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[b:b8z2fecy]ORANGE COUNTY, California (CNN) [/b:b8z2fecy]-- One of the larger fires in Southern California was deliberately started by someone with apparent knowledge of arson, a fire official said Thursday.
The Santiago Fire in Orange County was started in two places along a little-traveled road, according to Chief Chip Prather of the county's fire authority.
The fire, which has burned more than 25,000 acres, was started in brush just off Santiago Canyon Road, not close to homes. It spread rapidly, indicating the arsonist had some knowledge of winds and other factors.
"It is a confirmed arson. There was evidence found at the scene. That is the purpose of our early declaration of it being an arson-caused fire," Prather said. He would not describe the evidence...
..."That individual knew on Sunday when this fire started that we had, really, the perfect storm, if you will. We had the heavy Santa Ana winds, we had the low relative humidities, we had the high temperatures.
"And then for someone to even think about doing something as reprehensible as starting a fire where they knew the fire would grow as rapidly as it would -- traveling about three, 3Ѕ miles in about an hour -- is just really absolutely unconscionable," he said...
[url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/25/fire.arson/index.html:b8z2fecy]the full article[/url:b8z2fecy]
_________________ -kellyd
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