Quite a fire we have burning here....

TMT


Raging Calif. fires burn scores of homes By ALLISON HOFFMAN and
GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writers

Wildfires blown by fierce desert winds Monday reduced hundreds of
Southern California homes to ashes, forced hundreds of thousands of
people to flee and laid a hellish, spidery pattern of luminous orange
over the drought-stricken region.

At least one person was killed and dozens were injured. At least 655
homes burned - about 130 in one mountain area alone - and 168
businesses and other structures were destroyed. Thousands of other
buildings were threatened by more than a dozen blazes covering at
least 240,000 acres, the equivalent of 374 square miles.

"The sky was just red. Everywhere I looked was red, glowing. Law
enforcement came barreling in with police cars with loudspeakers
telling everyone to get out now," said Ronnie Leigh, 55, who fled her
mobile home in northern Los Angeles County as smoke darkened the sky
over the nearby ridge line.

Soon after nightfall, fire officials announced that 500 homes and 100
commercial properties had been destroyed by a fire in northern San
Diego County that exploded to 145,000 acres, said Roxanne Provaznik, a
spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry. The fire
injured seven firefighters and one civilian, and was spreading
unchecked.

A pair of wildfires consumed 133 homes in the Lake Arrowhead mountain
resort area in the San Bernardino National Forest east of Los Angeles,
authorities said. Hundreds of homes were lost in the same community
fours years ago.

Firefighters - who lost valuable time trying to persuade stubborn
homeowners to leave - had their work cut out for them as winds gusting
to 70 mph scattered embers onto dry brush, spawning spot fires.
California officials pleaded for help from fire departments in other
states.

"A lot of people are going to lose their homes today," San Diego Fire
Capt. Lisa Blake predicted earlier.

At least 14 fires were burning in Southern California, said Patti
Roberts, a spokeswoman for the Governor's Office of Emergency
Services.

From San Diego to Malibu, more than 150 miles up the coast, at least
265,000 people were warned to leave their homes. More than 250,000
were told to flee in San Diego County alone.

"It's probably closer to 300,000," said County Supervisor Ron Roberts.

Hundreds of patients were moved by school bus and ambulance from a
hospital and nursing homes, some in hospital gowns and wheelchairs.
Some carried their medical records in clear plastic bags.

A 1,049-inmate jail in Orange County was evacuated because of heavy
smoke. The prisoners were bused to other lockups.

In San Diego County, where at least four fires burned, more than
200,000 reverse 911 calls - calls from county officials to residents -
alerted residents to evacuations, said County Supervisor Roberts.

About 10,000 of them ended up at Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL's
Chargers, where thousands of people huddled in eerie silence during
the day Monday, staring at muted TV news reports of the wildfires. A
lone concession stand served coffee and doughnuts. Many gathered in
the parking lot with their pets, which were banned from the stadium.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived later Monday to a more festive
evening atmosphere, with live music and mountains of catered food. The
crowd hooted and hollered as he passed through, and Schwarzenegger
later declared that the people of this makeshift city "are very
happy."

The sprawling Del Mar Fairgrounds on the coast was also turned into an
evacuation center, along with high schools and senior centers. Marine
officials at Camp Pendleton opened their base to residents.

At least one of the fires, in Orange County, was believed to have been
set. And a blaze threatening the homes of the rich and famous in
Malibu might have been caused by downed power lines, authorities said.

Mel Gibson, Kelsey Grammer and Victoria Principal were among the
celebrities forced to flee over the weekend, their publicists said.

Another blaze was started by a car fire. Flying embers started new
fires at every turn. One of the San Diego fires was burning so fast
that authorities did not have an accurate count of how many homes had
been destroyed.

"It was nuclear winter. It was like Armageddon. It looked like the end
of the world," Mitch Mendler, a San Diego firefighter, said as he and
his crew stopped at a shopping center parking lot to refill their
water truck from a hydrant near a restaurant. Asked how many homes had
burned, he said, "I lost count."

Tom Sollie, 49, ignored evacuation orders in Rancho Bernardo to help
his neighbors spray roofs on his street with water. His home was
untouched, but he watched a neighbor's house reduced to nothing but
the remnants of a brick chimney. "The house went up like a Roman
candle," Sollie said.

He added: "If we weren't here, the whole neighborhood would go up.
There just aren't enough fire trucks around."

Parts of seven California counties were ablaze. By nightfall, embers
had ignited spot fires in ultrawealthy Rancho Santa Fe, a suburb north
of San Diego. The fires burned in lemon orchards, their smoke choking
the air around gated mansions.

Firefighters complained that their efforts to stop the flames were
delayed when they were confronted by people who refused to leave their
homes.

"They didn't evacuate at all, or delayed until it was too late," said
Bill Metcalf, a fire boss. "And those folks who are making those
decisions are actually stripping fire resources."

As flames, thick smoke and choking ash filled the air around San Diego
County's Lake Hodges, Stan Smith ignored orders to evacuate and stayed
behind to help rescue the horses of his neighbor Ken Morris.

"It's hard to leave all your belongings and take off, and the bad
thing is you can't get back in once you leave," Smith said.

"I heard the cops come by, and I just ducked," Morris said.

Besides, said Smith, "Lots of time the fire doesn't ever come. It's
come really close before. I've seen it so bad you couldn't even hear
yourself talk over the flames and ash blowing everywhere."

Black smoke blanketed much of northern San Diego and nearby suburbs as
flames hopscotched around homes in Rancho Bernardo, a community with
many elderly people, destroying one of every 10 homes on one busy
street.

Highways, canals and other features normally act as firebreaks. But
the towering flames and flying embers rendered them useless this
time.

Dozens of motorists gathered on an Interstate 15 overpass in San Diego
to watch flames race up a hillside and engulf at least a half-dozen
homes. Witnesses said they watched flames jump west across the 10-lane
freeway.

"The flames were like 100 feet high and it moved up the hill in
seconds. It was at the bottom, it was in the middle, and then it was
at the top," said Steve Jarrett, who helped a friend evacuate his home
in nearby Escondido.

Fire near the San Diego Wild Animal Park led authorities to move
condors, a cheetah, snakes and other animals to the fire-resistant
veterinary hospital on the grounds of the park. The large animals,
such as elephants, rhinos and antelope, were left in irrigated
enclosures.

The world-famous San Diego Zoo was not immediately threatened.

Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the seven affected
counties, opening the way for government aid. He also made 1,500
California National Guardsmen available, and San Diego Mayor Jerry
Sanders said the troops' main focus would be to prevent looting and
help with evacuations.

"Its a tragic time for California," the governor said in Malibu, where
a church, homes and a mansion resembling a medieval castle were
destroyed over the weekend.

White House deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said in an e-mail
that President Bush called Schwarzenegger to make sure the state is
getting the help it needs.

One person died in one of the fires near San Diego. More than a dozen
people were hospitalized with burns and smoke inhalation, including
four firefighters, three of whom were listed in critical condition,
officials said. Some of the injured were hikers, while others may be
illegal immigrants.

Among the evacuees were members of a National Guard unit that had to
flee its barracks, officials said.

Flames forced the evacuation of the San Diego community of Ramona,
which has a population of about 36,000.

Christine Baird, 42, was ordered to evacuate her apartment in the
Rancho Bernardo area at 5:30 a.m. She moved to California from Canada
earlier this year.

"Instead of snow we had ash all over the car," she said. "This is all
new for me. We've got no family in the area, so there's really nowhere
else to go."

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Chelsea J.
Carter and Jeremiah Marquez in Los Angeles, Jacob Adelman in Santa
Clarita, and Elliot Spagat and Scott Lindlaw in San Diego; and
National Writer Martha Mendoza in Lake Arrowhead.