flames

Muhammad died from exposure to the flames and things burning around him, the inquest was told.

“That is what really hurt, to just watch that all go up in flames. Until the camera gave out.”

Emergency crews summoned to Tabler Avenue in Lancaster at 1:27 a.m. found a one-story home in flames, according to the Los Angeles County sheriff and fire departments.

Forest Service and other agencies each year drop tens of millions of gallons of fire retardant, mostly an ammonium phosphate-based slurry called Phos-Chek, around wildfires to coat vegetation and slow the spread of flames.

In the early dawn of that May morning, as the New England men stood guard over the flames, five hundred men, women, and children were slowly burned alive.