Lois Rufer was taken on a short ride aboard the Seagrave, the Huntington Beach Fire Department’s refurbished original motorized fire engine, on Thursday afternoon, July 17.

The 102-year-old woman — Rufer is 102.5 years old to be exact, because it’s important to count the months, she said — remembered reading about the vintage fire engine in an Orange County Register article. She mentioned it to her family, and her son Dan reached out to the department to arrange a meeting between the two.

“They wanted to know if I’d be able to ride in it, and I said, ‘I thought I’d be driving it,’” Rufer joked.

Though she’s not licensed to drive a fire truck, she did still have a valid driver’s license at her previous birthday. She was still elated to occupy one of the engine’s two seats, ringing the bell and using the hand-crank horn as it circled the parking lot of the Central Net Training Facility.

The Seagrave was purchased for $14,500 in 1922, Captain Rex Rysewyk said. Though that was a steep price back then, it still pales in comparison to modern fire engines that cost upwards of a million dollars, according to city spokesman Corbin Carson.

“It’s the first non-horse-driven fire apparatus that the city purchased,” Rysewyk said.

The Seagrave was in service from 1923 to 1966 at Huntington Beach’s original firehouse on 5th and Main streets, before being handed over to Los Angeles’ Travel Town Museum. It remained there until 2002, when former Fire Chief Michael Dolder brought it home in exchange for a forklift. The Huntington Beach Firefighters’ Association then purchased it in 2007 and began a 15-year-long restoration project.

The engine was initially stored in a garage at the Boeing Co. complex before being moved to a Huntington Beach fire station to continue restoration.

Built with a single purpose — to get a pump to the scene — the 1922 Seagrave had just two seats: one for the driver and one for a passenger. The rest of the volunteer crew, which included six or more firefighters, rode on the tailboard or gripped the side rails. Today’s engines carry four to six crew members in an enclosed cab and weigh nearly 40,000 pounds — more than three times the estimated 12,000 pounds of the original. The Seagrave runs on a six-cylinder gasoline engine with a 1,020-cubic-inch displacement and a 120-horsepower centrifugal pump rated at 750 gallons per minute.

While sanding the hood, they uncovered the “crown jewel” of the engine — the original hand-painted murals of a ship and a lighthouse decorating the sides of the Seagrave.

They wondered if, beneath a sticker of the department logo and layers upon layers of primer, there was something special, Rysewyk said. They decided to pull the sticker and start sanding the hood.

“We saw a little bit of color finally, and at that point, we knew we had a gem of original artwork on the hood,” Rysewyk said. “That was probably one of the most monumental things of this whole project.”

As part of the restoration, the name “The Hib” was added to the side of the engine in honor of Harry Hibler Sr., who served as chief of the city’s volunteer fire department in the 1920s.

The restoration ultimately cost more than $100,000, funded entirely through donations and community contributions, Carson said. The Seagrave can now be visited by appointment at the Huntington Beach Firefighters’ Association office.

“Seeing (Rufer) elated and having these two historians with each other is pretty satisfying for me — probably more so than the actual restoration process,” Rysewyk said. “Someone appreciating this, that’s as old as this… You don’t get that opportunity ever.”

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misspelled Lois Rufer’s name.

At around 7 a.m., officers responded to a report of a dead body in the 8200 block of Van Nuys Boulevard, south of Rose Boulevard, department spokesman Officer Charles Miller said.

Broadcast reports indicated the child was found inside a trash bin.

The Juvenile Division-Abused Child Unit is investigating the death.

The investigators are canvassing the surrounding area in search of surveillance footage and potential witnesses, Miller said. It wasn’t immediately known if the boy had been reported missing.

Medical examiners were on scene working to determine the cause of death.

No further information was immediately available.

Passers-by interviewed by a videographer with RMG News were shocked to learn about the discovery.

David Garcia told the videographer he was on his way to get breakfast on Saturday morning when he noticed the police vehicles and the white tent that authorities had set up near some dumpsters in the otherwise empty lot.

He noted that the area, with a fence around it, is typically locked, and asked, “Who does this to a 3- or 4-year-old?”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

City News Service contributed to this report.

In Buena Park, an 8-year-old girl died after an illegal firework display malfunctioned and misfired, igniting additional illegal fireworks near the child.

In Pacoima, a man died and a woman was critically injured in a house fire linked to fireworks, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

And in Laguna Beach, a 13-year-old was arrested on suspicion of setting off fireworks that sparked the Rancho Fire, which burned four acres and forced evacuations.

Many police and fire stations logged a steep rise in calls for service on the holiday, though year-over-year comparisons were mostly unavailable, and some departments said they saw less.

San Bernardino County Fire saw a dramatic spike in calls, responding to 778 incidents on July 4 — more than twice the 359 calls handled on June 4. Fire-related calls alone jumped from 23 to 207.

“We didn’t have a single area that didn’t have a serious uptick in calls for service,” said department spokesperson Eric Sherwin. “It was a very busy day countywide for us.”

To prepare for the holiday, the department began interdiction efforts in May, anticipating the influx of illegal fireworks brought in from out of state. Fire personnel were stationed at agricultural inspection sites along the 15 and 40 freeways, where they issued 105 citations and seized more than 28,000 pounds of illegal fireworks, Sherwin said.

“If you can get one person to think twice and it stops a house from burning down or a child from being injured, it’s worth it,” he said.

Additional efforts on the holiday led to 10 more citations and the seizure of another 230 pounds of fireworks. Despite the surge in calls, the department said, there were no major incidents or fatalities reported there.

Fullerton fire officials also reported an elevated call volume, with more fire-related incidents than usual for a single day. Santa Ana police said they received hundreds of fireworks complaints – but said activity was slightly lower than in previous years.

The Riverside Police Department issued more than 60 citations for illegal fireworks use on Independence Day — more than twice as many as last year, according to Officer Ryan Railsback.

For the first time, drones supported real-time enforcement, allowing officers to spot and document illegal fireworks activity as it happened — even in cases where individuals dispersed before officers could arrive on foot. Railsback said the increase in citations was largely due to the department’s ability to spot and document illegal activity as it happened.

“We’re not focused on the families having an Independence Day party doing sparklers — little stuff — on their property,” Railsback said. “We’re talking about those commercial-grade, illegal fireworks — the ones you’re not allowed to have in California.”

Fines are being mailed this week to property owners, some of whom may not yet realize they were cited.

Hemet also deployed drones for the first time as part of its Fourth of July enforcement efforts. The department received over 160 fireworks-related calls, along with dozens more tips submitted through a dedicated reporting line.

Nineteen citations were issued, and numerous illegal fireworks were confiscated — many before they could be ignited.

Long Beach received 646 fireworks-related reports on Independence Day — a 4% decrease from 2024, city officials said. The drop followed the launch of the city’s Celebrate Safely campaign, which aimed to educate residents about the dangers of fireworks, how to report violations, and tips to ensure a safe holiday.

Authorities responded just after 2:50 p.m. to the ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains. Camp staffers were giving aid to several people.

The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Four other people were injured: an 11-year-old girl, who was airlifted to a hospital with a broken leg; a 5-year-old boy who was cut on his head; a 22-year-old man who was bruised on his head and arms; and a 73-year-old man who sustained a concussion.

The group had been getting some shade from beneath the tree when a branch snapped, according to the department. People reported hearing a loud crack before the branch, estimated to be between 25 and 30 feet long, suddenly fell from the oak tree.

“This is a profoundly difficult time for our entire MRCA (Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority) community and the parks community of the Santa Monica Mountains,” the authority said in a statement. “We grieve alongside the family and are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.”

Jill Ettinger said her 11-year-old daughter, Imogene, had started at Camp Wildcraft as a junior counselor on Monday, and was in the group of campers standing beneath the tree, preparing to be dismissed for the day when the branch fell. The girl sustained a minor foot injury while running away.

Ettinger said that enrolling her daughter in this camp had been an effort to repair her relationship with nature, after Imogene’s father lost his house in the Eaton fire in Altadena.

“We were drawn to the combination of nature and art and that it was outside all day,” Ettinger said. “It was a little bit of healing for her after being the victim of a wildfire in January.”

Imogene witnessed camp staff giving the 8-year-old victim CPR, she said. Ettinger also said her daughter saw one of the camp owners suffering from a head injury.

It is, unfortunately, not the only fatal accident that Imogene has witnessed at a summer camp. Ettinger said that her daughter saw a fellow camper drown at a summer camp in Altadena seven years ago.

Ettinger said the ordeal has her doubting the safety of Los Angeles County summer camps and rethinking her decision to enroll Imogene in any future summer camps.

She added, “It seems unbelievable that a girl who is not even 12 years old has witnessed two fatalities during a day camp.”

The man, identified as Earl Decastro, posted a $25,000 bail after his arrest on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, Buena Park police Lt. Jon-Michael Shaddow said.

Decastro was hosting a Fourth of July party, and the victim was the daughter of a family friend, police said Saturday.

A Buena Park police news release described what investigators said happened:

“Through initial investigation, a large illegal fireworks display, which was placed in the street by the homeowner, failed and began misfiring toward the residence where the child was. This caused other illegal fireworks to ignite, which were near the child and others.”

The girl, identified as Jasmine Nguyen of Anaheim, was taken to UCI Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Charges are pending review by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, police said.

A man who answered the door at Decastro’s home on Cornflower Circle on Sunday afternoon said Decastro declined to be interviewed.

“He’s grieving right now,” the man said, “and it’s a really hard time for him.”

A memorial with a white cross, heart-shaped balloon, bouquets of flowers and some candles was taking shape at the end of the cul-de-sac.

This report will be updated when additional information becomes available.

8-year-old Anaheim girl dies after fireworks explosion in Buena Park; homeowner arrested

Just before 9:45 p.m., Buena Park police officers were patrolling the 8000 block of Cornflower Circle after observing a large number of fireworks being detonated in the area. The officers saw family members “frantically” carrying a child into a home, and they immediately stopped to assist, police said in a news release.

Also see: 46-year-old Buena Park man posts bail after fireworks blast that killed 8-year-old girl

The girl had suffered critical injuries consistent with a fireworks-related explosion, police said. Officers performed life-saving measures before the child was taken to UCI Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead.

The homeowner was hosting a Fourth of July party at the residence, and the victim was the daughter of a family friend, Lt. Jon-Michael Shaddow said.

The girl was identified as Jasmine Nguyen, of Anaheim, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Gerard McCann said.

“Through initial investigation, a large illegal fireworks display, which was placed in the street by the homeowner, failed and began misfiring toward the residence where the child was,” the release said. “This caused other illegal fireworks to ignite, which were near the child and others.”

The other people present did not sustain significant injuries, according to authorities.

The homeowner, who was not identified, was arrested, and charges are pending review by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Police are working with Orange County Fire Authority investigators and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad.

On Saturday afternoon, a woman who said her husband’s family has owned a home in the area since the 1960s told KTLA that the community is known for holding exuberant July 4th celebrations, including having barbecues in the middle of the street.

“We were just walking up and down the streets yesterday, looking at all the celebrations,” she said. “And there’s over 100 people that ride bicycles that are all decorated red, white and blue … It’s just sad that something so terrible had to happen on such a wonderful day.”

California authorities announced that over 600,000 pounds of illegal fireworks and explosives were seized leading up to July 4th – more than double the amount confiscated in all of 2024.

Last year, there were 11 deaths related to fireworks in the U.S., most involving misuse and device misfire/malfunctions, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission. An estimated 14,700 people were injured by fireworks in 2024 – up 38% in deaths and about 52% in injuries, respectively, from 2023.

In Pacoima on Thursday, a fireworks explosion led to a fire that killed one man and injured a woman, displaced 18 people and damaged several homes.

Buena Park allowed so-called safe and sane fireworks on July 4th. The city also had encouraged residents to report if they saw illegal fireworks possessed, sold or set off.

This is a developing story. More will be added as information becomes available.

The collision occurred on May 9, 2024 around 4:30 p.m. near Culver Drive and Trabuco Road. Irvine police investigators determined that a Honda Civic turned right on a red light onto Culver Drive, forcing a Toyota Corolla already in the intersection to swerve. The Toyota struck the center median, a tree and a light pole before landing on its roof.

The Honda driver fled the scene, police said.

The driver of the Toyota, 67-year-old Irvine resident Allen Yangkaou Lee, died from his injuries.

Tips from the public led detectives to the abandoned Honda on a residential street in the Great Park neighborhood on May 15.

Inside the vehicle, investigators found documents belonging to 24-year-old Francis Guadalupe Tercero-Benavides.

“Without the help of the public caring about what is going on in their community, I don’t know if we would have ever found that car,” said department spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp.

Although detectives were able to identify the suspect, locating her proved difficult. Tercero-Benavides had reportedly moved multiple times across Orange County in the months following the crash, Oldoerp said. He described the search as a “cat and mouse game,” saying that despite surveillance at each new address, officers were unable to spot her until recently.

She was arrested Thursday morning in the 1600 block of Anaheim Boulevard on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run.

Xiang Li, also known as “Lilinbo,” 42, of Chino Hills, and Bowen Zhou, also known as “Roger Zhou,” 33, of Upland, were taken into custody last week after a federal criminal complaint was filed June 17 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the FBI said.

Beginning in March 2024, a woman identified in court documents as “Victim 1” and her family member, “Victim 2,” began receiving threatening phone calls and text messages demanding $150,000 and warning they were not safe, prosecutors said. On March 15, a knife and threatening letter were left on their doorstep, according to court records.

One caller reportedly said, “You should know I know where your family lives, and we have a lot of gangsters in the L.A. area.”

The threats escalated on April 4, when six gunshots were fired at the victims’ home while one of them was inside, the complaint states.

FBI agents executed search warrants on June 3, 2025. At Li’s home, investigators recovered ammunition matching the caliber used in the shooting, a phone used to send threatening texts, and another device that had communicated with Zhou during the stalking incidents. At Zhou’s residence, agents seized a firearm consistent with the suspected weapon and a phone used to make threatening calls and contact Li, records show.

The FBI did not disclose a possible motive for the alleged stalking and threats; nor have investigators indicated whether there is any known relationship between the suspects and the victims.

Li and Zhou made initial appearances before a federal magistrate judge and were ordered held in custody. If convicted, each faces up to five years in federal prison.

The chase began after police received a report, around 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, that a man had been shot outside the Kona Inn Motel on North Brookhurst Street.

As the first officer arrived and located the victim — who had been shot in the stomach — the suspect left the parking lot in a white pickup, Sgt. Jacob Gallacher said in the video, which includes body-worn camera footage and is part of a standard critical incident report reviewing a police shooting.

Police caught up with the Chevrolet Silverado near Monterey Street and Lincoln Avenue. The driver, later identified as 51-year-old Danny Lee Cuelho of La Habra, did not yield to a traffic stop, marking the beginning of a nearly 50-minute pursuit that wound through Anaheim, Buena Park, Fullerton, Orange and Santa Ana.

Cuelho reached speeds of up to 100 mph, ran red lights, and drove on the wrong side of roads and the 91 Freeway, Gallacher said.

Warning: This video may be disturbing to some viewers.

Police used several tactics to stop the truck, including deploying spike strips, attempting PIT maneuvers, and ramming the vehicle, he added.

Aerial footage shows Cuelho driving on the wrong side of State College Boulevard. It also captures a patrol car attempting a PIT maneuver, but the suspect continues. Shortly after, Cuelho is seen driving through a red light into oncoming traffic.

When the truck becomes stuck in traffic at a red light, one patrol car tries — unsuccessfully — to push it to the side of the street.

Cuelho’s tires begin to come apart as he keeps driving, with footage showing sparks flying from the pavement. Around 8:30 p.m., one of the truck’s tires comes off entirely, but Cuelho continues on.

“He keeps driving into us when we go for the PIT,” someone is heard saying over the police radio. “He’s trying to actively hit the units.”

Police finally bring the truck to a stop with a PIT maneuver on the 1700 block of West Memory Lane in Santa Ana.

As officers boxed in the truck, Cuelho stepped on the gas, Gallacher said, causing the tires to spin and smoke.

The video shows the suspect then appears to lean out of the window with something in his hand.

Gallacher said the man was motioning to officers through the driver’s side window while holding an object. Then, police shot him.

One officer can be heard repeatedly shouting, “Stop!” before shots are fired.

As bullets strike the vehicle, several officers yell at the suspect to stop moving and put his hands up.

In total, eight officers fired their weapons, Gallacher said.

A passenger in the truck was not struck and was taken into custody.

Paramedics were called to the scene, and body-worn camera footage shows an officer performing chest compressions on Cuelho.

A preliminary search of the truck did not reveal a firearm, Gallacher said. However, after a search warrant was issued, officers located a handgun inside the vehicle. It’s unclear exactly where the gun was found, but police confirmed it matched the one used in the earlier shooting at the motel.

As of June 27, police still did not know what object Cuelho was holding at the time of the shooting, Gallacher said.

Cuelho had a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for vehicle theft, armed robbery, drug possession and sales, gang involvement, and hit-and-run, according to police.

It was not immediately clear whether investigators had determined a motive for the initial shooting or Cuelho’s connection with the victim. The passenger’s involvement also remains unknown.

A use-of-force investigation is ongoing, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office will review the case.

“The location has been repeatedly used to harbor illegal entrants linked to terrorism,” CBP said in a statement.

Earlier this week, seven Iranian nationals were taken into custody at the same home, including people listed on the FBI terror watch list and others believed to be connected with an Iranian human trafficking network, the agency said.

Officials have not identified the suspects. Nor did they provide the address of the home.

Fox11 reported that the house is in North Hills. ABC7 said it’s in Van Nuys.

The nation has been at a heightened level of security since the U.S. military’s strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities by B-2 stealth bombers and Tomahawk cruise missiles on Saturday.

No additional information was immediately available on the San Fernando Valley raid.