WASHINGTON (AP) — The devastating wildfires scorching Southern California offer a glimpse of a warmer and more fiery future, according to scientists and federal and international reports.

In the past three months, at least three different studies and reports have warned that wildfires are getting bigger, that man-made climate change is to blame, and it's only going to get worse with more fires starting earlier in the year. While scientists are reluctant to blame global warming for any specific fire, they have been warning for years about how it will lead to more fires and earlier fire seasons.

"The fires in California and here in Arizona are a clear example of what happens as the Earth warms, particularly as the West warms, and the warming caused by humans is making fire season longer and longer with each decade," said University of Arizona geoscientist Jonathan Overpeck. "It's certainly an example of what we'll see more of in the future."

Since 1984, the area burned by the West's largest wildfires — those of more than 1,000 acres — have increased by about 87,700 acres a year, according to an April study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. And the areas where fire has been increasing the most are areas where drought has been worsening and "that certainly points to climate being a major contributor," study main author Philip Dennison of the University of Utah said Friday.

The top five years with the most acres burned have all happened in the last decade, according to federal records. From 2010-2013, about 6.4 million acres a year burned on average; in the 1980s it was 2.9 million acres a year.

"We are going to see increased fire activity all across the West as the climate warms," Dennison said.

That was one of a dozen "key messages" in the 841-page National Climate Assessment released by the federal government earlier this month. It mentioned wildfires 200 times.

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A helicopter transporting water flies over trees during a wildfire Thursday, May 15, 2014, in Escond …

"Increased warming, drought and insect outbreaks, all caused by or linked to climate change have increased wildfires and impacts to people and ecosystems in the Southwest," the federal report said. "Fire models project more wildfire and increased risks to communities across extensive areas."

Likewise, the Nobel prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted in March that wildfires are on the rise in the western U.S., have killed 103 Americans in 30 years, and will likely get worse.

The immediate cause of the fires can be anything from lightning to arson; the first of the San Diego area fires, which destroyed at least eight houses, an 18-unit condominium complex and two businesses, seemed to start from sparks from faulty construction equipment working on a graded field, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff.

But the California fires are fueled by three major ingredients: drought, heat and winds. California and Arizona have had their hottest first four months of the year on record, according to National Weather Service records. Parts of Southern California broke records Thursday, racing past 100 degrees. For the past two weeks the entire state of California has been in a severe or worse drought, up from 46 percent a year ago, according to the U.S. drought monitor.

"With the drought this year, we're certainly going to see increased frequency of this type of event," Dennison said. "Because of the drought the fuels (dry plants and trees) are very susceptible to burning."

Another study last month in Geophysical Research Letters linked the ongoing drought to man-made climate change. Other scientists say that is not yet proven.

Scientists will have to do a lot of time-consuming computer simulations before they can officially link the drought to climate change. But Overpeck said what is clear is that it's not just a drought, but "a hot drought," which is more connected to man-made warming.

The other factor is the unusual early season Santa Ana winds, whose strength is a key factor in whipping the flames. So far, scientists haven't connected early Santa Ana to climate change, Dennison said.

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Online:

The National Climate Assessment: http://www.globalchange.gov

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Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

ISTANBUL (AP) — Three people were arrested on charges of negligence in the Turkish mining disaster that killed 301 people, a prosecutor said Sunday. The suspects are among 19 people still in custody.

Prosecutor Bekir Sahiner said the three were also accused of the crime of causing the death of more than one person, a charge that doesn't imply intent. In a news conference in Soma, where the disaster took place, he said that one of those arrested was the company's operations manager. The manager is Akin Celik, though Sahiner didn't name him.

A total of 25 people were initially detained and six of them have been released, Sahiner said.

The charges can lead to sentences of between three and 15 years in prison, according to the Turkish penal code.

Other company executives were among the detained as Turkish officials investigate the mining disaster. The Dogan news agency reported earlier that Ramazan Dogru, general manager of the mine owned by Soma Holding was detained.

Government and company officials have insisted that the mine was inspected regularly and negligence wasn't a factor in Tuesday's tragedy. But reacting to widespread public anger, government officials promised to investigate and pledged that any mine officials found to be negligent would be punished.

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Several hundred members of the Union of Turkish Youth wear miner's helmets during a march to com …

The suspects are among the 25 people detained in the accident that killed 301 workers.
Negligence

BRCKO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Floodwaters triggered more than 3,000 landslides across the Balkans on Sunday, laying waste to entire towns and villages and disturbing land mines leftover from the region's 1990s war, along with warning signs that marked the unexploded weapons.

The Balkans' worst flooding since record keeping began forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and threatened to inundate Serbia's main power plant, which supplies electricity to a third of the country and most of the capital, Belgrade.

Authorities organized a frenzied helicopter airlift to get terrified families to safety before the water swallowed up their homes. Many were plucked from rooftops.

Floodwaters receded Sunday in some locations, laying bare the full scale of the damage. Elsewhere, emergency management officials warned that the water would keep rising into Sunday night.

"The situation is catastrophic," said Bosnia's refugee minister, Adil Osmanovic.

Three months' worth of rain fell on the region in three days, producing the worst floods since rainfall measurements began 120 years ago. At least two dozen people have died, with more casualties expected.

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Bosnian people prepare sandbags to protect the city from flooding near Orasje 200 kms north of Saraj …

The rain caused an estimated 2,100 landslides that covered roads, homes and whole villages throughout hilly Bosnia. Another 1,000 landslides were reported in neighboring Serbia.

The cities of Orasje and Brcko in northeast Bosnia, where the Sava River forms the natural border with Croatia, were in danger of being overwhelmed. Officials in Brcko ordered six villages to be evacuated.

Rescuers urged people to go to the balconies or rooftops of their houses with bright fabric to make themselves visible.

Brcko Mayor Anto Domic said that unless the Bosnian Army is able to reinforce from the air, the city will be flooded completely. He called for the Defense Ministry to use helicopters to lower steel barriers that could be backed by sandbags to contain the water.

"It is a very demanding task," he said, acknowledging that officials would have no other way to protect the port city of more than 70,000.

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Bosnian people walk on a broken road after a landslide which swept away eight houses near Kalesija, …

Civil protection commander Fahrudin Solak said the Sava River was spilling over another portion of the flood barrier in Orasje while emergency workers tried desperately to reinforce it with sandbags.

In Serbia, where floods have inundated towns and villages, authorities braced for high water that could last for several more days.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday that 12 bodies have been found so far in Obrenovac, site of the coal-fired Nikola Tesla power plant, Serbia's biggest.

Parts of the plant and a nearby mine that provides its fuel were underwater.

Serbia's state power company, EPS, said crews were doing all they could to prevent any further damage to the plant. Damage to the mine alone is estimated at more than 100 million euros ($137 million).

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Bosnian people are rescued from their flooded houses by boat in the village of Vidovice near Orasje …

Serbia's energy minister, Aleksandar Antic, appealed to people to conserve power, calling the threat to the plant "very serious."

The floods and landslides raised fears about the estimated 1 million land mines planted during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. Nearly 120,000 of the unexploded devices remain in more than 9,400 carefully marked minefields. But the weather toppled warning signs and, in many cases, dislodged the mines themselves.

Beyond the immediate danger to Bosnians, any loose mines could also create an international problem if floodwaters carry the explosives downstream. Experts warned that mines could travel through half of southeast Europe or get stuck in the turbines of a hydroelectric dam.

From the air, the northeastern third of Bosnia resembled a huge muddy lake, with houses, roads and rail lines submerged. Officials say about a million people — more than a quarter of the country's population — live in the worst-affected areas.

The hillside village of Horozovina, close to the northeastern town of Tuzla, was practically split in two by a landslide that swallowed eight houses. More than 100 other houses were under threat from the restless earth. Residents told stories of narrow escapes from injury or death.

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Bosnian people are rescued from their flooded houses in the village of Vidovice near Orasje 200 kms …

"I am homeless. I have nothing left, not even a toothpick," Mesan Ikanovic said. "I ran out of the house barefoot, carrying children in my arms."

Ikanovic said 10 minutes separated him and his family from likely death. He carried his 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son to safety.

He said he had secured a mortgage and moved in only last year. "Now I have nothing," he said. "Where will I go now? Where will we live?"

Semid Ivilic's house in the lower part of the village was still standing. But looking up at the mass of earth and rubble that engulfed his neighbors' homes, he said he was worried.

"Nobody is coming to help us," he said.

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Bosnian people are rescued from their flooded houses in the village of Vidovice near Orasje 200 kms …

The final person to evacuate a village near Brcko said he had lost everything he valued.

"I was the last one to leave," said 72-year-old Anto Zuparic. "I left everything behind, my cattle and everything else. I do not know what to do. I am glad I won't live much longer anyway."

More than 10,000 people have already been rescued from the town of Bijeljina in northeast Bosnia. Trucks, buses and private cars were heading north with volunteers and tons of aid collected by people in cities outside the disaster zone.

The Bosnian Army said it had 1,500 troops helping on the ground. But many bridges have been washed away, leaving communities dependent on airlifts.

Helicopters from the European Union, Slovenia and Croatia were also aiding rescue efforts.

Large parts of eastern Croatia were underwater too, with several villages cut off and hundreds still fleeing the flooded zone in boats and trucks. Refugees were being housed in sports halls and schools, and aid centers were set up to distribute medicine, food, blankets and clothing.

In Serbia, more than 20,000 people have been forced from their homes.

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Associated Press writers Aida Cerkez in Sarajevo, Marko Drobnjakovic in Veliki Crljeni, Serbia; Almir Alic in Doboj, Bosnia; Amel Emric in Brcko, Bosnia; and Sulejman Klokoqi in Horozovine, Bosnia contributed to this report.

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Bosnian floods trigger thousands of landslides

The Balkans’ worst flooding also unearths land mines left over from the region's 1990s war. 'The situation is catastrophic'

ISTANBUL (AP) — Three people were arrested on charges of negligence in the Turkish mining disaster that killed 301 people, a prosecutor said Sunday. The suspects were among 25 people who were taken into custody.

Prosecutor Bekir Sahiner said the three were also charged with the crime of causing the death of more than one person. In a news conference in Soma, where the disaster took place, he said six of those detained have been released.

Company executives were among the detained as Turkish officials investigate the mining disaster.

Government and company officials have insisted that the mine was inspected regularly and negligence wasn't a factor in Tuesday's tragedy. But reacting to widespread public anger, government officials promised to investigate and pledged that any mine officials found to be negligent would be punished.

The Milliyet newspaper said Saturday that a preliminary report by a mine safety expert who inspected the Soma mine suggested that smoldering coal caused the mine's roof to collapse. The report said the tunnel's support beams were made of wood, not metal, and the mine had too few carbon monoxide sensors.

Company officials have described safety standards as high, noting that the mine contained 50 gas sensors and employees were provided with gas masks.

On Saturday, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said rescue workers retrieved the bodies of the last two miners missing in the disaster, putting the death toll at 301. Authorities then sealed the mine entrance with bricks.

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Follow Desmond Butler at http://twitter.com/desmondbutler

The suspects are among the 25 people detained in the accident that killed 301 workers.
Negligence

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president announced plans Monday to disband the coast guard and root out corruption and collusion between regulators and shipping companies that furious citizens believe led to a ferry disaster last month that left more than 300 people dead or missing.

President Park Geun-hye's first televised address to the nation since the April 16 sinking began with a deep bow and ended with her tearfully reading the names of passengers and crew who died trying to save others. With her approval ratings plummeting ahead of mayoral and governor elections in about two weeks, the speech sought to acknowledge widespread anger over government failures as well as chart a path forward.

Most of the victims were students from a single high school near Seoul who were traveling to the southern tourist island of Jeju.

"We failed to rescue students who we could have saved," Park said. "The ultimate responsibility for not properly dealing with this incident is mine."

Park has apologized before, but critics have called for her to formally address the nation and respond to claims that incompetence, corruption and bad leadership doomed the ferry and those trapped inside it. In Monday's speech, Park decried the accumulation of "widespread abnormal practices" that she said triggered the sinking.

A focus was the coast guard, which has been under growing public criticism over allegations of poor coordination and slow search-and-rescue work during the initial stages of the sinking.

Park called the coast guard's rescue operations a failure and said she would push for legislation that would transfer its responsibilities to the National Police Agency and a new government safety agency she plans to establish.

Park Kwang-on, a spokesman for the main opposition party, said the plan to disband the coast guard gives the impression that the government is shifting all the responsibility for the sinking to the coast guard.

"The diagnosis (of the problem) is insufficient and the remedy is inadequate," he said.

The president's plans require parliamentary approval, according to her office.

Park said she would also push for separate legislation aimed at rooting out collusive and corrupt ties between bureaucrats and civilian sectors, something seen by many as a reason for the sinking. Park said retired officials have a tradition of working at the Korea Shipping Association, which oversees safety issues of ships.

The disaster has prompted soul-searching about the nation's neglect of safety as it built Asia's fourth-biggest economy from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The tragedy exposed regulatory failures that appear to have allowed the ferry to set off with far more cargo than it could safely carry.

Park's speech may grate with her major political backers in the business community who may have little interest in a major anti-corruption push, according to Robert Kelly, a political scientist at Pusan National University in South Korea.

He called it "gutsy" that she explicitly targeted collusion and the "bureaucratic mafia."

"Let's see if she has the determination to see it through and push some serious prosecutions," Kelly wrote in an email.

More than one month after the sinking, 286 bodies have been retrieved but 18 others are still missing. Some 172 people, including 22 of the ship's 29 crew members, survived.

Prosecutors last week indicted 15 crew members tasked with navigating the ship, four on homicide charges.

The ship's captain, Capt. Lee Joon-seok, initially told passengers to stay in their cabins and took about half an hour to issue an evacuation order, but it's not known if his message was ever conveyed to passengers.

The head of the company that operates the ferry, Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd., and four other company employees have also been arrested. Authorities suspect improper stowage and overloading of cargo may have contributed to the disaster.

President Park Geun-hye feels ultimately responsible for the poor response when the Sewol sank.
'We failed to rescue students'