Your adjudicated newspaper for Riverside County
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STAR W E E K L Y
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID Desert Hot Springs, CA
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PERMIT NO 00005
Friday, August 10, 2018 Vol. 12 No. 65
Holy Smoke! Dramatic footage captures moment aircraft douses California wildfire By Desert Star Staff Spectacular footage captured at the scene of a California wildfire has laid bare the scale of the Holy fire disaster as well as the
size of the operation being mounted to combat it. Some 6,200 acres (25 sq km) of land has been burned in the fires since Wednesday, according the
Orange County Register. Officials are wary that the fire could threaten more homes if the wind were to change direction or the fire were to branch into drainage basins.
KMIR News Staff A 51-year-old man was charged Thursday with arson for allegedly setting the fastmoving Holy Fire, which has blackened 9,614 acres of the Cleveland National Forest and was only 5 percent contained. Forrest Gordon Clark, who was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, was charged with aggravated arson damaging at least five inhabited structures, arson of inhabited property, arson of forest and criminal threats, all felonies, as well as two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, according to Assistant District Attorney Chris Duff. Clark could face 10 years to life in prison. When investigators went to question Clark he abrasively told them they weren’t allowed on his property in Holy Jim
Canyon, the flashpoint of the fire, Duff said. He is accused of threatening his neighbors, including one whose cabin burned down an hour later, Duff said. Since it erupted Monday afternoon, the blaze has destroyed a dozen cabins in the Holy Jim Canyon area of the Cleveland National Forest and advanced into Riverside County. While the blaze has continued its unrelenting march, U.S. Forest Service officials said Thursday they “expect favorable weather conditions this weekend” to help the firefighting effort. During a Wednesday afternoon briefing, Orange County Fire Authority Battalion Chief Shane Sherwood said the fire began “around and near” Clark’s cabin in Holy
Jim Canyon. He declined to comment on specifics that led to his arrest, other than saying witness statements and “physical findings” at the scene led to the belief Clark set the massive blaze. “As far as exactly how it was started, we’re still working through some of that evidence,” Sherwood said. Volunteer Fire Chief Mike Milligan, who also has a cabin in the area, told the Orange County Register Clark has long feuded with a neighbor and other cabin owners. He ran through the area last week screaming, and sent Milligan an email warning that “this place will burn,” Milligan said. Clark spoke to a videographer from OnScene
Holy fire is the just the latest wildfire to tear across California, along with the massive Mendocino Complex fire which had grown to around 300,000
acres by Monday evening. Earlier this week, emergency services declared the Mendocino fire the largest in the history of the state.
Arson Suspect Charged With Multiple Felonies
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