Californian wild fire kills 4 fire-fighters

Four fire-fighters were killed in California yesterday (October 26th) in wild fires that were believed to have been started by arsonists.

Another fireman is in hospital with 95 per cent burns to his body and remains in a critical condition.

The fire erupted near Palm Springs and covered around 24,000 acres of land in less than 24 hours, with the fire line stretching 15 miles.

John Hawkins, chief of the Riverside County Fire Department, told Reuters: "We are doing better with it. We are saying five per cent containment. That might not sound like a lot but it really, truly is.

"A deliberately set fire that leads to the death of anyone constitutes murder."

The fire spread quickly due to the long dry summer that California has experienced, warm winds made this passage even worse.

Between 400 and 1,000 people were trapped in a recreational vehicle park because fire-fighters had been unable to get to them.

Chief Hawkins told the same news agency: "They are sheltered in place, which means we could not evacuate them in time. They're going to encounter heat and smoke but they are probably going to be OK. We have fire-fighters with those people."

The fire-fighters died while trying to save a remote house in the path of the blaze.