Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Calif. fires have crews, resources strained

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 26, 2006

ALPINE, Calif. - Fire officials pleaded for additional manpower to battle a 15,400-acre wildfire near the California-Mexico border, while a new fire ignited near expensive canyon homes in Los Angeles.

Firefighters often labored in triple-digit temperatures as a heat wave continued to bake the state.

The border blaze had burned nearly 24 square miles of brush and chaparral in the Cleveland National Forest in southern San Diego County. About 780 firefighters had contained only about 5 percent of the fire Tuesday as it burned in the largely unpopulated area.

The new fire erupted above Beverly Hills and Bel Air Estates. Los Angeles firefighters working by backyard pools and patios directed streams of water onto smoking slopes, and helicopters made drops on flames in heavy brush on the steep south flank of the eastern Santa Monica Mountains.

Near Alpine, about 80 homes were evacuated in the community of Carveacre and a voluntary order was issued for about 1,500 homes in the area, said Roxanne Provaznik of the California Department of Forestry.

Fire crews have had to work through 10 straight days of a heat wave that has sent temperatures soaring above 100 degrees through much of the state. At least five firefighters around the state have suffered heat-related illnesses in recent days, officials said.

Border arrests down after military joins patrol efforts

WASHINGTON - The number of illegal immigrants caught trying to sneak into the United States has dropped since President Bush ordered the military to help tighten the border, the Border Patrol said Tuesday.

Officials say part of the reason is that fewer people are trying to enter the country because they're discouraged by the increase in efforts against them.

Border Patrol chief David V. Aguilar reported a 45 percent decline in the number of people arrested along the U.S.-Mexican border, when comparing the 69 days before Bush's mid May announcement with the 69 days after.

That's a much greater decline than normally seen in the summer months when southern temperatures rise dangerously and discourage some people from making the trip, officials said. The seasonal decrease was 27 percent last year and 29 percent in 2004, said Customs agency spokesman Michael Friel.

Elsewhere...

GIRL'S BODY FOUND: In Salt Lake City, the body of a 5-year-old girl missing for more than a week was found in the basement of a neighbor's home, and the neighbor was arrested, authorities said. Craig R. Gregerson, 20, was jailed early Tuesday on suspicion of kidnapping and homicide. Court documents say Gregerson saw Destiny Norton in her back yard the night of July 16 and opened a gate to lure her into his house. Authorities released no information about the cause of death or how long the girl had been dead.

SAILORS RESCUED: Only 10 minutes elapsed from when a cargo ship began listing in rough seas off the Alaskan coast until it was almost lying on its side, giving the crew little time to send out a distress signal. The 23 crew members were rescued by helicopter. The Singapore-flagged Cougar Ace was caught in rain squalls and 8- to 10-foot seas when it began to list.

PILOT FIRED: A Continental Airlines captain who was removed from a flight to Tampa because another employee smelled alcohol on his breath was fired Tuesday, the airline said. The pilot, who was not identified, tested above the legal limit for alcohol for pilots, the company said. The pilot was scheduled for Flight 706, from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Tampa on Sunday. The pilot was removed from the aircraft before passengers boarded, Continental said.

[Last modified July 26, 2006, 01:50:15]