A family in the Antelope Valley whose home erupted in flames over the weekend said they believe the cause of the devastating blaze was unsanctioned fireworks being set off in the area.

Crews with the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to the June 30 fire on West Avenue 012 in Palmdale and said firefighters found the house fully engulfed in flames, as well as a one-acre brush fire.  

Now, Irma Campos and her family are sleeping outside the charred remains of their home in an RV lent to them by a neighbor.  

“It’s going to take us a year to come back from this,” she told KTLA’s Angeli Kakade.  

Campos said that unsanctioned fireworks in Palmdale have been a problem for years, saying that on Friday and Saturday, explosions were coming from everywhere. It wasn’t until Sunday though, that she says a firework landed in her backyard and caused a massive fire.  

“We opened up the curtain and the fire was just coming right at us,” she explained.  

Footage of the fire posted to the Citizen App shows the dark, billowing smoke as flames overtook her home. Campos said her first thought was to run.  

“Mija, let’s run,” she said at the moment. “We started running and my other daughter was here, and we grabbed each other and started running with no shoes. We just ran.”  

Just last week, Palmdale announced a ban on the sale of illegal fireworks, warning residents that only fireworks labeled “safe and sane” are allowed.  

“It’s a lot of desert landscape and those fireworks traveling, exploding and their embers coming down start fires, catch houses on fire, brush on fire,” Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Erynn Velazquez told KTLA. 

Setting off illegal fireworks can come with fines of more than $17,000 and criminal charges, and while Deputy Velazquez said they’re adding additional patrol for the Fourth of July holiday, the damage has already been done to the Campos’ home.  

“Why did they do it? That’s my biggest thing, why?” Campos said. “I wanted the people who did do it to see what happens. They might see it on TV. This is what you did to me. I no longer have a house.” 

Fire officials have yet to confirm that fireworks caused the destructive fire at her home. The case remains under investigation.  

In the meantime, a GoFundMe has been organized to help the Campos family recover from the loss of their home.   

McDonald’s is set to roll out a new sauce that’s inspired by a similar item offered at its restaurants in Japan.

The new Special Grade Garlic Sauce features “notes of garlic and soy sauce, balanced with a slight tangy sweetness,” McDonald’s officials said.

The sauce is inspired by the fast food titan’s popular Black Garlic Sauce sold in Japanese McDonald’s stores.

The sauce launches nationwide on July 9, and while you won’t have to travel all the way to Japan to try it, you will need to make an eligible purchase using the McDonald’s app.

In honor of the new menu item and to celebrate its Japanese inspiration, McDonald’s has partnered with the popular anime series “Jujutsu Kaisen.”

The show tells the story of Yuji Itadori, “a boy with tremendous physical strength,” but a completely ordinary high school life.

“One day, to save a classmate who has been attacked by curses, he eats the finger of Ryomen Sukuna, taking the curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with Ryomen Sukuna. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Satoru Gojo, Itadori is admitted to Tokyo Jujutsu High School,” the series description reads.

The sauce packaging will feature eight unique lid designs starring characters from the hit show and each purchase of the new Special Grade Garlic Sauce unlocks a free 30-day trial of Crunchyroll, the massive anime and manga streaming platform. Full episodes of “Jujutsu Kaisen” are available for streaming through Crunchyroll.

“Grab the Special Grade Garlic Sauce for free with any order of Chicken McNuggets, or pair it with your go-to order on the McDonald’s App to make a meal fit for any sorcerer,” McDonald’s announced in a news release.

The sauces are available for a limited time while supplies last and the streaming offer comes with its own set of terms.

A recently released study revealed that deaths from car crashes rose considerably across California between 2018 and 2022, and data indicates that many of the deadly collisions occurred on SoCal roadways. 

According to a report by ConsumerAffairs, there was a 17% increase in car crash deaths between 2018 and 2022 despite the Golden State’s population declining during that same period.  

“During the pandemic, we saw more of those dangerous driving behaviors,” California Office of Traffic Safety deputy director of marketing and public affairs Timothy Weisberg told ConsumerAffairs. “It’s a crisis that needs to be reversed.” 

Much of that can be attributed to California roads being less congested during the pandemic which caused some motorists to drive faster, traffic safety experts noted, adding that DUI crashes also made up for at least a quarter of deaths on Golden State roadways in both 2018 and 2022.

“Drinking while driving and speeding are much more prevalent in some California counties than others…on average, by county, speeding and drinking were involved in around 28 and 25 percent of fatalities, respectively, between 2018 and 2022,” ConsumerAffairs researchers stated. “Speeding is a much more common factor in fatal crashes in California’s more rural, less populated counties.”

Overall, the deadliest road in all of California is the 5 Freeway with 128 deaths in 2022, which is down from the 150 deaths reported in 2018, researchers found. 

When broken down by county, San Bernardino County ranked as the deadliest for drivers, registering nearly 20 fatalities per 100,000 people in 2022. 

This aligns with ConsumerAffairs’ conclusion on the deadliest stretch of roadway in the state: I-15 through San Bernardino County, where an astonishing 48 people died in 2022, an increase of 15 compared to 2018. 

Of the ten deadliest roads in the Golden State, six are located in SoCal. They can be viewed in the table below: 

KTLA 5’s Annie Rose Ramos interviewed several drivers on Tuesday morning; one woman told her that there’s only one thing you can do when you see a speeding driver.

“There are crazy people out there that may be busy or in a hurry and they’re going fast,” the woman, only identified as Lisa, told Ramos. “Get out of the way…that’s the only thing you can do.”

In an attempt to bring an end to the deadly trend, the California Office of Traffic Safety has teamed up with Caltrans to launch the Go Safely California education program, which promotes a “safety culture” on Golden State roadways. 

Safety tips for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists can be found here.  

The full ConsumerAffairs report, which includes more data on factors such as impairment and when crashes occur on an hourly, daily and monthly basis, can be read here.