As the firestorm rages on throughout Southern California, here are a few of the top stories and links that will help you get a handle on the ongoing crisis:
- Cal Fire: “Battling California’s Wildfires“
- Amid worries of new blazes adding to the firestorm already afflicting the region, a man in Hesperia has been arrested on suspicion of arson, and police reported shooting and killing another arson suspect after chasing him out of scrub behind Cal State San Bernardino.
- Law enforcement officials said today that they didn’t know whether either of the men had started any of the more than a dozen large fires that have devastated Southern California in recent days, including the nearby Lake Arrowhead blaze. The brush fire in Hesperia was quickly extinguished by residents.
- Investigators from the FBI, county Sheriff’s Department and the fire authority searched for evidence this afternoon at Santiago Canyon and Silverado Canyon roads, near where the blaze was sparked Sunday evening at three separate ignition points.
- Firefighters in Orange County today are battling to keep the 23,000-acre Santiago fire from reaching homes in Trabuco and Live Oak canyons and from jumping a ridgeline and moving toward Lake Elsinore in Riverside County.
- Buck Wickham, operations chief with the Orange County Fire Authority, called the Trabuco and Live Oak canyons “a box of matches ready to go.”
- Fire officials said Modjeska Canyon appeared safe for now, but that Silverado Canyon and its 700 homes were “far from being out of the woods.”
- Orange County line tracks between Oceanside and San Juan Capistrano were reopened early this morning! All Orange County Line and Inland Empire-Orange County Line service, as well as Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service is operating normally. NEW
- The Orange County Fire Authority retracted a $70,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the Santiago Fire just hours after announcing it Wednesday afternoon. Officials said they had yet to determine the precise size of the reward. Capt. Stephen Miller urged tipsters to report any leads to the Fire Authority
Just a sincere thank you for including me in the round-up.
The OC, hell, SoCal in general, including the San Diego area, is a cycling mecca, and the more info, about the risks of riding in the current conditions is spread, the more people who need it will hopefully learn of it.