Firefighting turns deadly in California

A wildfire raging east of Los Angeles overran two fire engine crews, burning three people and shutting down the main road between Southern California and Las Vegas.

The incident yesterday came within hours of a firefighting plane crash in Northern California that killed three crew members.

Video of the crash showed the plane’s wings erupting in flames, then falling off as the aircraft hurtled to the ground.

In all, 20 large fires were burning in 11 states across the country.

Two fires in Colorado and the blaze in Northern California have forced more than 6,000 people out of their homes since early this month.

The firefighters near San Bernardino suffered first- and second-degree burns to their hands, elbows, and noses, said Bill Peters, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry’s San Bernardino unit.

He said all six were listed as being in a good condition at Arrowhead Regional Hospital.

The firefighters were trapped when flames fed by tinder-dry brush engulfed the two engines they were using as the vehicles were parked on a road.

One of the firefighters managed to deploy an emergency shelter as the heat from the flames peeled the paint off of their trucks.

Peters said the injuries, and the deaths of the three firefighters in Northern California, signal the beginning of an especially dangerous fire season for the West.

‘‘These things happening in the middle of June do not bode well for the remainder of the year,’’ he said.

Late last night, the southbound side of the main road, Interstate 15, was reopened, but the northbound lanes remained closed indefinitely as ash rained down around the area.

‘‘A lot of people are terrified,’’ said Perry Van, 42, of Pinon Hills, about 10 miles west of the fire.

In Northern California, a 6,500 acre blaze near Walker forced 400 evacuations on Sunday night, and was burning out of control in steep terrain after destroying at least one home.

The three firefighters were killed when their aircraft spiralled into the ground and exploded in a huge ball of smoke and flames.

The plane lost both its wings and crashed soon after completing a fire retardant dropping run. Other aircraft were immediately grounded.

In southwestern Colorado, an additional 700 homes were evacuated near a 26,700 acre fire near Durango.

Since Saturday, residents have left 1,700 homes in the hills north of town. At least one home has been burned.

‘‘This weather and the fuels out there are not helping at all,’’ fire information officer Mary Bell Lunsford said.

The Durango fire took top priority in the state from the largest wildfire in Colorado history.

That fire, 40 miles southwest of Denver, has blackened nearly 103,000 acres and destroyed 25 homes. Authorities say the fire was started on June 8 by a US Forest Service worker.

Prosecutors said Terry Barton, 38, started the fire while burning a letter from her estranged husband, then lied to investigators about it.

If convicted of all charges she could be sentenced to a total of up to 20 years in prison and be fined €267,000.

As the fire flared up yesterday, authorities called for the evacuation of about 100 homes west of Colorado Springs - dispiriting news for 5,400 people across the area who are still waiting to go home.

Harold and Christy Petersen could see puffs of smoke as they sat in camp chairs in front of their motor home.

‘‘We can see our home from the highway and we can see that it is OK, but we can’t go there. We drive up and down the road six or seven times a day to see it,’’ Harold Petersen said.

The couple moved from Colorado Springs into a home near Lake George about a year ago. ‘‘Our dream was always to live in the mountains,’’ Christy Petersen said. ‘‘We are going to stay even if it is black as black. I don’t want to go back to the cement city.’’

Bob Robinson, who lives on a 120 acre ranch about three miles from Lake George, said he worked hard to reduce fire danger on his land, clearing pine and installing a fireproof roof. He was frustrated that the surrounding forest had not received similar treatment.

‘‘People won’t let the Forest Service do its job,’’ he said. ‘‘They won’t let them cut trees. They won’t let them manage the forest and that is the main reason we are having so many wildfires this year.’’