5 killed in Esperanza fire to get highway memorial
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The State Assembly this week approved a resolution that cleared the way to designate a 30-mile stretch of Highway 243 between Banning and Mountain Center as the “Esperanza Firefighters Memorial Highway.”
The road will honor the five U.S. Forest Service firefighters who were overrun by flames while fighting a more than 40,000-acre, arson-caused blaze west of Palm Springs in October.
The Assembly unanimously passed the resolution, sponsored by Assemblyman John J. Benoit, (R-Palm Desert), Monday.
The Senate had previously approved the measure.
Private donors will pay for signs along the highway and at least one memorial.
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