-mile, fire on ranch land east of San Ardo in southeastern Monterey County.

A lightning strike late Saturday sparked the fire, and erratic winds generated by thunderstorms caused it to spread, officials said.

Off the coast of Los Angeles County, a lightning-sparked fire on Santa Catalina Island was 40 percent contained at 700 acres, or a bit more than a square mile, officials said.

Elsewhere, a 447-acre blaze in the Cajon Pass that clogged traffic on Interstate 15 was nearly contained. The fire started about 11:30 a.m. Saturday and led to evacuation of two ranches. Several unoccupied buildings burned.

The cause was under investigation.

Officials: Back-Country Blaze Caused By Campfire
Blaze Scorches 7,000 Acres

CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. -- A blaze sparked by a campfire raged for a second day through back-country terrain near Barrett Lake Monday, prompting evacuations and sending a smoky haze over southeastern San Diego County.

Hundreds personnel battled the 7,000-acre conflagration as it continued spreading through Cleveland National Forest, whipped by erratic winds, according to the California Department of Forestry.

Crews on the ground and aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters had the burn area about 5 percent surrounded in the late afternoon, CDF public information officer Roxanne Provaznik said.


At that point, the blaze was still threatening roughly 1,500 homes and more than 100 commercial properties, the USDA Forest Service reported.

The conflagration -- which was simultaneously moving to the northeast, south and southeast -- had caused no structural damage as of late Monday afternoon but left two firefighters sidelined by heat exhaustion.

There was no estimated time for full containment or control.

"The overall plan is to use air tankers in the northern parts of the fire and helicopters in the southern parts of the fire," Provaznik said.

California Air National Guard flight crews were aiding in the airborne efforts.

The fire erupted in a remote gorge known as Horsethief Canyon about 5:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Evidence at the point of origin indicates that the remnants of a campfire used by illegal immigrants ignited the blaze, according to the federal forestry agency.

The steadily moving flames prompted evacuations of communities on the west side of Lyons Valley Road, near Japatul Valley Road, and from the small community of Carveacre, Provaznik said.

Authorities also cleared inmates out of Barrett Honor Camp detention center and moved them to East Mesa Detention Facility.

To expedite the relocation of people in harm's way, the Sheriff's Department activated a "reverse 911" telephone notification system in Guatay and Pine Valley.

Additionally, the county opened its Emergency Operations Center on Monday afternoon, calling in staff to monitor the situation, oversee evacuations and offer support to firefighters, law enforcement personnel and the American Red Cross.

On Sunday night, 10 residents were moved to Joan McQueen Middle School, and four others went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, both on Tavern Road in Alpine, according to the Red Cross.

The blaze -- dubbed the Horse Fire, after the canyon where it began – also threatened the Corte Madera area, Guatay, Lake Morena, Pine Valley and Skye Ranch, as well as the honor camp and Austin Ranch.

Another reason illegal aliens are not simply law abiding, honest, family values type people who cause no harm to anyone. This fire has nearly two thousand homes threatened, with a half dozen communities in danger of being decimated, all due to friggin' illegal alien scumbags invading our country with no care or regard for what damage they do along the way, as long as they get what they want. And you know for a fact that the ones who started it would never come forward, they don't give a crap about who they harm, even if someone dies.

I am so pissed right now, I have so many friends and family members in the area having to evacuate ahead of the flames. All because of some damn law breaking illegals too stupid to put out a camp fire, let alone showing the stupidity of starting a fire in first place during the hottest weather we have had ever on record.

I heard illegals caused either this fire or another one, weeks ago...it just barely was mentioned on the news, I wondered then why more reporters weren't jumping on this!

added to homepage

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=1380

Go here to see some of mine and others local comments: http://forum.signonsandiego.com/upload/ ... ge=1&pp=15

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... efire.html

Horse fire declared fully contained


11:00 a.m. July 30, 2006

CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST – A wildfire that blackened 16,681 acres of back-country terrain near Barrett Lake this week was fully contained Sunday, the firefighting efforts aided by a persistent drizzle, officials said Sunday.

As of Sunday morning, 859 firefighters remained on scene, checking for hotspots and extinguishing any embers, said Robert Brady, information officer for the U.S. Forest Service. Around 1,400 firefighters were fighting the blaze Saturday.

By the end of Sunday, the firefighting force will be halved, as more and more teams are demobilized, Brady said.
Full containment came a day earlier than expected, partly because of drizzle and light rain from a tropical storm system off Baja, officials said.

The rain – expected to remain in the area for a few days, bringing persistent morning and nighttime drizzle until Tuesday – is a remnant of Tropical Storm Emilia, which arrived in Baja California earlier this week, National Weather Service Meteorologist Art Horton said.

Twenty-three firefighters have been injured fighting the blaze, including one who at first suffered an apparent heart attack.

The firefighter, with a crew from North Star, Alaska, actually was having trouble breathing because his tonsils swelled, Brady said.

The other injured firefighters suffered typical job-related injuries.

“Smoke, heat, twisted knee, twisted ankle, the usual,” Provaznik said.

All evacuation orders prompted by the blaze were lifted Thursday as firefighters – aided by high humidity levels as well as scattered showers earlier in the week – gained ground on the blaze.

On Thursday, authorities deactivated the county's Emergency Operations Center, which is used to coordinate law enforcement and crisis response during a disaster.

Should conditions change and the fire again pose a threat to communities, the center will be reactivated, officials said.

Lyons Valley Road, which had been closed since the fire erupted early on Sunday, was reopened, Provaznik said.

The blaze, sparked by an abandoned campfire in Horsethief Canyon, at one point threatened about 1,500 homes and more than 100 commercial properties but caused no known structural damage.

The blaze, sparked by an abandoned campfire in Horsethief Canyon, at one point threatened about 1,500 homes and more than 100 commercial properties but caused no known structural damage.

What a shock, no mention that the fire was started by illegal aliens. This story of course, from the San Diego Goonion-Buffoon, the illegal alien's best friend.

I live up in this area so it was a great concern to me.
When the fire first was reported the news often said it was started by illegal immigrants several times and that evidence had been found.
The last I heard this fire alone cost five million dollars!
I believe the fire is out now, it has been raining up here on and off for the past few days and the temps are way down as well, all the danger is past and now all that is left is to pay for it and clean up the mess.
For those of you who do not live in Ca. this will cost you as well as federal firefighters were on scene.