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A C-130 air tanker aircraft plunges to the ground after breaking up in the air near Walker, California. All three crew members were killed.
Pic: REUTERS |
An air tanker crashed in northern California today while fighting an 8,000 acre forest fire near the town of Walker, killing all three crew members.
Amateur video shot by a passerby showed both wings fall off the plane in mid-air before it plunged into the ground, sparking a new blaze. There was no immediate word on why the aircraft had come apart.
In Colorado, a federal magistrate last night ordered a fire prevention officer be held without bail on charges of having ignited the largest wildfire in the history of the state.
Federal officials said Ms Terry Barton, 38, confronted with inconsistencies in her statements, admitted starting what has become known as the Hayman fire 55 miles southwest of Denver in an abandoned campground in the Pike National Forest.
Firefighters continued to battle the blaze, one of six that have devastated vast areas of drought-parched Colorado, while more evacuations were ordered after mid-day winds whipped up the flames.
Ms Barton told investigators she had received a letter from her estranged husband and was so upset she burned it, setting off a conflagration that has consumed some 103,000 acres and destroyed 25 homes.
Ms Barton, a mother of two, entered the federal courtroom in Denver in handcuffs yesterday and spoke softly during the brief hearing.
Elsewhere, a fire east of Los Angeles overran two fire engine crews, injuring three people and shutting down the main road between Southern California and Las Vegas.
The firefighters suffered first and second-degree burns according to a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry's San Bernardino unit.
The firefighters were trapped when flames fed by tinder-dry brush engulfed the two engines they were using as the vehicles were parked on a road.
One of the firefighters managed to deploy an emergency shelter as the heat from the flames peeled the paint off of their trucks.
In all, 20 large fires were burning in 11 states across the US. Two fires in Colorado and the blaze in Northern California have forced more than 6,000 people out of their homes since early this month.
In Northern California, a 6,500 acre blaze near Walker forced 400 evacuations on Sunday night, and was burning out of control in steep terrain after destroying at least one home.
In southwestern Colorado, an additional 700 homes were evacuated near a 26,700 acre fire near Durango.
Since Saturday, residents have left 1,700 homes in the hills north of town. At least one home has been burned.
AP,