California
Mother of man accused in California wildfire says ‘he did not light that fire’
The mother of the 34-year-old man accused of starting the Line fire in southern California – which has scorched at least 38,000 acres (15,378 hectares) and destroyed one home – has spoken out in defense of her son, telling the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that “he did not light that fire”.
Arson-related charges have been filed against Justin Wayne Halstenberg, who is accused of starting the San Bernardino county blaze on 5 September. He is due to be arraigned on Monday according to the San Bernardino county district attorney’s office.
Halstenberg’s mother, Connie Halstenberg, told the Los Angeles Times that there are things that her son does that she does not approve of but that “he is not an arsonist”.
Prosecutors in the San Bernardino county district attorney’s office allege that Halstenberg tried to start a fire in at least two other locations before succeeding. The first, on Bacon Lane in Highland, California, was reported and extinguished by firefighters. “The second was stomped out by a good Samaritan,” the district attorney’s office said.
“Undeterred, he ignited a third fire which is what we now know as the Line fire,” prosecutors said in the statement.
Prosecutors said additional charges may be filed for any further structure damage or injuries as the fire continues.
The full extent of the damage caused by the blaze remains unclear, but Jason Anderson, the San Bernardino county district attorney, said at least one home has been destroyed.
The wildfire was 25% contained as of Saturday. Cool weather over the next several days should help, fire officials said.
The Line fire is burning through dense vegetation that grew after two back-to-back wet winters when snowstorms broke tree branches, leaving behind a lot of “dead and down fuel”, Jed Gaines, a Cal Fire operations section chief, said.
Four firefighters have been injured in the fire, according to Cal Fire, the latest on Friday. Los Angeles news channel KESQ reported that a firefighter had been airlifted to a hospital after experiencing weakness on the frontlines, citing a Cal Fire official.
Show Acres burned
US wildfires are measured in terms of acres. While the size of a wildfire doesn’t necessarily correlate to its destructive impact, acreage provides a way to understand a fire’s footprint and how quickly it has grown. There are 2.47 acres in a hectare, and 640 acres in a square mile, but this can be hard to visualise. Here are some easy comparisons: one acre equates to roughly the size of an American football field. London’s Heathrow airport is about 3,000 acres. Manhattan covers roughly 14,600 acres, while Chicago is roughly 150,000 acres, and Los Angeles is roughly 320,000 acres.
Megafire
A megafire is defined by the National Interagency Fire Center as a wildfire that has burned more than 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares).
Containment level
A wildfire’s containment level indicates how much progress firefighters have made in controlling the fire. Containment is achieved by creating perimeters the fire can’t move across. This is done through methods such as putting fire retardants on the ground, digging trenches, or removing brush and other flammable fuels. Containment is measured in terms of the percentage of the fire that has been surrounded by these control lines. A wildfire with a low containment level, such as 0% or 5%, is essentially burning out of control. A fire with a high level of containment, such as 90%, isn’t necessarily extinguished but rather has a large protective perimeter and a rate of growth that is under control.
Evacuation orders and warnings
Evacuation warnings and orders are issued by officials when a wildfire is causing imminent danger to people’s life and property. According to the California office of emergency services, an evacuation warning means that it’s a good idea to leave an area or get ready to leave soon. An evacuation order means that you should leave the area immediately.
Red flag warning
A red flag warning is a type of forecast issued by the National Weather Service that indicates when weather conditions are likely to spark or spread wildfires. These conditions typically include dryness, low humidity, high winds and heat. Prescribed burn
A prescribed burn, or a controlled burn, is a fire that is intentionally set under carefully managed conditions in order to improve the health of a landscape. Prescribed burns are carried out by trained experts such as members of the US Forest Service and Indigenous fire practitioners. Prescribed burns help remove flammable vegetation and reduce the risk of larger, more catastrophic blazes, among other benefits.
Prescribed burning was once a common tool among Native American tribes who used “good fire” to improve the land, but was limited for much of the last century by a US government approach based on fire suppression. In recent years, US land managers have returned to embracing the benefits of prescribed burns, and now conduct thousands across the country every year.
Quick Guide
US wildfire terms, explained
Thousands of firefighters, aided by cooler weather, made progress Saturday against three southern California wildfires, and officials in northern Nevada were hopeful that almost all evacuees from a blaze there could soon be home.
Authorities have started scaling back evacuations at the largest blaze. The Bridge fire east of Los Angeles has burned 81 sq miles (210 sq km), torched at least 33 homes and six cabins and forced the evacuation of 10,000 people. Two firefighters have been injured in the blaze, state fire officials said.
Don Freguila, an operations section chief, said Saturday that containment was estimated at 3% and improving, with nearly 2,500 firefighters working the lines. He said Saturday’s focus would be the fire’s west flank and northern edge near Wrightwood, where air tankers have dropped retardant on the flames in steep, rugged areas inaccessible to ground crews.
“A lot of good work. We’re really beating this up and starting to make some good progress,” Freguila said. He said a new spot fire broke out Friday night near the Mount Baldy ski area along the blaze’s southern edge, burning only about an acre before crews “buttoned it up”.
The Airport fire in Orange and Riverside counties has been difficult to tame because of the steep terrain and dry conditions, and because some areas hadn’t burned in decades. Reportedly sparked by workers using heavy equipment, it has burned more than 37 sq miles (96 sq km). It was 9% contained as of Saturday.
“Although direct lines have been challenging to build due to rugged terrain, favorable weather conditions have supported their efforts,” the Saturday situation report from the California department of forestry and fire protection said.
Eleven firefighters and two residents have been injured in the blaze, according to the Orange county fire authority. The fire has destroyed at least 27 cabins in the Holy Jim Canyon area, authorities said.
The southern California blazes have threatened tens of thousands of homes and other structures since they escalated during a triple-digit heatwave.
Smoke and ash from the wildfires have degraded the air quality, as the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued advisories for residents to limit their exposure to the smoky orange skies.
The blaze in Nevada near Lake Tahoe broke out last weekend, destroying 14 homes and burning through nearly 9 sq miles (23 sq km) of timber and brush along the Sierra Nevada’s eastern slope. Some 20,000 people were forced from their homes early this week.
Fire officials said there was a 90% chance the last of the evacuees would be able to return to their homes by the end of Saturday.
Containment of the blaze was estimated at 76% Saturday, fire spokesperson Celeste Prescott said. Some of the 700 crew members should soon be sent off to other fires, she added.
Firefighters were mostly mopping up but anticipated winds picking up in the afternoon, and so stood ready to attack any spots that flare up.
“We’re on the verge of big success here,” said Charles Moore, the Truckee Meadows fire district chief.
California
Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years
While we may lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend, one clock store in California is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year: daylight savings.
It’s the House of Clocks, the largest clock company in Northern California, which was recently celebrating 55 years of business.
It’s a place frozen in time. Just visit the store’s 240-year-old grandfather clock. It’s got plenty of stories to tell, dating back to 1780.
“This is the oldest piece we have right now,” clocksmith Joey Hohn said.
The House of Clocks is on the outskirts of Downtown Lodi in San Joaquin County.
“We have new, we have vintage, we have antique,” co-owner Sandy Hohn shared. “Honestly, it feels like not a day goes by that we don’t get a phone call or an email of somebody wanting to sell something for 100 different reasons.”
The clock store has been with the Hohn family for three generations. It’s all thanks to one family heirloom.
“When the first war started, [my grandparents] left everything and had to move,” Joey Hohn explained. “After the Second World War, my grandpa was stationed in Germany. They went back to the house that had been abandoned and the neighbor who they left the property to said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, everything in the house is still yours.’ They went back and got this, so this is my great-great-grandparents’ clock.”
You can find just about anything in the House of Clocks, from old grandfather clocks to clocks that can fit in the palm of your hand.
What you can’t find anywhere else is the Hohns’ love for Lodi.
“We’ve made so many friends over the years out of customers,” Sandy Hohn said. “Friends that are just wonderful, that love collecting, and we keep them repaired for their families, which is awesome. They have sentimental value that’s passed down.”
That same love for the city and their community runs in the family.
“We had a customer that wanted to repaint their dial,” Joey Hohn explained. “We told them no because it was her father’s who had passed away. Every time he went to wind the clock, he placed his thumb in the same spot. When we told her that smudge there on the dial was her father, she said, ‘Back away, don’t you dare.’ It was just a good memory we have.”
While you can’t turn back time, what we can do is keep memories alive and treasure the present moment.
“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”
California
Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter
It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!
The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.
“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”
The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.
“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”
We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.
“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.
If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
California
Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’
We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.
In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”
Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.
“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.
Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies
Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.
When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”
“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”
When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”
Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.
Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.
The primary election is June 2.
No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows
A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
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