2 Firefighters Killed in Calif. Blaze

Two California firefighters drove off a treacherous road to their death as they helped battle a 43,000-acre inferno in the Angeles National Forest, reports the Los Angeles Times. More than 2,800 firefighters, 12 helicopters and eight air tankers have converged on the area where the blaze now threatens some 13,000 homes in Los Angeles County. The blaze is only 5% contained, and has already destroyed 18 homes.

"In this rugged, steep terrain, with this brush as thick as it is, we are having difficulties establishing containment lines where we can make a stand," said  a spokesman for the county fire department. "This fire is still very much out of control."
(More brushfires stories.)