Evacuations San Bernardino County

About 400 firefighters, backed by water-dropping helicopters, attacked a 110-acre brush fire that forced hundreds of Boy Scouts to evacuate a campsite. One firefighter suffered second-degree burns and smoke inhalation, said U. S. Forest Service spokeswoman Judy Behrens. There were no other injuries, and no structures were threatened. Fire crews were expected to have the Hook Creek blaze under control today, Behrens said.

Flash floods that inundated portions of Southern California on Thursday prompted evacuations in a San Bernardino County mountain hamlet and destroyed a stretch of highway, flooded 20 homes and washed away a park ranger's house in the Kern County community of Ridgecrest, authorities said. Sudden pounding rains and golf-ball-size hail fueled a powerful mudflow that surged through Forest Falls in the San Bernardino National Forest about 6 p.m.

Flash floods that inundated portions of Southern California on Thursday prompted evacuations in a San Bernardino County mountain hamlet and destroyed a stretch of highway, flooded 20 homes and washed away a park ranger's house in the Kern County community of Ridgecrest, authorities said. Sudden pounding rains and golf-ball-size hail fueled a powerful mudflow that surged through Forest Falls in the San Bernardino National Forest about 6 p.m.

About 400 firefighters, backed by water-dropping helicopters, attacked a 110-acre brush fire that forced hundreds of Boy Scouts to evacuate a campsite. One firefighter suffered second-degree burns and smoke inhalation, said U. S. Forest Service spokeswoman Judy Behrens. There were no other injuries, and no structures were threatened. Fire crews were expected to have the Hook Creek blaze under control today, Behrens said.