By MICHAEL BALSAMO, Associated Press MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — Recovery crews are slowly making progress digging away masses of mud, boulders and toppled trees in a California community that was ravaged by deadly mudslides, but officials said they’ve removed enough debris from creek canals to prevent another potential disaster when the next rainstorm hits. Workers were…
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — More than two full days after mudslides ravaged this coastal town, the search for the missing became an increasingly desperate exercise Thursday, with growing doubts about whether anyone would be found alive. Seventeen people were confirmed dead and eight others were unaccounted for. “They’re…
By MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ and ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of searchers continued the grueling work Thursday of hunting for survivors and digging up bodies in the sea of mud and wreckage left by flash flooding in this wealthy coastal enclave. Muck-spattered searchers from around the state slogged through knee-deep ooze, poking…
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — A storm that slammed a California coastal community is over. The search for its victims is not. Authorities in Santa Barbara County were still trying to reach new areas and dig into the destruction to find dead, injured or trapped people after a powerful…
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and MICHAEL BALSAMO, Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police in Los Angeles have arrested a man they suspect made a hoax emergency call that resulted in a SWAT police officer fatally shooting a man at the door of his own home in Kansas, law enforcement officials said Saturday. Wichita Deputy Police…
By ROBERT JABLON and CHRIS CARLSON, Associated Press MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — Residents piled into cars and fled on Saturday, turning downtown Santa Barbara into “a ghost town” as surging winds drove one of the biggest fires in California’s history toward the city and the nearby wealthy enclave of Montecito. The mandatory evacuations around Montecito and…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California firefighters on Wednesday continued working to contain the fifth largest fire in the state’s history but warned that some communities are still at risk and could be in greater danger if unpredictable winds whip up again and fan the flames. Warnings of ideal conditions for wildfires were extended because…
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The fifth-largest wildfire in California history expanded Tuesday, ripping through dry brush atop a coastal ridge while crews struggled to keep flames from roaring down into neighborhoods amid fears of renewed winds. Elsewhere, fire officials announced that a cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked a blaze…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Crews aided by calm overnight winds kept a wall of flames from descending from mountains into coastal towns after a huge Southern California wildfire exploded in size over the weekend. Thousands remain under evacuation orders Monday as the fire churns west through foothill areas of Carpinteria and Montecito, Santa Barbara County…
CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A powerful flare-up on the western edge of Southern California’s largest and most destructive wildfire sent residents fleeing Sunday, as wind-fanned flames churned through old-growth brush in canyons and along hillsides toward coastal towns. Crews with help from a fleet water-dropping planes and helicopters saved homes as unpredictable…