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SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS >> The Blue Cut fire continued to bu Sunday moing and fire officials say they’ve made progress on the blaze’s containment. The fire didn’t grow beyond 37,020 acres oveight and was 83 percent contained by 7 a.m. according a news release from the U.S. Forest Service. As of Sunday moing, officials with U.S. Forest Service say the fire has destroyed a total of 105 homes and 213 outbuildings. • Photos: Firefighters gain upper hand on Blue Cut fire moving into day 6 The only other community still under mandatory evacuation is Lytle Creek, according to the news release. The San Beardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a tweet that Lytle Creek residents would be al...

The Blue Cut fire continued to menace communities north of the Cajon Pass on Thursday, but the lifting of some mandatory evacuation orders and the reopening of the 15 Freeway signaled progress against a fast-moving wildfire that shocked even seasoned firefighters with its behavior and ferocity. The fire has consumed almost 36,000 acres in the San Beardino Mountains as of Thursday evening, but containment rose to 22 percent, up from 4 percent that moing. U.S. Forest Service spokesman Bob Poole credited the success to finally having enough resources to keep up. • Live Updates: Latest on the Blue Cut fire from our reporters and photographers in the field “Now that we have the resources, we are...

The flames chewing at vegetation in the San Beardino Mountains have grown to cover 6,963 acres as of Tuesday moing, and firefighters say they still have the blaze about 6 percent contained. Nobody has been injured, and no structures have been lost in the Pilot fire, said San Beardino County Fire Battalion Chief Marc Peebles. The number of firefighters at the blaze has also grown from 843 Monday night to 934, Peebles said. • Photos: Fight against Pilot fire continues on Day 2 as acreage grows • Photos: ...

SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS >> Some 4,700 people have been told to evacuate as the Pilot fire flared Monday afteoon in the San Beardino Mountains. The fire, which started Sunday between Silverwood Lake and Lake Arrowhead, is buing in two directions, said Capt. Liz Brown, a Cal Fire spokeswoman: north toward Hesperia, and northeast toward a mountain area known as the Piacles. • Live Coverage: What we know about the Pilot fire so far It had bued 4,500 acres by Monday moing and was 5 percent contained; no new numbers have been released since then, but the fire has cle...

A wildfire that ignited in the San Beardino Mountains on Sunday continued to bu thousands of acres Monday moing. The 4,500-acre Pilot fire ignited just after noon east of Highway 138 and south of Hesperia. • PHOTOS: Fight against Pilot fire continues on Day 2 as acreage grows to 4,500 • PHOTOS: 400 firefighters battle Pilot fire on Day 1 in San Beardino Mountains • VIDEO: Pilot fire smolders in a bu area in Summit Valley right off Highway 173 • VIDEO: A bulldozer moves after cutting fire breaks all night in Pilot fire fight • VIDEO: Hand crews hit Pilot fire hotspots Firefighters estimated the fire covered about 1,500 acres Sunday evening. The dramatic jump, they say, could be due to inaccu...

CHINO >> Torbjo Correll stepped into the lobby of Southe Califoia Edison’s aircraft operations — but he’d rather be in the air. “It’s boring being on the ground,” said the director of the little-known aircraft division for the electric utility company. As SCE’s chief pilot, his earthly home base is a 46,000-square-foot building, which includes a hanger and maintenance facility, tucked away on the southwest end of Chinou2009Airport. “If the grid is dead, (aircraft operations) have to support that when it breaks,” says Correll, who goes by “TC,” in his Swedish accent. He oversees training and regulations for his flight division, which operates a fleet of EC135s, AS350 B3s, and a B205 A1...

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA >> Malaysia acknowledged for the first time that one of the pilots of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 had plotted a course on his home flight simulator to the southe Indian Ocean, where the missing jet is believed to have crashed. Australian officials overseeing the search for the plane last month said data recovered from Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s simulator included a flight path to the southe Indian Ocean. Malaysian officials at the time refused to confirm the findings. On Thursday, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told local joualists that the flight path was found on the simulator. He also cautioned there were “thousands” of destinations on the simulator and no...

TWENTYNINE PALMS >> A Miramar-based Marine aviator assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing died Thursday when his F/A 18C Hoet crashed in the desert near the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms. The crash happened during training maneuvers about 10:30 p.m., according to a Marine Corps news release. The name of the pilot is being withheld until next of kin has been notified. The crash is under investigation. This crash happens on the heels of a another recent crash off the coast of North Carolina. In May, two F/A 18 Super Hoets based at the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virgina had “in-flight” mishaps forcing the aircraft to crash in the ocean, according to the Dep...

A teenage pilot from Compton arrived home in Southe Califoia on Monday, capping a flight around the nation in preparation for what he hopes will be a record-setting around-the-world trip. Isaiah Cooper, 16, touched down at Compton/Woodley Airport after a roughly two-week flight around the country. “It’s awesome. It’s exciting, you know, to see all these people here in the community that I didn’t know come and support me,” he told Fox11. “It really brings a warm place in my heart.” Isaiah’s 8,000-mile, roughly two-week trip around the country was not without difficulty. Bad weather just after takeoff from an airstrip in Cheyee, Wyoming, forced him to make a hard landing on a street that heavi...

The Long Beach Fire Department seized 500 pounds of fireworks over the weekend and issued one fireworks citation, fire officials said. Long Beach firefighters also responded to four fires likely caused by fireworks, Brian Fisk, spokesman for the fire department, said this moing. The first incident — a tree fire — happened at 9:06 p.m. Monday in the 1400 block of Gardenia Avenue, Fisk said. Units were called to the second incident, a garage fire in the 400 block of East Louise Street at 10:05 p.m. Monday, he said. The first units arrived three minutes later and the blaze was knocked down at 10:16 p.m. A neighbor who attempted to help at the scene was transported to a hospital with minor, non...

The Los Angeles Fire Department teamed up with a jokester from comedy website Fuy or Die on Friday to show what can happen when fireworks aren’t handled safely. In an effort to encourage Southe Califoians to be more careful over the Fourth of July holiday, firefighters and a host from Fuy or Die gathered at an Los Angeles Fire Department training center in East L.A., and used plastic maequins to demonstrate the types of injuries that can result from firecrackers and other types of fireworks. The results were no laughing matter. A maequin holding a kitchen spatula and a firecracker in one hand and a sparkler in the other, lost one of its hands as part of the demonstration. “That’s pretty rea...

The Los Angeles Fire Department teamed up with jokesters from comedy website Fuy or Die on Friday to show what can happen when fireworks aren’t handled safely. In an effort to encourage Southe Califoians to be more careful over the Fourth of July holiday, firefighters and hosts from Fuy or Die gathered at the Los Angeles County Fire Department Headquarters training center in East L.A., and used plastic maequins to demonstrate the types of injuries that can result from firecrackers and other types of explosive ordinance. The results were no laughing matter. One maequin holding a firecracker lost a hand as part of the demonstration. “That’s pretty realistic of what I’ve seen in the past,” sai...

WASHINGTON >> A driver so enamored of his Tesla Model S sedan that he nicknamed the car “Tessy” and praised the safety benefits of its sophisticated “Autopilot” system has become the first U.S. fatality in a wreck involving a car in self-driving mode. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration aounced the driver’s death Thursday, and says it is investigating the design and performance of the Autopilot system. Officials say the victim, 40-year-old Joshua D. Brown of Canton, Ohio, was killed May 7 in Williston, Florida, when his car’s cameras failed to distinguish the white side of a tuing tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky and didn’t automatically activate its brakes. Just...

A pilot flying a small, twin-engine aircraft made an emergency landing at Long Beach Airport Wednesday afteoon after the aircraft lost electrical power and he was unable to lower the landing gear. The pilot, identified as a 31-year-old man, made what is known as a “soft belly landing,” but was not injured, said Jake Heflin, a Long Beach Fire Department spokesman. He was evaluated by department persoel before being released. Upon approach, the pilot was not able to communicate with air traffic controllers because the aircraft lost electrical power, Heflin said. The fire department was called to respond to the landing at 2:12 p.m., he said. No fuel was spilled during the landing though the ai...

A pilot flying a small, twin-engine aircraft made an emergency landing at Long Beach Airport Wednesday afteoon after the aircraft lost electrical power and he was unable to lower the landing gear. The pilot, identified as a 31-year-old man, made what is known as a “soft belly landing,” but was not injured, said Jake Heflin, a Long Beach Fire Department spokesman. He was evaluated by department persoel before being released. Upon approach, the pilot was not able to communicate with air traffic controllers because the aircraft lost electrical power, Heflin said. The fire department was called to respond to the landing at 2:12 p.m., he said. No fuel was spilled during the landing though the ai...

For Long Beach firefighter Nick Marantz, adopting a puppy his colleague found on the shoulder of the 405 Freeway last week was a natural and familiar choice. The 3-month-old black Labrador-pit bull mix named Kilo is the second dog he and his wife have taken in through fire department-related activity. The first dog, a now 3-year-old blond Yorkie-terrier mix named Khalipa, was surrendered at Fire Station 10 in July 2013 when she was only 3 weeks old and lacked teeth. “My wife has always wanted a bigger dog,” Marantz said. “We checked [Kilo] out and she was extremely sweet. We’re excited to be able to have such a sweet dog.” Kilo’s jouey began June 10 around 1 p.m. when a crew based out of Fi...

For Long Beach firefighter Nick Marantz, adopting a puppy his colleague found on the shoulder of the 405 Freeway last week was a natural and familiar choice. The 3-month-old Black Labrador-Pit Bull mix named Kilo is the second dog he and his wife have taken in through fire department-related activity. The first dog, a now 3-year-old Blonde Yorkie-Terrier mix named Khalipa, was surrendered at Fire Station 10 in July 2013 when she was only 3 weeks old and lacked teeth. “My wife has always wanted a bigger dog,” Marantz said. “We checked [Kilo] out and she was extremely sweet. We’re excited to be able to have such a sweet dog.” Kilo’s jouey began June 10 around 1 p.m. when a crew based out of F...