POMPTON LAKES (AP) – Fire crews on both coasts of the United States (US) continued battling wildfires, including a blaze in New York and New Jersey that killed a parks employee and another in Southern California that destroyed more than 130 structures and damaged dozens more.
Firefighters continued making progress against a wildfire northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County that broke out last week and quickly exploded in size due to dry, warm and gusty Santa Ana winds.
The Mountain Fire prompted thousands of residents to flee their homes and was 26 per cent contained as of Sunday, up from 21 per cent the previous day. The fire’s size remains around about 83 square kilometres (km2).
The cause is under investigation.
“The fire continues to creep and smolder in steep rugged terrain. Threats remain to critical infrastructure, highways, and communities,” according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, better known as Cal Fire.
Meanwhile, New York State Police said they were investigating the death of Dariel Vasquez, an 18-year-old state parks employee who died when a tree fell on him on Saturday afternoon as he battled a major brush fire in Sterling Forest, located in New York state’s Greenwood Lake near the New Jersey line.
“Rest in peace brother, your shift is over job well done,” a New York State forestry services post said.
Forest ranger with New York state Jeremy Oldroyd, said that Vasquez died “assisting with fire line construction”.
“Wildland firefighting is a very dangerous profession, and we try to take as many precautions as we can mitigate some of the hazards that are out there in the wildland fire environment.
But occasionally accidents do happen,” he said.
New Jersey’s state forest fire service said on Sunday that the blaze – dubbed the Jennings Creek Wildfire – was threatening 25 structures, including two New Jersey homes. It had grown to 12km2 and was 10 per cent contained as of Sunday night.
