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Israel arrests 13 on suspicion of arson over mass wildfires

Firefighters work as a wildfire burns in the village of Beit Meir near Jerusalem

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli police arrested 13 people on Friday on suspicion of arson, authorities said, after massive wildfires tore through central and northern Israel, a conflagration that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded as “terrorism”.

Firefighters kept battling the flames in wooded hills around Jerusalem and in northern areas on Friday, with support from Palestinian firemen and emergency teams from Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Italy, Russia and Turkey.

Netanyahu said he had also accepted offers of help from Egypt and Jordan.

Unseasonably dry weather and easterly winds helped kindle the fires, which erupted on Tuesday and now stretch across half the country.

Arson appeared to be behind some of the blazes, Netanyahu said. “A price will be paid for this arson-terrorism,” he told reporters on Friday. He said the arson was carried out by “elements with great hostility toward Israel.”

A resident stands next to burnt cars from Thursday’s fire in the northern city of Haifa, Israel November 25, 2016. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

“We cannot tell yet if this is organized, but we can see a number of cells operating,” Netanyahu said.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a dozen people had been detained either while attempting to set fires or fleeing the area, but he provided no further details. Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan told reporters 13 people were arrested.

Erdan said those arrested were “minorities”, an allusion to either Arab Israeli citizens or Palestinians. “The highest likelihood is that the motive is nationalistic,” Erdan told Army Radio. Police, however, stopped short of declaring any motive.

The fires are the biggest in the country since 2010, when 44 people were killed in a killed in a massive blaze in the north. Investigators concluded that fire was caused by negligence.

ACCUSATIONS

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of a far-right party, said on Thursday the fires could not have been started by Jews and on Friday blamed them on “nationalist terrorists”, a reference in Israel to Palestinians.

“There is no coincidental ‘wave of fires’,” he wrote on Twitter. “There is a nationalist terrorist wave by fire terrorists meant to murder civilians and cause fright.”

A living room burnt in Thursday’s fire is pictured in the northern city of Haifa, Israel, November 25, 2016. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

There has been no official response from Palestinian leaders. But Ayman Odeh, a leading Israeli Arab politician from Haifa, rejected the suggestion Arabs were responsible for arson attacks and accused the Israeli government of taking advantage of the situation to incite against the Arab minority.

Nearly a third of the residents of Haifa, a coastal city of around 250,000 people, including a large Arab population, spent the night in shelters and nearby towns and villages after being ordered to leave on Thursday in the face of walls of flame.

Smoke billowed over the city on Friday morning as firefighters worked to douse the remaining fires. City officials said the situation was under control but that at least 700 homes had been badly damaged or destroyed.

About 80,000 evacuees from Haifa were allowed to return to their homes on Friday as firefighters curbed the flames.

Israel’s chief of police said on Thursday people may have decided to start fires after seeing the trouble they were causing. “We’re in an area where if someone sees on the news there is an opportunity, he can take advantage of the opportunity,” said Roni Alsheich.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said forces had arrested a Palestinian man caught trying to set a fire near the Israeli settlement of Kochav Yaakov in the occupied West Bank. Footage aired on Israeli television showed three people setting a fire in an open area near the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Police said one man from the Bedouin village of Rahat in southern Israel had been arrested for incitement after he posted a message on his Facebook page calling on others to start fires.

Palestinians seek an independent state in territories including the West Bank that Israel took in a 1967 war. The last round of peace talks collapsed in 2014.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; editing by Luke Baker and Mark Heinrich)

Southern California firefighters make progress; 100 homes destroyed

Firefighters hose down a burnt structure at the so-called Blue Cut Fire in San Bernardino County, California

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters were gaining ground on Friday against a wildfire burning in a Southern California mountain pass that has forced tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes and destroyed about 100 houses, officials said.

The Blue Cut fire, named for a narrow gorge near its origin in the Cajon Pass about 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Los Angeles, has blackened 37,000 acres (14,973 hectares) of drought-parched heavy brush and chaparral after breaking out on Tuesday.

The blaze has destroyed 96 single-family homes and 213 outbuildings, according to a preliminary assessment from teams in the field, fire information officer Lyn Sieliet said by telephone. Officials previously said dozens of structures were gutted, without providing exact figures.

Officials said firefighters were able to carve containment lines around 26 percent of the blaze as of Friday morning – up from 4 percent a day earlier – in dry, hot and windy weather conditions and treacherous terrain.

The intensely burning blaze, which has produced cyclone-like whirls of flame, continued to threaten some 34,500 homes and other structures in communities including the ski resort town of Wrightwood, fire officials said.

More than 80,000 residents were told to evacuate their homes on Tuesday. Since then, some people have been allowed to return home, Sieliet said, but she could not say how many.

While many residents opted to stay put, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrested three people suspected of attempting to loot from the abandoned homes of evacuees.

Transit authorities on Thursday reopened Interstate 15, the primary traffic route between greater Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nevada, after it was closed for two days by the fast-moving blaze.

The Blue Cut fire is one of nearly 30 major blazes reported to have scorched some hundreds of square miles in eight Western states this week, in the midst of a wildfire season stoked by prolonged drought and unusually hot weather, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

(Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; editing by Janet Lawrence and Cynthia Osterman)

Portion of major highway reopens as California wildfire rages

(Reuters) – A portion of a major highway connecting Los Angeles and Las Vegas has been reopened, as a wildfire that forced the evacuation of some 80,000 Southern California residents continued to rage virtually unchecked.

The so-called Blue Cut Fire erupted on Tuesday in the mountainous Cajon Pass northeast of Los Angeles and, by late Wednesday night, had exploded to cover 25,626 acres (10,370 hectares), fire officials said.

While firefighters had managed to carve containment lines around only 4 percent of the blaze, state transit officials said northbound lanes of Interstate 15 would reopen in the area.

Fire officials expressed concern that “red flag” weather conditions would keep the area dry, hot and windy into Thursday night.

The Blue Cut Fire, named for a narrow gorge north of San Bernardino where it started, threatened the town of Wrightwood near a ski resort and other communities, prompting evacuation orders for some 80,000 residents.

Authorities have described the blaze as unusually fierce, even for a year of intense wildfires in the U.S. West, where years of drought have placed a heavy burden on firefighting resources. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

U.S. government forecasters have said the risk of major wildfires in Southern California is likely to remain high until December, given the dryness and warm weather.

About 600 miles (970 km) to the northwest, the so-called Clayton Fire was 50 percent contained after charring nearly 4,000 acres in and around the community of Lower Lake and destroying 286 homes and other structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Southern California wildfire rages unchecked after evacuations

(Reuters) – Hundreds of firefighters were battling a rapidly-spreading wildfire raging unchecked in drought-stricken Southern California on Wednesday after flames forced more than 80,000 residents to flee.

The Bluecut Fire, which erupted on Tuesday morning and has grown to cover some 18,000 acres (7,300 hectares) of heavy brush in an area called the Cajon Pass, was zero percent contained as of Tuesday night, fire officials said.

Authorities issued evacuation orders for 82,640 residents and some 34,500 homes near Interstate 15, the main freeway between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area, a stretch of which was closed indefinitely.

Two firefighters were trapped by flames in the effort to evacuate residents and defend homes, but managed to escape with only minor injuries, fire officials said. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.

More than 600 miles (970 km) to the northwest, crews made headway against a Northern California wildfire that has destroyed more than 175 homes and businesses.

The so-called Clayton Fire was 35 percent contained on Tuesday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). It has charred 4,000 acres (1,620 hectares) in and around the community of Lower Lake since Saturday evening, forcing hundreds to flee.

Damin Pashilk, a 40-year-old arrested on suspicion of setting that blaze, and several others in the area over the past year, is set to appear in court on Wednesday.

The Clayton fire threatened about 1,500 structures at its peak. As of Tuesday evening, only 380 buildings were in danger, according to Cal Fire. There were no reports of casualties.

California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in San Bernardino County for the Bluecut Fire, which allows state agencies to come to the assistance of local officials. He had issued emergency declarations on Monday for the Clayton Fire and another in Central California, the Chimney Fire.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Man arrested for arson related to destructive California fire

A general view of burned properties destroyed by the Clayton Fire is seen along Quarterhorse Lane in Lower Lake in California, U.S.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. (Reuters) – A man was arrested on Monday on suspicion of arson, officials said, over a wildfire in Northern California that has destroyed more than 175 homes and businesses and forced hundreds of residents to flee.

The conflagration is one of two dozen major wildfires across the drought-parched U.S. West that have all together charred nearly 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares).

Damin Pashilk, 40, faces 17 counts of arson over the so-called Clayton Fire, in the foothill community of Lower Lake, and other fires nearby over the past year, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.

“Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law,” Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said in a statement.

The fire, burning some 80 miles (130 km) north of San Francisco, was driven by fierce winds after sparking on Saturday evening. It threatens 1,500 structures besides the more than 175 destroyed, Cal Fire said on Monday.

There were no reports of casualties, however.

The Clayton fire, which had blackened about 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) by late Monday afternoon, was about 5 percent contained, fire officials said.

More than 1,600 firefighters were battling the flames, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said, adding that receding winds on Sunday evening had allowed crews to make progress cutting containment lines around the flames and putting out hot spots.

The nearby community of Clear Lake was evacuated, and sheriff’s deputies in Lake County were investigating burned-out structures.

On Monday afternoon, California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, declared states of emergency for the Clayton fire and another in San Luis Obispo County, the so-called Chimney fire, allowing local officials to get help from emergency response agencies statewide.

The Chimney fire was just 10 percent contained by Monday evening. It had scorched more than 5,400 acres (2,185 hectares) within less than 48 hours after erupting on Saturday afternoon, destroying a dozen structures and threatening about 200 more, with hundreds of residents being told to evacuate.

One of the season’s largest fires so far, the Soberanes blaze, was 60 percent contained by Monday. It burned through more than 74,600 acres (30,189 hectares) near scenic Big Sur, destroying 57 homes after it began on July 22.

A bulldozer operator died on July 26 when his tractor rolled over as he helped property owners battle the flames, this year’s sixth wildfire fatality in California.

Authorities have traced the Soberanes fire to an illegal campfire left unattended in a state park.

(Reporting by Stephen Lam in Middletown, Calif.; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Writing by Dan Whitcomb and Curtis Skinner; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Clarence Fernandez)

Wildfire rages into California town, burning homes, businesses

A burning house damaged by the Clayton Fire is seen near Lower Lake in California,

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A rampaging wildfire that descended on a small Northern California town over the weekend destroyed more than 100 homes and businesses, authorities said on Monday, as crews fought to save more dwellings from the flames.

The so-called Clayton fire, which broke out on Saturday evening, was driven by fierce winds into the foothill community of Lower Lake, some 80 miles (129 km) north of San Francisco, burning everything in its path and forcing hundreds of residents to flee.

A damage assessment team was working to determine how many structures were lost, said Daniel Berlant of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But he added, “we know it’s well over 100,” mostly homes.

There were no reports of casualties, Berlant said, but Lake County sheriffs deputies were investigating burned-out structures. The nearby community of Clear Lake was also evacuated.

As winds died down on Sunday evening crews began to make progress cutting containment lines around the flames and putting out hot spots, Berlant said, but “we know that as temperatures heat back up again today it’s likely fire conditions will increase.”

“We’ve got over 1,600 firefighters ready to go to battle again when that happens.”

The cause of the blaze, which has so far blackened more than 3,000 acres, was under investigation. Fire managers said it was about 5 percent contained as of Monday morning.

The conflagration is one of 24 major wildfires burning across the drought-parched U.S. West which all together have charred nearly 300,000 acres.

The so-called Chimney fire, which erupted on Saturday afternoon in San Luis Obispo County, had scorched more than 4,300 acres in less than 48 hours, destroying 20 structures and threatening some 150 others as hundreds of residents were told to evacuate.

That blaze was only 10 percent contained as of Monday morning.

The Soberanes fire, one of the largest so far this season, has burned through more than 72,000 acres near scenic Big Sur, destroying 57 homes and 11 outbuildings since it broke out on July 22. It was 60 percent contained as of Monday.

A bulldozer operator died on July 26 when his tractor rolled over as he helped property owners battle the flames, the sixth wildfire fatality in California this year.

Authorities have traced origins of the Soberanes fire to an illegal campfire left unattended in a state park about a mile from Highway 1. No arrests have been made so far.

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Firefighters work to suppress California wildfire near Big Sur coast

Firefighters taking care of july 2016 wildfires

By Mike Fiala

CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. (Reuters) – Firefighters on Friday were working to suppress a deadly wildfire near California’s famed Big Sur coast that has burned more than 40 homes, forced hundreds of residents to flee and closed popular parks at the height of the summer travel season.

The so-called Soberanes Fire erupted last Friday just south of the upscale oceanside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea and has raged through nearly 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) of drought-parched chaparral, tall grass and timber into the Los Padres National Forest.

Efforts by 4,200 firefighters to hack buffer lines through dense vegetation around the perimeter of the blaze have been complicated by worsening weather conditions – super-low humidity and gradually rising temperatures – officials said.

Containment stood at 15 percent on Friday morning, even as the overall size of the fire zone continued to expand, leaving another 2,000 structures threatened and about 350 people displaced.

Flames have already destroyed 41 homes and 10 outbuildings, with at least two other dwellings damaged by fire, officials said. Firefighters however managed to save a number of large homes in the hills above the exclusive Carmel Highlands community.

The fire threat has also prompted authorities to close a string of heavily visited California campgrounds and recreation areas along the northern end of the Big Sur coastline, including Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and Point Lobos Natural Reserve.

Highway 1, the scenic route that winds along the famed seaside cliffs overlooking the Pacific, remained open, though motorists were advised to allow for traffic delays due to a heavy volume of fire-fighting equipment entering and existing the roadway.

The blaze took a deadly turn on Tuesday when a bulldozer operator hired by private property owners to help battle the flames was killed when his tractor rolled over, marking the second California wildfire fatality in a week.

He was identified on Thursday as 35-year-old Robert Oliver Reagan III, from the town of Friant, California.

On Thursday, California Office of Emergency Services received a federal grant to help pay for firefighting efforts.

About 300 miles (485 km) away, a 67-year-old man was found dead in a burned-out car last Saturday after refusing to heed evacuation orders in a separate fire that destroyed 18 homes in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles.

That blaze, dubbed the Sand Fire, was listed as 65-percent contained on Thursday after charring more than 38,000 acres (15,400 hectares).

Lingering smoke and soot spewed by the Erskine Fire have prompted air-quality regulators to warn residents in parts of the Los Angeles region to avoid outdoor activities for the time being.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Alison Williams)

Central California wildfire destroys 34 homes, forces 350 to evacuate

(Reuters) – Firefighters scrambled on Thursday to contain a deadly wildfire that has forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents and gutted dozens of homes near the coast of central California.

Ten percent of the so-called Soberanes Fire had been brought under control but a larger swathe of flames was threatening some 2,000 properties after destroying 34 homes and 10 outbuildings between Big Sur and the scenic coastal town of Carmel-by-the-Sea since it erupted on Friday, officials said.

The blaze burned through drought-stricken chaparral, tall grass and timber in its march through over 23,500 acres (9,510 hectares) at the edge of the Los Padres National Forest, where 350 residents have been evacuated, according to fire officials.

Some 3,500 firefighters battling the blaze may get a reprieve from the hot, blustery weather on Thursday when temperatures are forecast to ease to the upper 70s (25-26 degrees Centigrade) with light winds.

A private contractor operating a bulldozer to help fight the fire was killed on Tuesday when his rig overturned. A second bulldozer also overturned while battling the flames but its operator was unhurt, officials said.

About 300 miles (480 km) to the south firefighters made steady progress on Wednesday to contain a deadly wildfire burning in rugged, drought-stricken terrain north of Los Angeles.

Some 3,000 firefighters battling the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest extended containment lines around 40 percent of the 38,350-acre (15,520 hectare) blaze on Wednesday, according to fire information officer Sam Wu.

The blaze has destroyed 18 homes as it churned through chaparral and brush, spewing out plumes of smoke that prompted the South Coast Air Quality Management District to warn residents in parts of Southern California to avoid outdoor activities.

About a dozen exotic animals displaced by the blaze began returning to a sanctuary in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar on Wednesday.

In Los Angeles County, a man killed in the Sand Fire was identified as Robert Bresnick, 67, whose body was found Saturday inside a burned-out car in a driveway, county officials said.

Acting California Governor Tom Torlakson, filling in for Jerry Brown, who is at the Democratic National Convention, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for the counties where the fires are located.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Firefighters battling California blaze face hot, dry conditions on Tuesday

Fire fighters battling Sand Fire in California - wildfire

(Reuters) – Firefighters in drought-hit California who are battling a 50-square-mile wildfire could be hampered by triple-digit heat, wind gusts up to 30 mph and low humidity on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

About 3,000 firefighters have been fighting to contain the so called Sand Fire on the rugged northwestern fringes of the Los Angeles National Forest since Friday.

The blaze has killed one person, found in a burned-out car parked in a driveway, and destroyed at least 18 homes. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people were forced to evacuate but late on Monday, fire officials lifted the evacuation order for the majority of residents.

The fire was just 10 percent contained on Monday evening as crews backed by bulldozers labored to hack buffer lines around its perimeter as it cast a pall of smoke and soot over a wide area.

An air quality advisory was in effect in the area of the fire until Tuesday midnight local time after much of the Los Angeles basin was dusted with a thin layer of fine white ash from the fire over the weekend.

Among the properties to go up in flames was the landmark Sable Ranch, a popular location for television and movie shoots.

About 300 miles to the north, another fire ravaged a hilly area near the scenic coastal city of Carmel-by-the-Sea, churning through 16,100 acres (6,500 hectares) and destroying 20 homes, authorities said.

The so-called Soberanes Fire, burning in the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County, threatened 1,650 structures by Monday evening and was only 10 percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service said.

The causes of the two fires were under investigation. They are among some 3,750 blazes large and small to have erupted across California since January, a higher-than-normal total, collectively scorching more than 200,000 acres (80,940 hectares), state fire officials said.

The biggest so far was last month’s Erskine Fire, which consumed 48,000 acres (19,429 hectares) northeast of Bakersfield, killing two people and destroying about 250 structures.

By comparison, the 2003 Cedar Fire ranks as the biggest on record in the state, burning more than 273,000 acres (110,480 hectares) and killing 15 people.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Firefighters injured, homes destroyed in new California wildfire

(Reuters) – Three firefighters were injured in a central California wildfire that has scorched 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) of parched and rugged terrain in less than a day, destroying 80 homes and forcing the evacuation of hundreds more, fire officials said on Friday.

The so-called Erskine Fire broke out on Thursday at about 4 p.m. PDT (2300 GMT) in the foothills of Kern County, about 42 miles (68 km) northeast of Bakersfield, drawing in hundreds of firefighters to battle the entirely unconfined blaze.

Three of the first responders were hospitalized for smoke inhalation while fighting the fire, officials said.

“Our firefighters have been engaged in a firefight of epic proportions, trying to save every structure possible,” Kern County Fire Department Brian Marshall said at a news conference.

The number of firefighters battling the blaze is expected to grow to as many as 700 throughout the day.

Fire crews will bulldoze containment lines, while air tankers drop water and fire retardant in an effort to stop the flames from consuming more homes, Marshall said.

About 1,500 residences have been evacuated and the number of threatened homes is likely to grow, he said.

“In a situation like this, there’s not enough firefighters and fire trucks to put in front of every structure,” Marshall said.

The extreme heat and dry land are expected to make the fire worse through Friday, Marshall said, adding that he was hoping for mild and cooperative winds to aid in the firefight.

State officials said they secured a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help manage the inferno.

That fire was one of several large blazes burning through parched California.

To the south, firefighters still were struggling to manage a pair of blazes burning in the foothills of Los Angeles County, dubbed the San Gabriel Complex.

As of Thursday night, it had burned more than 5,200 acres of chaparral and short grass, and containment lines had only been drawn around 15 percent of the fire’s perimeter, fire information website InciWeb said.

In San Diego County, authorities lifted evacuation orders for the Mexican border community of Portrero on Thursday, saying crews had cut containment lines around more than a third of a wildfire that has blackened some 7,350 acres.

Evacuation orders remained in force for residents of two other mountain communities. Flames already have destroyed five homes and roughly a dozen outbuildings since Sunday.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Toby Chopra and Bill Trott)

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