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WASHINGTON — Congress passed legislation early Saturday to ensure the families of five firefighters killed in Southern California can get more than $1 million in donations despite an IRS snag.The measure was passed by voice vote in the final hours of the GOP-controlled Congress and now goes to President Bush for his signature. The legislation would allow the Central County United Way in Hemet to distribute money to the families of the U.S. Forest Service firefighters killed in an arson blaze in October — even though the organization was not supposed to raise it under Internal Revenue Service rules. The...

Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, Allegedly Started Esperanza Fire (CBS) POPPET FLATS, Calif. Riverside County prosecutors will file five first-degree murder charges Thursday against Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, of Beaumont, along with multiple counts of arson for allegedly starting the Esperanza Fire that killed five firefighters and burned more than 40,000 acres. Oyler is scheduled to be arraigned in Riverside County Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. He was arrested Tuesday as part of the sweeping investigation into the arson fire that began at 1:12 a.m. Oct. 26. Oyler is being held on $25,000 bail. District Attorney-elect Rod Pacheco said prosecutors have...

Just breaking on KFI news at the bottom of this hour, the Riverside Sheriff's department has arrested a suspect in 2 arson fires from this summer. This same person is a "person of interest" in the Esperanza Fire.

Press conference now from where injured firefighter Pablo Cerda has been kept hospitalized. http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=special_coverage&id=3538279

Memorial Service for Fallen Firefighters  SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. – The San Bernardino National Forest has been working closely with the families of the fallen firefighters to help arrange private funerals for each.  A public memorial service honoring the firefighters is also planned.   Details for the public memorial service are as follows:  Service Date:  Sunday, November 5, 2006, 1:00 pmLocation:          Hyundai Pavilion                        Glen Helen Park                        2575 Glen Helen Parkway                        Devore, CA 92407   Further details of the memorial service and media and public protocol will follow later this week.  For questions, call the San Bernardino Engine 57 Support Line...

Investigators are seen at a house in Cabazon, Calif. near the site of the deadly Esperanza wildfire. *********************************** CABAZON, Calif. —  One of the "persons of interest" police are questioning as they probe who started a Southern California that killed four firefighters and charred more than 60 square miles of brushland is a convicted arsonist, FOX News has learned. The fire was fully contained Tuesday as the investigation into who set the blaze moved into high gear. Authorities also picked over the spot where the blaze started last Thursday, at the base of a slope in Cabazon, west of Palm Springs....

<p>CABAZON, Calif. — Investigators swooped down Monday on a home only one-quarter mile from where a deadly arson wildfire was started last week and took the two residents into custody for questioning.</p> <p>The investigators, including the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the Cabazon Fire Department’) and the California Department of Forestry, entered the house around 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT).</p>

THE ESPERANZA ARSON WILDFIREThis is the personal story of a very brave CDF Dispatcher from Riverside County Volunteer Fire Station 63 located in Poppet Flats. Monday, October 30, 2006 12:36 PM Subject: Fire update from Poppet Flats Here is a report of what happened on Thursday, 10/27/06 in Poppet Flats. My pager went off at 2 am on Thursday morning not sure what day, they have all run together. I am in charge of calling all of our firemen at Station 63, since my antique pager is the only one that works up here in the mountains. I have been a...

FIREFIGHTERS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HAMPERED BY WINDS & LOW HUMIDITY High pressure today has sent more gusty east winds into the mountains, passes and canyons of Southern California as firefighters attempt to gain the upper hand on a fast-moving wildfire in Riverside County. Fox News Channel is reporting another brush fire has erupted in Orange County. Wind Advisories are in effect through this evening. The combination of winds gusting up to 45 mph and extremely low humidity will keep the fire danger at an extreme level into Saturday. By Sunday, an onshore flow will calm the winds and bring moist...

(AP) BEAUMONT, Calif. About 1,750 firefighters Friday battled a wind-driven wildfire that scorched more than 25,000 acres in Riverside County, killing four firefighters, destroying 10 homes and threatening 500 more. Meanwhile, a manhunt involving several agencies was under way for the "scum" who set the blaze.The fire, which grew explosively in a 24-hour period because of powerful Santa Ana winds, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents, was 5 percent contained this morning, according to fire commanders. The Esperanza Fire broke out in the San Gorgonio Riverbed at Esperanza Avenue just after 1 a.m. yesterday and was quickly determined to...

The wind-whipped Esperanza Fire disgorged hundreds of residents from their Riverside County homes and inched toward vulnerable mountain towns Friday, a day after the inferno trapped five firefighters in its path, killing four and leaving one on life support. The 40,000-acre fire doesn't rank among the region's largest ever. But Inland residents learned Friday the price paid in the effort to contain the blaze: the names of all five firefighters. Riverside County homicide investigators searched for the arsonist blamed for the devastating fire, while federal and state investigators began a probe into the firefighters' deaths. A fifth firefighter clung to...

CABAZON, Calif. -- A fast-moving fire killed at least three firefighters, prompted mandatory evacuations and burned more than 4,000 acres in Riverside County this morning, officials said. The Esperanza fire in Cabazon, some 90 miles east of Los Angeles and about 20 miles northwest of Palm Springs, was reported at 1:12 a.m., Becky Luther, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County Fire Department, said in a telephone interview. "It's a very serious fire," Luther said. "There are Santa Ana conditions and the fire is fast moving." Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters that three firefighters were killed fighting the blaze. The U.S....

CABAZON - An arsonist's despicable touch killed four U.S. Forest Service firefighters and left a fifth fighting for his life Thursday while nearly 1,000 of their colleagues struggled to restrain a fast-moving wind-propelled wildfire that burned along the base of the San Jacinto Mountains. Enraged officials promised to catch whoever intentionally set the blaze around 1 a.m. in dry grass along a winding stretch of Esperanza Road in Cabazon. The problem, though, will be trying to make an arrest in a crime that is typically one of the hardest for authorities to solve. "You will not rest," Riverside County Undersheriff...

Cannot post so you will have to go to link. http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061026&Category=BREAKING&ArtNo=310260014&SectionCat=&Template=printart