Calif. Wildfire Kills 4, Leaves 400 Stranded
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CABAZON, CALIF. — A wind-driven wildfire near Palm Springs engulfed a fire engine yesterday, killing four firefighters, and up to 400 people were stranded in a recreational vehicle park when flames burned to the edge of the only road out, officials said.
“Everybody is hunkered down here. They’re fighting the fire around us. It’s across the street from us,” a ranger at the station at the entrance to Silent Valley Club, Charles Van Brunt, said. The residents were in no immediate danger, he said. Authorities asked people in the RV park to stay put to leave the roads clear for firefighters. The Forest Service crew was trying to protect a house as hot desert winds of 25 mph or more drove flames through the hills northwest of Palm Springs and forced hundreds of people from their homes.
One other firefighter in the burned-out fire engine was critically injured, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman, Pat Boss, said. Three firefighters died at the scene and two were hospitalized in critical condition. One of those two died several hours later.
