{"id":106504,"date":"2024-07-24T12:04:03","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T12:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/horrendous-southern-california-wildfire-sparked-by-illegal-fireworks-mayor\/"},"modified":"2024-07-24T12:04:03","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T12:04:03","slug":"horrendous-southern-california-wildfire-sparked-by-illegal-fireworks-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/horrendous-southern-california-wildfire-sparked-by-illegal-fireworks-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Horrendous&#8217; Southern California wildfire sparked by illegal fireworks: Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2024-07-24\/riverside-fire-mo_1721758557361_hpEmbed_3x2.jpg\" alt><figcaption>Homes are threated as the Hawarden Fire burns in Riverside, Calif., July 21, 2024. (David Swanson\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>(NEW YORK) &#8212; Officials in Southern California said they are searching for suspects in a fire sparked by illegal fireworks that has caused more than $10 million in damages.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawarden Fire in Riverside County ignited Sunday afternoon and within three hours had burned more than 500 acres, according to Riverside Mayor Lock Dawson.<\/p>\n<p>Six homes have been completely destroyed and seven others damaged in the &#8220;horrendous fire,&#8221; Dawson said during a press briefing Monday evening.<\/p>\n<p>The fast-moving fire has resulted in an estimated $10 million in damage to homes and more than $1 million in response costs, Dawson said, who noted that damage assessments were still ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>The blaze was determined to be sparked by fireworks, which are illegal in Riverside County, the mayor said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This tragic event serves as a stark reminder of why fireworks are illegal in our community,&#8221; Dawson said. &#8220;We live in an area with dry brush, varied terrain and high temperatures, making it ideal for such disasters.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Camera footage showed suspects fleeing the area, and a vehicle of interest is being reviewed by investigators, Dawson said. No additional details were released on the suspects and vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,&#8221; Dawson said.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators are pursuing all video and social media leads, according to Greg White with the Riverside arson investigations team.<\/p>\n<p>White said they will seek restitution from those responsible.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawarden Fire was 40% contained as of Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire. It is one of 20 active fires in the state, according to the agency.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Homes are threated as the Hawarden Fire burns in Riverside, Calif., July 21, 2024. (David Swanson\/AFP via Getty Images) (NEW YORK) &#8212; Officials in Southern California said they are searching for suspects in a fire sparked by illegal fireworks that has caused more than $10 million in damages. The Hawarden<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/horrendous-southern-california-wildfire-sparked-by-illegal-fireworks-mayor\/\">Read More &rarr;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106504"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}