Beaumont, Calif. – Weary firefighters continued to struggle against harsh terrain and weather in their battle to control the growing Esperanza fire Friday, while the pool of reward money for the arrest of those who started the killer blaze grew to $400,000.
Fighting gusting Santa Ana winds, crews tried to build a 50-foot firebreak to contain the fire, which burned into its second day with no estimate on when it will be brought under control.
The Esperanza fire in Riverside County is less than 20 miles west of Palm Springs.
The sharp winds were expected to continue until Friday night, said Mike Giannini, battalion chief of the Marin County Fire Department, one of the agencies supplying some 1,750 firefighters.
“The next 36 hours are going to be key for this thing,” he said.
Fed by dry fuel and high wind, the fire had consumed more than 24,000 acres, but the scale of its damage was expected to grow by nightfall when the latest measurements are completed.
The fire was about 5 percent contained and continued to move mainly to the west and southwest, driven by east-to- northeasterly winds.
It had destroyed at least 10 houses. Another 500 homes and three commercial structures were threatened, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Officials released the names of the firefighters trapped Thursday in the fast-moving blaze while trying to save a house. Three died at the site, and the fourth died at a hospital.
Killed were engine Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 44, of Idyllwild; engine operator Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; assistant engine operator Jason McKay, 27, of Phelan; and firefighter Daniel Hoover- Najera, 20, of San Jacinto.
A fifth firefighter was in critical condition at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. He was identified as Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley. Cerda had burns over 90 percent of his body, severe lung injuries and was on life support.
Despite the loss, firefighters fought throughout Friday.
The rough terrain in the San Jacinto Mountains of Riverside County just west of Palm Springs posed difficult problems keeping the blaze from more populated areas, said Janet Upton, of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“It’s mountain goat territory,” Upton said.
More than 100 tips had been delivered to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department as the search continued for those who set the fire. Anyone arrested for arson also could face murder charges because of the firefighters’ deaths.
Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Earl Quinata said Friday that there were no suspects and denied a television report that authorities were searching for a suspect in a white van. The pool of reward money for information grew to $400,000 from the $100,000 Riverside County officials pledged Thursday.
Officials said they fear that the Esperanza fire could burn thousands more acres if it reaches parts of the San Bernardino National Forest where an infestation of pine bark beetles has left stands of dead trees.
