California coastline wildfire gets bigger
Residents flee amid raging fire
BIG SUR:
A wildfire burning along California’s Big Sur coastline keeps growing a week after it broke out, and looks to be a problem for the scenic region for weeks to come. Anxious residents driven from their homes awaited word on their properties and popular parks and trails closed at the height of tourist season because of the blaze, one of several large fires burning across western states. As of Thursday, the blaze spanned 42 square miles and was only 10 percent contained.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection estimated it will take until the end of August to extinguish it. “Every day the fire is gaining ground on us,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Robert Fish said.It has destroyed at least 34 homes and put at least 2,000 homes and other buildings at risk. A 35year-old father of two girls was killed this week when the bulldozer he was operating rolled over on the fire lines.
On Thursday he was identified as Robert Reagan, a 35-year-old father of two daughters from Fresno County who also helps care for a young niece, according to his sister Hannah Cunnings. Cunnings said he was the kind of person who would offer to put snow chains on a neighbor’s car or fix an engine that needed repair. “Even since he was a boy, he just really wanted to help people,” she said, crying. Firefighters worked in rugged terrain near State Highway 1 in an area that draws tourists from around the world for the dramatic vistas of ocean and mountains. The famous roadway remained open, but smoke and the threat of flames forced the closure of state parks near Big Sur, a big economic driver for the region. Tom and Donna Huntington, both 65, have lived for 29 years in the community of Palo Colorado, which was hard-hit by the fire. They fled their home last Friday and have been staying with friends and a Red Cross shelter at a school. “It’s a heartbreaker. I could cry right now,” Tom Huntington said. “I’m so lucky I didn’t lose my house. And I know some people that have.”
Eric Beninger, a former firefighter who also lives in Palo Colorado, isn’t sure his home is still standing. “When I did leave yesterday I ended up seeing flames coming up my road,” he said. “Just hope for the best, that’s about all I can do.” Four people who escaped the fire early in the week acknowledged growing marijuana in the area for the last three months, Monterey County sheriff’s Sgt. Kathy Palazzolo said. Another man was killed last week in a wildfire still burning on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Crews have stopped the spread of that nearly 60-square-mile (155-square kilometer) blaze, which destroyed 18 homes in mountains and canyons around Santa Clarita. Authorities have not determined a cause for either California fire. In Idaho, a wildfire burning timber in rugged terrain crossed a state highway and threatened a backcountry yurt system popular among winter recreationists. The 20-squaremile blaze burning west to east crossed State Highway 21 about 5 miles south of Lowman, officials said.
There are six yurts with a replacement cost of $60,000 each that are booked solid through the winter by cross country skiers, parks officials said. In Wyoming, favorable weather conditions allowed firefighters to take the offensive Thursday for the first time against a large wildfire threatening seasonal homes in the west of the state. The fire in the Shoshone National Forest northwest of Dubois has burned about 19 square miles. It has burned up to a rural subdivision area with about 290 seasons homes, but no structures have been lost. —AP
HANOI: GRENOBLE: ASHINGTON: China accuses Vietnam officials of ‘profanity’
China has urged Vietnam to investigate claims that a Chinese visitor’s passport was defaced with profanities by officials at Ho Chi Minh City airport, in an apparent reference to a bitter territorial spat between the nations. Photographs circulated in online Chinese media this week purported to show a Chinese passport with the words “fuck you” scribbled on two pages next to maps of China and its hotly contested “nine-dash line”. Beijing says the line demarcates its territory in the South China Sea. But Hanoi, which alongside several other nations has competing claims to the strategically key waters, rejects it. Earlier this month a UN tribunal said China’s line had no legal basis, reviving the acrimony between the two countries.
Hell hath no fury: Wife jailed over bomb hoax
It is often said that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but one cheated wife went to extraordinary lengths to exact revenge on her husband’s mistress. Tired of playing second fiddle to her husband’s paramour, the jealous 41-yearold mother-of-four triggered a bomb scare at Geneva airport in an effort to stop her going on holiday, prosecutors said yesterday. Following her false tip on Tuesday, the airport undertook a “massive security operation” at “colossal cost” that included a full evacuation of the terminal, the re-screening of 13,000 passengers and the deployment of 20 additional guards. Several flights were delayed by the chaos. Swiss authorities traced the hoaxer to the French town of Annecy where she lived-less than one hour from Geneva’s airport by car. The woman, who was not named, was sentenced at a court in Annecy to six months prison of which she will have to serve at least three months.
One cop killed, one injured in San Diego
A police officer died and another was wounded in a shooting at a traffic stop in San Diego, police said yesterday. A Hispanic man was later taken into custody, San Diego police chief Shelley Zimmerman told a news conference. The officers radioed in that they were making a traffic stop late Thursday, then called for emergency backup soon after, she said.