A wildfire that killed a California firefighter grew quickly and forced the closure of a key route into Yosemite National Park as crews contended with sweltering conditions Sunday, authorities said.
The blaze that broke out Friday scorched more than 6 square miles (16 square kilometers) of dry brush along steep, remote hillsides on the park's western edge. It was burning largely out of control, and officials shut off electricity to many areas, including Yosemite Valley, as a safety precaution.
Crews battle the Ferguson Fire along steep terrain behind the Redbud Lodge along Highway 140 near El Portal in Mariposa County, Calif., on Saturday, July 14, 2018. (Andrew Kuhn /The Merced Sun-Star via AP)
Guests were ordered to leave Yosemite Cedar Lodge on Saturday as flames crept up slopes and the air became thick with smoke.
"You can't see anything, it's so smoky outside. It's crazy," said front desk clerk Spencer Arebalo, one of a handful of employees who stayed behind at the popular hotel inside the park.
He said it was surreal to see the property empty at the height of tourist season.
"We're counting on being closed at least one more day," Arebalo said.
Fire crews keep watch on the Ferguson Fire from the South Fork Merced River Bridge on Highway 140 near El Portal in Mariposa County, Calif., on Saturday, July 14, 2018.(Andrew Kuhn /The Merced Sun-Star via AP)
Evacuations also were ordered in rural communities just outside the park, and people in nearby lodges and motels were told to be ready to leave if flames approach. A stretch of State Route 140 into Yosemite was closed, and motorists were urged to find alternate routes.
Spiking temperatures and inaccessible terrain was making it difficult for crews to slow the flames, U.S. Forest Service fire Capt. Mike Seymour said.
Heavy fire equipment operator Braden Varney, 36, died early Saturday on the fire line, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Varney was driving a bulldozer to create a gap in vegetation to keep the flames from extending into a nearby community, according to Cal Fire Fire Chief Nancy Koerperich.
Varney's body likely won't be retrieved until Monday at the earliest because it's in a "precarious location" and conditions were too dangerous over the weekend, Cal Fire Deputy Chief Scott McLean said.
A helicopter gathers water from the Merced River to fight the Ferguson Fire along steep terrain behind the Redbud Lodge near El Portal along Highway 140 in Mariposa County, Calif., on Saturday, July 14, 2018. (Andrew Kuhn /The Merced Sun-Star via AP)
The wildfire is one of several burning across the state and among 56 large blazes that are active in the U.S., most in the American West, a region that is struggling with drought and heat.
A blaze near the California-Oregon border that killed a 72-year-old resident and injured three firefighters was almost entirely contained after burning more than 60 square miles (155 square kilometers) of dry brush.
Kern County firefighters make their way to the Redbud Lodge to fight the Ferguson Fire along Highway 140 near El Portal in Mariposa County, Calif., on Saturday, July 14, 2018. (Andrew Kuhn /The Merced Sun-Star via AP)
Crews got full control over a stubborn fire that scorched 142 square miles (368 square kilometers) of brush and destroyed 20 structures in Yolo and Napa counties. Investigators said an electric livestock fence that was improperly installed sparked the flames.
In the fire near Yosemite, investigators were trying to find out more details about Varney's death Saturday, but they believe he was working his way out of the fire area when he was killed, Koerperich said.
"This certainly is going to be devastating to his family and those of us who call him family here with Cal Fire," she said.
Varney had worked for Cal Fire for 10 years. His father also worked as a Cal Fire heavy equipment operator. He is survived by his wife, Jessica; daughter Malhea, 5; and son Nolan, 3.
Gov. Jerry Brown ordered flags at the California Capitol to be flown at half-staff to honor "a man who dedicated his life to protecting his fellow Californians."
NEW YORK (AP) — Video cameras stationed outside the Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial caught the gruesome scene Friday of a man who lit himself on fire and the aftermath as authorities tried to rescue him.
CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC were all on the air with reporters talking about the seating of a jury when the incident happened and other news agencies, including The Associated Press, were livestreaming from outside the courthouse. The man, who distributed pamphlets before dousing himself in an accelerant and setting himself on fire, was taken to a hospital where he later died.
The incident tested how quickly the networks could react, and how they decided what would be too disturbing for their viewers to see.
With narration from Laura Coates, CNN had the most extensive view of the scene. Coates, who at first incorrectly said it was a shooting situation, then narrated as the man was visible onscreen, enveloped in flames.
“You can smell burning flesh,” Coates, an anchor and CNN's chief legal analyst, said as she stood at the scene with reporter Evan Perez.
The camera switched back and forth between Coates and what was happening in the park. Five minutes after the incident started, CNN posted the onscreen message “Warning: Graphic Content.”
Coates later said she couldn’t “overstate the emotional response of watching a human being engulfed in flames and to watch his body be lifted into a gurney.” She described it as an “emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment here.”
Fox's cameras caught the scene briefly as reporter Eric Shawn talked, then the network switched to a courtroom sketch of Trump on trial.
“We deeply apologize for what has happened,” Shawn said.
On MSNBC, reporter Yasmin Vossoughian narrated the scene. The network showed smoke in the park, but no picture where the body was visible.
“I could see the outline of his body inside the flames,” Vossoughian said, “which was so terrifying to see. As he went to the ground his knees hit the ground first.”
The AP had a camera with an unnarrated live shot stationed outside the courthouse, shown on YouTube and APNews.com. The cameras caught an extensive view, with the man lighting himself afire and later writhing on the ground before a police officer tried to douse the flames with a jacket.
The AP later removed its live feed from its YouTube channel and replaced it with a new one because of the graphic nature of the content.
The news agency distributed carefully edited clips to its video clients — not showing the moment the man lit himself on fire, for example, said executive producer Tom Williams.
Julien Gorbach, a University of Hawaii at Manoa associate professor of journalism, said news organizations didn't face much of a dilemma about whether to show the footage because there was little for the public to gain by seeing images of a man lighting himself on fire.
The episode highlights how fast information travels and the importance of critical thinking, Gorbach said.
“It outpaces our ability to a) sort out the facts, and b) do the kind of methodical, critical thinking that we need to do so that we understand the truth of what actually this incident was all about,” Gorbach said.
The location of the incident may have prompted some to think the self-immolation was related to the trial.
Gorbach, who was listening to MSNBC on satellite radio when it happened, said the coverage he heard was careful to question whether there was any connection to the trial. It also raised the possibility the man may have wanted to get media attention.
News organizations can't suppress the news just so the public doesn't get confused, he said. Word would get out regardless as non-journalists post accounts online.
“So it’s really a test of us as a public,” he said.
Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this report.
In this image taken from video, bystanders react after witnessing a man who lit himself on fire was extinguished, Friday, April 19, 2024, in a park outside Manhattan criminal court in New York. Emergency crews rushed away a person on a stretcher after the fire was extinguished outside the courthouse where jury selection was taking place in former President Donald Trump's hush money criminal case. (AP Photo)
New York Police officers inspect a backpack left at the scene where a man lit himself on fire in a park outside Manhattan criminal court, Friday, April 19, 2024, in New York. Emergency crews rushed away a person on a stretcher after fire was extinguished outside the Manhattan courthouse where jury selection was taking place in former President Donald Trump's hush money criminal case. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
