A distress call on the water has turned into a crisis on land off the Southern California coast, the New York Times reports. Officials say a 67-year-old sailor who wrecked his boat on Santa Rosa Island on Friday fired emergency flares that accidentally ignited a wildfire now threatening one of the rarest pine species on Earth. The man was rescued uninjured by the Coast Guard on Saturday after other boaters reported his vessel in pieces on the rocky shore. Santa Rosa Island is one of the Channel Islands, and is about 45 miles from the harbor at Ventura.
By Monday afternoon, the blaze had grown to about 14,600 acres, driven by strong winds, and destroyed three buildings in Channel Islands National Park. Eleven park employees were airlifted from their housing, and roughly three dozen firefighters were on the island, with more en route by boat. Crews are especially focused on keeping flames away from a stand of Torrey pines about a half-mile from the fire's edge. The critically endangered trees grow naturally in only two places: San Diego and Santa Rosa Island. Officials hope easing winds will soon allow helicopter water drops over the grove in what they say is the first major wildfire on the island since the Park Service took over in the 1980s. It's also California's largest wildfire so far this year, the Guardian reports. As of Monday afternoon, it was 0% contained, USA Today reports. (Another fire is burning in Simi Valley.)
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