Murder charges filed in deaths of California firefighters

POSTED: 5:37 p.m. EST, November 2, 2006

RIVERSIDE, California (AP) -- Authorities on Thursday filed murder and arson charges carrying the death penalty against a man suspected of setting a Southern California wildfire last week that killed five firefighters.

The suspect, Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, was in police custody after he was arrested in connection with two June fires in the Banning Pass area, a windy corridor that carries Interstate 10 between mountain ranges west of Palm Springs.

October's blaze was the deadliest for firefighters since 14 were killed in July 1994 near Glenwood Springs, Colorado, according to the National Interagency Fire Center statistics. (Fire victims) >>>cont

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