California Briefs
Southern California authorities say that a major house fire early Sunday injured four people and caused significant property damage.
Ventura Fire Chief David Endaya said crews arrived to find two separate homes in flames.
The Ventura County Star reports the blaze was so large that some residents in Oxnard 10 miles away reported seeing smoke and flames. Ventura is a coastal city north of Los Angeles.
Four people were taken to the hospital by ambulance, with two in critical condition.
Authorities said the second house that caught fire was evacuated quickly and residents were not injured. A third home caught fire from radiant heat.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. elK grOVe
Northern California police say a good Samaritan pulled three people from a pickup truck that had caught fire after an early Sunday crash.
KCRA-TV reports all three adults were hospitalized with one suffering life-threatening injuries. The one-vehicle crash occurred in the city of Elk Grove in Sacramento County, about 100 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Elk Grove police spokesman Jason Jimenez said the three people would likely have died Sunday morning if not for the quick help of neighbor Jeff Garrett.
Garrett said he’s a light sleeper and went to investigate when he heard the crash. He jumped over the fence in his backyard to help the injured.
A photo posted to the Elk Grove Police Department’s twitter account shows a heavily burnt truck.
San DIegO
Coast Guard officials say three people are missing and 15 people were rescued Saturday night after their fishing boat caught fire south of San Diego.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that crew of the 42-foot fishing boat Time Machine contacted the Coast Guard around 9:35 p.m. to report a fishing boat on fire and several people in the water 28 miles south of Point Loma.
Time Machine crew members pulled 15 people from the water, including two who needed urgent medical care.
Officials said the remaining 13 people were transferred to a Mexican naval vessel and taken to Ensenada.
The search is ongoing for people. lOS angeleS the missing
Film and TV actress Selma Blair announced she is dealing with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
In a post Saturday on her Instagram account, Blair, 46, says she was diagnosed with the disease of the central nervous system on Aug. 16.
Blair says she is struggling with the disease’s effects on her: “I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps.”
She adds, however, that thanks to the support of the cast and crew of a Netflix show she is filming, as well as her friends and family, “we are doing it. And I laugh and I don’t know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best.” OaKlanD
The Oakland, California, police department asks officer applicants to disclose whether they have been sexually assaulted, which appears to be a rare and potentially problematic inquiry, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The San Francisco Chronicle queried police in the state’s 10 most populous cities and could not find another instance of screening for sexual assault victims.
Legal experts told the newspaper the inquiry is odd and potentially problematic, but there is disagreement over whether it’s illegal.
Oakland police officials said a candidate would not be denied a position for being a sexual assault victim. Officials said they want the information so they can review police reports in which applicants may appear.
The disclosure request is on a release form that has been in use since at least 2011, well before the #MeToo movement that started a year ago with accusations against film producer Harvey Weinstein.
The question comes up when recruits sign and get notarized a form that allows the Police Department to conduct a background check on them to determine suitability. The form authorizes, for example, the release of educational transcripts, credit history and local criminal history information, “including if I have been a victim of sexual assault.”
Oakland Police Officer Marco Marquez said the department’s background investigators are “interested in every police report that an applicant might appear in,” including whether the person was a suspect, witness or victim.
—the associated Press