Firefighter assigned to large Calif. inferno dies, authorities say
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A firefighter has died of an illness while assigned to one of California’s largest wildfires, authorities said Sunday, marking the first death in a season that has seen blazes destroy thousands of buildings and force entire towns to flee.
Edwin Zuniga with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said he couldn’t provide other details on the death.
The Dixie Fire began in mid-July in the northern Sierra Nevada and is the second-largest wildfire in recorded state history. It has burned nearly 1,400 square miles in five counties and three national parks and forests, according to Cal Fire.
Three firefighters have been injured battling the blaze, which was 56% contained after destroying nearly 1,300 homes and other buildings.
The fire was being fought by 3,800 firefighters from various agencies.
It was the first reported death among the more than 7,000 wildfires that have hit California this year in a season marked by drought and hot, dry weather that has turned timber, brush and grasslands into tinder throughout the West.
California’s fires have burned over 3,000 square miles. Fire concerns have shut down all national forests in the state.
South of the Dixie Fire, the Caldor Fire remained only a few miles from the popular resort of Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border. About 22,000 residents of South Lake Tahoe were ordered to evacuate last week.
There was no immediate word on when residents might be allowed to return home.
The fire has injured five firefighters and civilians and burned more than 700 homes, Cal Fire reported.
Sailors identified: The Navy on Sunday identified five sailors who died when a helicopter crashed last week in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California.
They were Lt. Bradley Foster, 29, a pilot from Oakhurst, California; Lt. Paul Fridley, 28, a pilot from Annandale, Virginia; naval air crewman 2nd Class James P. Buriak, 31, of Salem, Virginia; hospital corpsman 2nd Class Sarah Burns, 31, of Severna Park, Maryland; and hospital corpsman 3rd Class Bailey Tucker, 21, of St. Louis, Missouri.
The MH-60S crashed Tuesday about 70 miles off San Diego during what the Navy described as routine flight operations. It was operating from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
One sailor was rescued after the crash. Five sailors aboard the aircraft carrier were injured but were said to be in stable condition.
The Navy declared the sailors dead Saturday following days of search and rescue efforts and switched to recovering their bodies.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosives Sunday near a security checkpoint in restive southwestern Pakistan, killing at least three paramilitary troops and wounding 15 others, police said.
Senior police Officer Azhar Akram said the attacker had walked toward the checkpoint manned by the paramilitary
Suicide blast in Pakistan:
Frontier Corps on Quetta-Mastung Road, some 15 miles south of Quetta, the capitalofBaluchistanprovince.
Akram said some of the wounded were in critical condition and the death toll could rise.
Banned militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. It was the first time TTP claimed an attack on Pakistani security forces since the Taliban — a separate organization — took control of neighboring Afghanistan.
Baluchistan has also seen a low-level insurgency by Baluch separatist groups for nearly two decades calling for independence for the gas and mineral rich province. Most attacks on security forces in Baluchistan in the recent past have been claimed by Baluch separatist groups Baluch Liberation Army and Baluch Liberation Front.
Baluchistan,borderingIran and Afghanistan, is a key province in southwest Pakistan, where China has been working on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.Theprojects,including road construction, power plants and agricultural development, have cost billions of dollars.
UAE economy: The United Arab Emirates announced on Sunday a major plan to stimulate its economy and liberalize stringent residency rules for foreigners, as the country seeks to overhaul its finances and attract visitors and investment.
The nation’s plan to lure foreign talent over the next decades reflects an emerging contrast with the other sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf that are growing increasingly protectionist as they try to diversify their oil-bound economies.
Now marking its 50th anniversary, the UAE is seeking to accelerate its economic and social reforms to rebrand for a post-pandemic future.
Portraying the country as a liberal, bustling trade and finance hub, the government promised to pour $13.6 billion into the economy in the next year and $150 billion by 2030. Specific projects have yet to be announced, but $1.36 billion has been earmarked for Emirates Development Bank to support the industrial sector.
US climber’s body: The body of an American man who died while climbing one of Bolivia’s highest peaks arrived Sunday in the country’s capital after a two-day recovery effort.
Rescue workers said Daniel Granberg, 24, died from high-altitude pulmonary distress atop the Illimani mountain.
Granbergdiedatanaltitude of 20,391 feet on the second day of a trek across the mountain, an iconic part of the view from Bolivia’s capital, La Paz. He was on the longest and most difficult trail across the mountain, which involved scalingatleasttwoofitspeaks.
Granberg had arrived in Bolivia two months ago and had climbed several other peaks.
Granberg grew up surrounded by mountains in Montrose, Colorado, and graduated with a math degree from Princeton University, where he also sang tenor in various groups.
A surfer was fatally bitten by a shark off Australia’s eastern coast Sunday.
Fellow surfers, bystanders and paramedics gave the man CPR, but he had a critical arm injury and could not be revived, New South Wales ambulance official Chris Wilson said.
The attack occurred off Shelly and Emerald beaches in Coffs Harbour, about 330 miles north of Sydney.
Before Sunday, the most recent fatal shark attack in Australia was in May off the coast of Forster, 137 miles north of Sydney.
Fatal shark attack: