SAN FRANCISCO – Three men and a teenager trapped by flames in a Northern California forest were rescued on a closed road by fire crews yesterday and treated for burns, authorities said.
Jose Alcazar Fernandez, 25, received third-degree burns and was flown to a burn center in Davis. Sylvestre Carrillo, 25, and Miguel Alcazar Carillo, 24, were arrested on suspicion of being in a closed area and then transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The teenager's name wasn't released. He was treated for minor burns, ticketed for being in a closed area and released, said Jim Richardson, chief ranger at the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in Shasta County.
Richardson said their presence in an area known for clandestine marijuana plantations will be investigated when the fire is extinguished.
The rescue and subsequent arrests came as firefighters continued to battle blazes statewide, most sparked by a massive lightning storm three weeks ago. The wildfires, which at their peak numbered in the thousands, have combined to create what officials are calling the single largest fire event recorded in California history.
Nearly 1,400 square miles have burned around the state, including in the mountains around Big Sur and Santa Barbara and in Butte County.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in 12 counties affected by the wildfires and called in the California National Guard to help.
Schwarzenegger met yesterday with Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, the chief of the U.S. Northern Command, to discuss federal and state military cooperation in fighting the fires.
Meanwhile, controlled burns designed to clear brush from the hills skirting the Big Sur coast were going well, officials said.
Mandatory evacuation orders remained in place for about 20 homes along the heavily wooded ridges near Carmel Valley, the Monterey County Emergency Operations Center reported.
Another 200 houses were emptied in the nearby rural community of Cachagua because of the fire danger.
That fire is 61 percent contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The complex of fires in Butte County is 75 percent contained after burning through 84 square miles and destroying dozens of homes.
Also yesterday, investigators looking into the cause of another fire in Butte County in early June, before the lightning storm, said they believed that blaze was intentionally set. The fire forced thousands of people in and around the town of Paradise to flee and destroyed more than 80 homes.
President Bush will travel today to Redding, where he'll get a briefing on the fires from local and state officials. Bush also plans to attend a private Republican fundraising event in Napa.
