NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Illegal fires ignite massive
Colorado blazes, spur arrests
Crews make
progress on blaze
on California-
Oregon border
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
Associated Press
DENVER — An ille-
gal campfire likely ignited
another destructive blaze in
Colorado, an outcome author-
ities were trying to avoid
across the hot, dry U.S. West
by enforcing strict fire rules
and closing some public
lands.
Several people have been
arrested in two Colorado
wildfires that burned homes
after ignoring local and fed-
eral restrictions on camp-
fires, target shooting and other
activities aimed at combating
and avoiding explosive blazes
across the U.S. region.
Parts of Colorado and
other Western states have
been grappling with heat and
severe drought. In Arizona,
large swaths of national for-
ests and state trust land have
been closed since before
Memorial Day, while some
national forests in New Mex-
ico are opening up after rain
helped ease fire danger that
kept popular trails and camp-
ing spots off limits for weeks.
A national forest in Colo-
rado fully closed last month
Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post
A Chinook helicopter makes a water drop near Para-
dise Acres as the aerial assault continues to help put
out a wildfire on La Veta Pass, Sunday, July 8, 2018,
near La Veta, Colo.
for the first time in 16 years to
prevent new wildfires started
by people. And Rocky Moun-
tain National Park imposed a
ban on all campfires starting
Friday because of the risk of
having a new fire start with
firefighters already busy.
Investigators announced
Monday that three people
were arrested on suspicion of
starting a campfire and leav-
ing it unattended in Colo-
rado’s south-central moun-
tains, sparking a blaze that
destroyed at least eight homes.
The sheriff’s office in
Teller County, which has
a fire ban, did not release
other details about the allega-
tions against David Renfrow,
23; Kegan Owens, 19; and
a 17-year-old boy. Renfrow
and Owens were in jail, and it
wasn’t clear if they had law-
yers. They have not been for-
mally charged yet.
It comes a week after a man
was arrested on suspicion of
starting the state’s third-larg-
est wildfire in recorded his-
tory by not fully extinguish-
ing an illegal fire pit. It has
destroyed more than 130
homes in southern Colorado,
but firefighters have made sig-
nificant progress against the
168-square-mile fire.
In California, fires on
both ends of the state eased
Monday.
Crews gained some ground
against flames on the Califor-
nia-Oregon border that killed
a person and injured three
firefighters. The blaze, which
threatened more than 800
structures, was partially con-
tained, but fire officials were
concerned about erratic winds
later Monday.
The fire has destroyed 81
structures, but officials have
not determined how many are
homes.
Firefighter Brandon Feller
suffered severe burns to his
face but was released from a
hospital Sunday in good spir-
its, according to the California
Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection.
The
wildfire
raging
through drought-stricken tim-
ber and brush has scorched 55
square miles and jumped into
Oregon over the weekend.
In Southern California,
several destructive blazes
that broke out late last week
during an intense heat wave
have quieted down.
Firefighters in the San
Diego County community of
Alpine mopped up remnants
of a fire that destroyed 34
houses and damaged 15 oth-
ers. A commercial building
also was lost.
Santa Barbara County
allowed residents to return
to a neighborhood in the
coastal city of Goleta where
2,500 people fled wind-
driven flames that destroyed
13 homes and damaged three
others.
U.S. will reunite and release over 50 immigrant children
SAN DIEGO (AP) —
More than 50 immigrant
children under age 5 will be
reunited with their parents
by Tuesday’s court-ordered
deadline for action by Trump
administration, and the fami-
lies will then be released into
the U.S., a government attor-
ney said Monday.
That’s only about half of
the 100 or so toddlers cov-
ered by the order.
At a court hearing, Jus-
tice Department lawyer Sarah
Fabian acknowledged the
government wouldn’t meet
the deadline for all the chil-
dren, citing a variety of rea-
sons, including that the par-
ents of some of the youngsters
have already been deported.
Fabian said that 54 chil-
dren will be joined with their
parents by the end of Tues-
day at locations across the
country and that an addi-
tional five were undergoing
final background checks.
It was the first time
the government indicated
whether the parents and chil-
dren would be released or
detained together. They will
be set free in the U.S. pend-
ing the outcome of their
immigration cases, which
can take several years.
Fabian didn’t say why
they were being released, but
U.S. Immigration and Cus-
toms Enforcement has little
space to hold families.
ICE has three family
detention centers with room
for about 3,000 people in all,
and the places are already at
or near capacity.
AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit
A Thai well-wisher puts up a poster to pray for boys
and their soccer coach who have been trapped since
June 23, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, northern
Thailand on Monday.
Four more boys rescued
from flooded Thai cave
MAE SAI, Thailand
(AP) — The generals and
other officials overseeing
the desperate operation
to rescue 12 young soc-
cer players and their coach
from a flooded cave laby-
rinth in Thailand’s swel-
tering far north were only
half joking when they
quipped Monday that suc-
cess was in the hands of
the rain god Phra Pirun.
They were celebrating a
second day of stunning tri-
umph after divers guided
four more boys Monday
through tight passages and
dank flooded caverns to
safety. “Two days, eight
Boars,” read a Facebook
post by the Thai Navy
SEALS of the dramatic
rescue that began Sunday,
more than two weeks after
the members of the Wild
Boars soccer team were
trapped. Another five still
await rescue, including the
team’s 25-year-old coach.
The eight rescued boys
were recuperating in a hos-
pital from their ordeal hud-
dled together on a tiny patch
of higher ground where they
had sought refuge after a
rainstorm flooded the mas-
sive Tham Luan Nang Non
cave complex as they were
exploring it after soccer
practice on June 23. Their
families were being kept at
a distance because of fears
of infection and the emaci-
ated-looking boys were eat-
ing a rice-based porridge
because they were still too
weak to take regular food,
authorities said.
Officials lavished praise
on the Thai and interna-
tional divers who, in pairs
of two, executed the dan-
gerous rescue mission,
guiding the boys, who
could barely swim and
had no diving experience,
through a treacherous 2
1/2-mile escape route that
twisted and turned through
the cavern. Highlighting
the extreme dangers, a for-
mer Thai Navy SEAL died
Friday while replenishing
the oxygen canisters laid
along the route to the boys’
damp refuge.
But the chances of mon-
soon rains sending torrents
of water into the cave and
making the rescue effort
too risky is never far from
the minds of everyone
involved in the operation.
The plight of the boys,
aged 11-16, and their coach,
has riveted Thailand and
much of the world — from
the heart-sinking news they
were trapped to the first
flickering video of the hud-
dle of anxious yet smiling
boys brought back by the
pair of British divers who
found them after penetrating
deep into the sprawling cave.
friday
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