BEAUMONT, Calif. — Weary firefighters continue to endure the harsh terrain and weather in their battle to control the growing Esperanza fire as 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 Friday to contain the fire that burned into its second day with no estimate when it will be brought under control. The Esperanza fire in Riverside County is less than 20 miles west of Palm Springs.
“The next 36 hours are going to be key for this thing,” said Mike Giannini, battalion chief of the Marin County Fire Department, one of the agencies supplying 1,750 firefighters.
Fed by dry fuel and bitter winds, the fire has consumed more than 24,000 acres, but the scale of its damage is expected to grow. The fire is about 5 percent contained and continues to move mainly to the west and southwest by winds.
It has destroyed at least 10 houses. An additional 500 homes and three commercial buildings are threatened, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. There is no estimate for the cost of damage or for the cost of fighting the fire.
Officials released the names of the firefighters trapped Thursday in the fast-moving blaze when they were trying to save a house. Three died at the site; 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, Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley, is in critical condition with burns across 90 percent of his body and severe lung injuries. He was placed on life support.
More than 100 tips have been delivered to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department as the search continued for those who set the arson fire. Anyone arrested could also face murder charges because of the firefighters’ deaths.
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.
