Malibu Fires News

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2008-05-18T22:06:00.001-07:00

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Crews make progress against Malibu fire

2007-11-25T10:08:00.000-08:00

Fire crews hoped mild temperatures and gentle winds Sunday would help them solidify gains against the sprawling wildfire that destroyed dozens of homes in this upscale coastal community.

Hot, powerful winds that fanned the blaze across 4,720 acres starting early Saturday were not expected Sunday, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson said.

The fire was about 40 percent contained, with few flames visible to the three water-dropping helicopters deployed over the fire zone, Haralson said.

"Winds have subsided considerably and we're making good headway," he said.

Forty-nine homes were destroyed Saturday by the fast-moving wildfire pushed by Santa Ana winds. Twenty-seven other homes were damaged and 10,000 to 14,000 people were evacuated.

The seaside enclave had been recovering from last month's 4,565-acre Canyon Fire that destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church when the winds began whipping up again overnight Saturday.

Some residents whose property made it through last month's fire unscathed weren't so lucky this time.

"This time I lost," said a soot-covered Glen Sunyich, who watched his stucco and tile house he built in 1990 slowly burn to the ground. "It means that I didn't build it well enough."

Hundreds of firefighters and equipment from throughout the state had been positioned in Southern California for most of the week because of the predicted Santa Ana winds. Residents said they have grown accustomed to the potential fire danger when the strong gusts blow.

"Waking up at 4 in the morning with the smell of smoke in your nose and the wind beating at the windows is something that we learn to live with here, but it always comes as something of a shock," Mayor Jeff Jennings said.

All of the homes were destroyed in the fire's initial Saturday morning surge before the winds slowed and firefighters gained a foothold.

With the winds dying down considerably, an estimated half of the evacuees were allowed to return home. Full containment was expected by Tuesday, officials said.

Fifteen helicopters and 15 airplanes including a retardant-dropping DC-10 jumbo jet attacked from the air Saturday while 1,700 firefighters battled flames on the ground. Six firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Investigators had determined that the fire, which broke out along a dirt road off a paved highway, was caused by humans, but had not determined if it was started intentionally, said county fire Inspector Rick Dominguez.

Malibu, with homes tucked into deep and narrow canyons along 27 miles of coast on the southern foot of the Santa Monica Mountains, is prone to Santa Ana-driven wildfires. Among them was a 1993 blaze that destroyed 388 structures, including 268 homes, and killed three people.

Saturday's fire was west of the areas of Malibu that burned in October.

Santa Ana winds, triggered by high pressure over the Great Basin, blow into Southern California from the north and northeast, racing through the canyons and passes of the region's east-west mountain ranges and out to sea, pushing back the normal flow of moist ocean air.

Carol Stoddard said she had only a few moments to leave her home in the middle of the night as flames approached her home.

The 48-year-old freelance videographer and photographer captured some of the fire's destruction as she left. But it wasn't until she returned that she was able to survey the damage.

Her $2 million wooden home and collection of 12 uninsured cars were gone. Appearing in shock, she said she was numb.

Another resident who reportedly lost his home was Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, whose real name is Michael Balzary, property records showed.

Balzary had purchased another home in Malibu last year, but the one destroyed was for sale for $4.8 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.

For a time a hotspot flared several ridges behind Pepperdine University, but the campus did not appear to have been endangered. Helicopters used its broad oceanview lawn as a landing zone.

When the fire broke out, university officials told students to move to a campus shelter, although the school remained largely empty because of the holiday weekend.

Two high schools were set up to handle evacuees, but no one had come to one school and the other only had 20 people.

By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer

Fire strikes Malibu again

2007-11-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

The view from Latigo Canyon was dramatic, but Gerry Wersh and girlfriend Laura Bevitz had no time to take it in as they used shovels to bury hot embers from the fire that swept close to Wersh's home early Saturday.

"It was like a wall, a solid wall," Wersh, 46, said of the 75-foot-high flames driven by Santa Ana winds.

"I tell you there was one point where I thought it was gone," Wersh said as singed rock and smoldering logs littered the road in front of his still-standing home and clumps of brush continued to burn nearby.

But they were the lucky ones after flames raced through the canyons and mountains of Malibu for the second time in little more than a month.

Forty-nine homes were destroyed, 27 others were damaged, and 10,000 to 14,000 people evacuated, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman.

The fire erupted shortly before in the wee hours after long-predicted Santa Ana winds finally arrived, and it quickly grew before the winds died down. By midafternoon it was not even half contained.

Helicopters and airplanes, including a retardant-dropping DC-10 jumbo jet, attacked from the air, while hundreds of firefighters battled flames on the ground. Six firefighters suffered minor injuries.

"It's great to be able to say that we have no loss of lives," Jennings said.

Helicopters lowered hoses into pools and the nearby Pacific to refill their tanks for water-dropping runs, and SuperScooper amphibious airplanes skimmed the ocean to reload.

Hundreds of firefighters and equipment from throughout the state had been positioned in Southern California for most of the week because of the winds, which had been expected to blow most of the week but didn't arrive until late Friday.

Officials remained wary despite the decrease in wind speed.

The mayor urged residents to "listen to your radios, go outside and see which way the wind is blowing. Stay alert. Stay vigilant."

The Malibu fire broke out along a dirt road off a paved highway and there did not appear to be power lines in the area, Freeman said. Investigators were trying to determine the cause, he said.

A hotspot flared for a time on several ridges behind Pepperdine University, but the campus did not appear to have been endangered. Helicopters used its broad oceanview lawn as a landing zone.

University officials told students to move to a campus shelter as a precaution, although the school remained largely empty because of the holiday weekend.

Another fire near Ramona in San Diego County was fully contained at 50 acres. A firefighter suffered a minor cut when an air tanker dropped heavy retardant on a fire engine, breaking its windshield.

Power lines blown down by fierce winds caused last month's fire in Malibu, which destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church. That blaze was part of siege of more than 15 Santa Ana-stoked wildfires that destroyed more than 2,000 homes, killed 14 people and blackened a total of 809 square miles from Los Angeles County to the Mexican border.

Santa Anas, triggered by high pressure over the Great Basin, blow into Southern California from the north and northeast, racing down through the canyons and passes of the region's east-west mountain ranges and out to sea, pushing back the normal flow of moist ocean air.

Malibu, with homes tucked into deep, narrow canyons along 27 miles of coast at the southern foot of the Santa Monica Mountains, is prone to Santa Ana-driven wildfires. One blaze in 1993 destroyed 388 structures, including 268 homes, and killed three people.

Saturday's fire burned to the west of the portions of Malibu that burned in October.

Neighbors alerted one another, while authorities drove through Corral Canyon, a neighborhood of about 350 homes, telling people to leave.

Meredith Lobel-Angel, 51, and her husband Frank Angel, 54, said they had seen numerous fires threaten their split-level stucco home over the past decade. This time they had 15 minutes to leave and managed to take little but some clothes and their laptops.

"I ran out on the deck, and I just saw a little fire and smoke up the canyon on the ridge (about a mile away)," Frank Angel said. "By the time we evacuated it was already over the ridge. It spread faster than I've ever seen it."

Carol Stoddard, 48, a freelance videographer and photographer, captured some of the fire's destruction as trees beside her home and her collection of 12 uninsured cars burned.

"I stayed there until I couldn't breathe and the embers were flying everywhere," she said. "It was dark and I was standing around my house. I couldn't see. I couldn't grab enough stuff that was of importance like my passport."

She later returned to find that her wooden $2 million home had burned to the foundation. Appearing in shock, she said she was numb.

Robert Jablon - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

N.C. Beach House Fire Kills 7 Students

2007-10-28T20:56:00.001-07:00

OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (AP) - An intense fire ravaged a beach house packed with more than a dozen college students early Sunday, killing seven and leaving little left of the structure but its charred frame and the stilts on which it stood.

Six survivors were hospitalized and released, including one who jumped from the burning home and into a waterway, Mayor Debbie Smith said. The cause was being investigated.

``There were three kids sitting on the ground screaming,'' said newspaper deliverer Tim Burns, who called 911 after seeing a column of smoke rising from the house. ``There was one guy hanging out the window, and he jumped in the canal. I know he got out because he was yelling for a girl to follow him.''

Burns said he didn't know whether that girl was able to escape.

Officials at the University of South Carolina said six of the students who died were from the school in Columbia; the seventh attended Clemson University. The six who survived were also from USC. The private home was being used by the owner's daughter and a group of her friends, Smith said.

``These are young people in the prime of their life,'' USC President Andrew Sorensen said at a news conference. ``They had so much to look forward to, and it's just profoundly tragic.''

Students will have access to counselors, residence hall advisers and clergy members, Sorensen said. Classes will be held Monday.

Dennis Pruitt, dean of students, said the fire appears to have affected two Greek organizations - the Delta Delta Delta sorority and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Earlier in the day, a campus minister at the sorority house declined to comment, as did an adult who answered the door at the fraternity house. Messages left with the national headquarters of the organizations were not immediately returned.

The fire struck sometime before 7 a.m. and burned completely through the first and second floors, leaving only part of the frame standing. The waterfront home - named ``Changing Channels'' - was built on stilts, forcing firefighters to climb a ladder onto the house's deck to reach the first living floor.

The house was a total loss.

``We ran down the street to get away,'' said Nick Cain, a student at the University of North Carolina who was staying at a house about 100 feet away. ``The ash and the smoke were coming down on us. We were just trying to get away.''

Cain was one of the dozens of college students who filled at least four houses within a block of the burned home. Neighbor Jeff Newsome said the students were going back and forth between the houses all weekend long.

``We didn't have any big complaints,'' Newsome said. ``The lights were on all night. They were having a good time.''

Winds blowing flames over the water, and not toward any of the other residences on the tightly packed row of vacation homes, kept the fire from spreading. The intense heat kept Burns and others from attempting a rescue, although he said he had to fight to keep several of those who escaped from trying. When he approached the front door, he said, it was too hot to open.

``When I was going up to the entryway, you could hear the windows above me explode,'' Burns said. ``When I knew the flames had taken over, I don't think I've ever felt as helpless in my life.''

Some of the people in the house had been friends since high school, said Rick Wylie of Greenville, S.C., who identified his son Trip as the young man who jumped from the burning home.

``He's in shock,'' Wylie said. ``It's just an incomprehensible thing for these parents.''

Authorities erected a blue tarp to block the view of the fire scene, but neighbor Bob Alexander said he saw investigators removing bodies from the remnants of the home early Sunday afternoon.

``It's terrible to see somebody's children come out of that house this way,'' Alexander said.

Rebecca Wood, president of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity at UNC Chapel Hill, said she and about 35 other students were staying at two houses nearby and had befriended the USC students. Wood was at the home that burned as late as 1:30 a.m. Sunday, hours before the blaze struck, she said.

``I think right now most of our kids are just really shocked,'' said Wood, a senior. ``That's something that you never expect to happen - and then to stand and watch it happen is just horrific.''

The victims' bodies were to be taken to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill. Authorities from the State Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are leading the investigation, said Randy Thompson, Brunswick County's emergency services director.

The home had working smoke detectors, Smith said.

Ocean Isle Beach is at the southern end of North Carolina's Atlantic Coast, about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Only about 500 people live there year-round, but the town is home to several thousand rental and vacation homes and condos.

The burned home sits on one of a series of peninsulas, all tightly packed with homes, that are about two blocks from the beach and connect with the Intracoastal Waterway.

Associated Press Writer

Californians endure 7 days of wildfires

2007-10-27T12:54:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO - They know what the winds can do. They forecast them. Fight the fires the winds fan. Ready for evacuations that, in years past, never came. They thought they knew, until seven days of fury began a week ago.

From almost the beginning, this Santa Ana was different somehow.

Meteorologist Philip Gonsalves recognized it when he saw the smoke through the picture windows of the National Weather Service Rancho Bernardo, closing in on the office itself. He had helped forecast the tempest: an ominous combination of strong gusts, low humidity and soaring temperatures. In weather speak: red flag fire conditions. station in

Fire Battalion Chief Tom Zeulner understood it, too, when en route to his first blaze of the week, his wife called to tell him five more had begun.

Dan Crane thought it was "situation normal," his words for the Santa Ana fire season that torments Californians every October through February, when blustery winds blow out of the desert. He's lived through a half-century of them, and never once had to evacuate — not even during the two-week onslaught of 2003, when fires burned 750,000 acres and killed 22 people.

This time, he awoke to neighbors honking and smoke wafting through his windows.

By Saturday, more than a half-million acres would be gone, 1,700 homes destroyed, with the damage surpassing $1 billion.

Stunned homeowners who just last weekend were setting out Halloween decorations and watching football would find themselves sifting through kindling and ash, mumbling things like: This used to be my kitchen. This used to be my bedroom.

This used to be ...

Even a week after it all started, several thousand would remain evacuated as blazes burned on relentlessly.

There would be questions about prevention in the midst of persistent drought, lack of preparation in a fire-plagued state and whether resources were put to use as fast as possible.

But first, before all of that, came the winds.

They were different, undoubtedly, although no one could have predicted just how deadly and destructive.

___

Gonsalves is a man who usually takes things in stride, especially the weather, perhaps because he knows it so well. He knows how easily a fire can kick up when the winds get going, and computer models at work had predicted a nasty Santa Ana for days.

And so, on Sunday morning when he stepped out of church and sniffed smoke, he was hardly surprised.

"It's begun," he thought. "Here we go again."

The surprise came hours later, when Gonsalves arrived home from the gym and turned on the news.

Fires — plural — were everywhere:

The Ranch Fire, sparked at 9:42 p.m. the night before, racing through 500 acres some 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The Canyon Fire, ignited at 4:50 a.m. in Malibu, forcing 1,500 people — even Hollywood's elite — to evacuate.

The Harris Fire, begun at 9:23 a.m. southeast of San Diego, exploding to 500 acres in just over three hours.

The Witch Creek Fire, burning at 12:37 p.m. in a mountain town northeast of San Diego, consuming 3,000 acres in two hours.

At the Weather Service office in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo, Gonsalves' colleagues watched as satellite images showed plume after plume of smoke roaring over a swath of Southern California. Their computers are programmed to display wildfire hot spots as little red squares. Red squares seemed to cover the lower half of the state.

By evening, the forecasters had to shut off the air conditioning to stop smoke from seeping into the office. Back at home, on his day off, Gonsalves was thinking about what to pack — just in case his own family had to flee.

Sunday was an off-day for Zeulner, as well. He, too, had gone to church, near his home in San Luis Obispo , and was having lunch when he got word: "You guys are going."

A battalion chief with the city fire department, Zeulner commands a 20-member strike team that operates five, Type 1 fire engines, ideal for defending homes and structures. The team, when called upon, can be dispatched anywhere.

They were summoned to the Ranch Fire, to help protect homes in the tiny citrus-growing village of Piru.

"Immediate need," Zeulner had been told. In other words: Get there fast.

By 2 p.m., the caravan of engines was on the road, Zeulner monitoring AM radio for fire updates. The 33-year veteran was alarmed by what he heard. Winds were gusting from 60 to 80 mph; in some places, they exceeded 100 mph.

"That's hurricane force," thought Zeulner, who knew from experience that anything over 60 mph was unusual during Santa Ana season.

When the team arrived at the fire, they were told to bed down and be ready to work at dawn the next day. Zeulner set up camp in a park under the smoky sky, but rest was hard to come by.

His sleeping bag rocked back and forth throughout the night, the mighty winds tossing him about like a leaf.

___

Crane awoke early Monday and looked at the clock: 4 a.m. He smelled smoke coming through his bedroom window, but when he got up to shut it, he heard something on the street below. A car honking, he thought. He peered outside.

Rancho Bernardo's Lancashire Way, Crane's home for 20 years, looked like an erupting volcano.

"We gotta go!" he yelled to his wife, Sherry, still in bed. "Now!"

Their neighbor's wooden fence was ablaze, the palm trees in front of that house igniting like matchsticks. Glowing embers shot horizontally across the street. To the north and east, a line of flames lit up the ridge near a subdivision called The Trails. To the south, Battle Mountain, directly behind Crane's home, went up like a Roman candle.

Terrified neighbors roused one another with phone calls and knocks on the door, driving past police officers who cruised a nearby street, shouting through bullhorns, "Evacuate! Now!"

Elsewhere across San Diego County, reverse 911 calls alerted residents to fires that had gone out of control overnight. In a day, the Witch Creek Fire grew from 3,000 acres to 30,000, eating through the communities of Rancho Bernardo, Escondido, Rancho Santa Fe, Poway — taking out multimillion-dollar estates and modest ranch homes.

The biggest evacuation in California state history was just getting started. Some 560,000 would be forced from their homes in San Diego County alone. Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL's San Diego Chargers, was opened to evacuees in a scene reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina. The Del Mar Fairgrounds and schools housed others.

At the Weather Service office, Gonsalves arrived just after 6 a.m. to start his regular shift. He saw the smoke hanging low out the window, the line of cars snaking down West Bernardo Drive. Three hours later, the forecasters received a reverse 911.

They, too, packed up and decamped.

By nightfall, more than 500 homes had already been demolished in San Diego County. Two fires that began just that day in the mountain vacation haven of Lake Arrowhead would destroy 300 more. Elsewhere across California, more than a dozen fires were now burning, incinerating 374 square miles in seven counties.

And Monday afternoon, this warning from the Weather Service: "Strong winds are expected to redevelop tonight."

The wrath of the Santa Anas was far from over.

___

All the chatter on the radio was about San Diego. But Zeulner and his crew had their own firefight to deal with — for 4 1/2 hours Tuesday afternoon near Piru, after a blowing ember landed in steep vegetation.

They had spent much of their time doing structure protection: clearing away brush and moving wood piles stacked next to wood-sided homes, work homeowners themselves should have done in this drought-stricken state. The Ranch Fire, 1,000 acres when Zeulner first got the assignment, had grown to almost 40,000.

But he was proud that his crew had yet to lose a home.

In San Diego, Crane couldn't say the same. Tuesday, watching the news with his son at a friend's house where they'd taken refuge, he saw a reporter walking up and down Lancashire Way. Flames still burned from the remnants of some houses.

"Twenty-five homes, on this one block ... have burned to the ground," the reporter was saying.

And, then, he started reading off house numbers.

For a moment, Crane and his son thought they didn't hear 18626. Then: "635 ... 629 ... 626 ..." the reporter said.

Crane and his boy, whose own family lived a mile away but whose house survived, looked at each other.

"Now we know," Crane said.

___

Over the next two days, such heartbreaking discoveries happened again and again across the region. At a blaze farther north in Santa Clarita, Don Benson found his house and prized 1957 Thunderbird in ruins. A neighbor drove by, sending a wish for better days: "I hope God is good to you." "I believe in him," Benson called back, "but sometimes it wears thin."

Zeulner, whose team late Wednesday was dispatched to San Diego to pitch in, escorted an elderly couple to their lost home in Escondido the next day. "We're sorry for your loss," he told them. "We're here to help." What else could he say?

Even as President Bush arrived on Thursday, offering words of comfort, there was more devastating news: A 58-year-old mortgage broker and his 55-year-old wife, a teacher, were found in the rubble of an Escondido home. Another 52-year-old man died after refusing to leave his house during evacuations. The charred remains of four others, believed to be illegal immigrants, were found in the woods near the border. Authorities were investigating whether the deaths were due to the fires.

Word that at least one of the major blazes, in Orange County, was deliberately set spread further outrage.

And still more towns faced new evacuations, among them Julian, an apple-picking hamlet in the mountains northeast of San Diego, and Jamul, a community near the border where homes can go for a million-plus.

There was, however, one reason for optimism. By Thursday night, the ruthless winds that fueled the calamity had finally died.

___

Come Friday, Gonsalves and his colleagues were back at their computers at the weather office, swapping war stories in between work about their own fire encounters. The office was unscathed, but for the lingering stench of smoke.

Gonsalves was lucky; his family never had to evacuate. One colleague remained displaced from his home in Julian, though even that evacuation order had lifted by Saturday morning.

Zeulner was enjoying his first 24 hours off in five days, although, given the circumstances, enjoying hardly seemed the right word. He still had no idea when he might head home, or whether he'd miss a vacation to see his 5-month-old granddaughter.

And at 6 a.m. Saturday, he and his crew reported for yet another day of duty in San Diego.

He joked that he'd better at least be back by Dec. 28 — the day he retires from the fire department.

"I got in the fire service to help people," he said, his eyes reddening with tears because, despite so much loss, he believes he did help people this past week. "It's a good feeling."

At the remains of his home on Lancashire Way, Crane's eyes were noticeably dry of tears. Instead, there was a sense of optimism in him and the neighbors who flooded back to begin cleaning up, and returned Saturday to pick up more pieces. They exchanged hugs and "I'm so sorrys," talked about getting together, already, in the coming days to discuss rebuilding.

"Did I want to start over at this time in my life? No," 60-year-old Crane said. "But my family is fine. I'm fine."

Everything else, he said, "is just stuff. I can make it through this."

Like the soot-covered CorningWare dish, the ceramic salt shaker and his father's old circular saw that he recovered from the ashes — "little miracles," a neighbor called such precious finds, so desperately needed in a week of so few.

By PAULINE ARRILLAGA, AP National Writer

Poor air from wildfires a health threat

2007-10-27T05:40:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES - Even as many of the wildfires in flame-ravaged Southern California died down and residents returned home, lingering dust and soot-laden air made it difficult for many to breathe even a sigh of relief Saturday.

Air quality remained poor in the central San Bernardino Mountains and parts of the San Bernardino Valley, as well as swaths of Orange and Riverside Counties. In San Diego County, where only two of five major fires was more than 50 percent contained, the air was especially dismal Friday.

That worried Joe Flynn, 48, as he prepared to return home to Ramona, northeast of San Diego, after he and thousands of other evacuees sought shelter Qualcomm Stadium this week.

But the pull to get back to normal was even stronger.

"Sure I'm worried about breathing that stuff up there," he said. "It's not cool but everyone is dying to get back home."

Satellite pictures showed thick smoke continuing to hang over the entire region, affecting schools, events and the health of residents all over Southern California.

Residents staying in areas with bad air were advised to avoid exerting themselves. Children and people with heart and respiratory conditions were urged to stay indoors with the windows and doors closed and the air conditioner on.

"In the immediate aftermath of a fire, we're all at risk of the fine particulate matter we can inhale," said Julia Robinson Shimizu, a spokeswoman for Breathe L.A. "In general it's good to limit outdoor strenuous activity at least seven days after the fires have ended."

The University of California San Diego Medical Center saw an increase in patients coming in with breathing troubles they believe were related to air pollution, spokeswoman Jackie Carr said.

Mayor Jerry Sanders said the NFL's San Diego Chargers would play Sunday's game scheduled at Qualcomm. The stadium can seat more than 70,000 people.

But Ross Porter, a spokesman for the American Lung Association of California, urged fans to use caution when deciding whether to attend.

"Sometimes its better to sit quietly at home and watch it on TV," he said.

Meanwhile, about 23,000 homes were still threatened by five major blazes in three counties. Altogether, more than a dozen fires raced across more than 503,000 acres — the equivalent of 786 square miles — although many of the blazes have been contained.

At least three people — and possibly as many as seven — have been killed by flames. About 1,700 homes have been destroyed and damage estimates have surpassed $1 billion.

On Friday, tens of thousands of displaced families began returning to their fire-ravaged communities, but it will likely be months or even years before they recover what they left behind when they fled giant walls of flames.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said he would appear Saturday at an Orange County fire command post to discuss efforts to find arsonists and to warn about charlatans peddling insurance scams to fire victims.

On Friday, the governor signed an executive order he said would cut red tape by directing state agencies to aid fire victims with such things as filing for tax extensions and unemployment insurance.

On the other side of the Cleveland National Forest, residents in the Riverside County town of Corona worried that flames they had watched on the news all week might reach them. They filled an elementary school Friday to hear that there was no imminent threat. Some packed valuables in their cars, just in case.

"Your feelings are real but we want to relieve some of that anxiety," John Hawkins, Riverside County fire chief, told residents.

Also Friday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein urged Congressional leaders to provide an additional $1 billion for firefighting and fire recovery efforts.

The National Weather Service had some good news for firefighters: Winds were forecast to be light on Saturday, with highs hovering around 80 in most of the active fire areas.

Insurance industry says California wildfires won't cause premium hikes

2007-10-27T03:48:00.001-07:00

Home premium hikes not expected

As the wildfires that ravaged Southern California for five days lost momentum this week, representatives of the insurance industry said the estimated $1 billion in fire damage would have little if any impact on homeowners' rates in California or the rest of the nation.

"It's well within the range of losses we expect to see in California every few years," said economist Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute. "That means the rate in this area is already reflected with the risk associated with wildfires."

After Hurricane Katrina and the Florida hurricanes in 2004 and 2005, insurance premiums in the Gulf area and parts of Florida doubled over three years, according to institute records. When 2006 turned out to be relatively hurricane-free, the higher premiums contributed to record insurance-industry profits.

That history led Californians and industry observers to express concern that insurers might raise rates or make it tougher to get policies in high-risk areas susceptible to hurricanes, floods and wildfires.

"The insurance companies have always taken advantage of crises like this to increase premiums," said Les Brown, a Los Angeles lawyer who has sued insurance companies on behalf of policyholders. "I would imagine they will try to raise some, particularly in areas like Southern California."

Donald Light, a senior analyst with Celent, a Boston firm that advises financial service companies, said the industry might try to raise premiums for those in high-risk areas or offer more limited coverage in areas even beyond California such as the Gulf or the East Coast.

But industry representatives said Thursday that the damage from the California fires paled in comparison to the $41.1 billion chalked up to Katrina and would have little impact on rates.

They noted that in 2003, when fires caused more than $2 billion in damage in the San Diego area, rates did not spike.

Jason Kimbrough, a spokesman for the California insurance commissioner, concurred: "There was no spike."

The Washington Post

Poor air from wildfires a health threat

2007-10-27T03:44:00.001-07:00

Joe Flynn, 48, worried about air quality as he prepared to return home to Ramona, northeast of San Diego, after a stay at Qualcomm Stadium, where thousands of evacuees sought shelter this week.

But the pull to get back to normal was even stronger.

"Sure I'm worried about breathing that stuff up there," he said. "It's not cool but everyone is dying to get back home."

Satellite pictures continued to show a thick haze of smoke hanging over the entire region, affecting schools, events and the health of residents all over Southern California.

Residents staying in areas with bad air were advised to avoid exerting themselves. Children and those with heart and respiratory conditions were urged to stay indoors with the windows and doors closed and the air conditioner on.

In San Diego, the University of California San Diego Medical Center saw an increase in patients coming in with breathing troubles they believe were related to air pollution, spokeswoman Jackie Carr said.

Mayor Jerry Sanders said the San Diego Chargers would play Sunday's game scheduled at Qualcomm. The stadium can seat more than 70,000 fans.

But Ross Porter, a spokesman for the American Lung Association of California, urged fans to use caution when deciding whether to attend.

"Sometimes its better to sit quietly at home and watch it on TV," he said.

Meanwhile, about 23,000 homes were still endangered by five major blazes in three counties. Altogether, more than a dozen fires raced across more than 503,000 acres — the equivalent of 786 square miles — although many of the blazes have been contained.

At least three people — and possibly as many as seven — have been killed by flames. About 1,700 homes have been destroyed and damage estimates have surpassed $1 billion.

On Friday, tens of thousands of displaced families began returning to their fire-ravaged communities, but it will likely be months or even years before they recover the comforts they left behind when they fled giant walls of flames.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said he would appear Saturday morning at an Orange County fire command post to discuss efforts to find arsonists, as well as to warn about charlatans peddling insurance scams to fire victims.

On Friday, the governor signed an executive order he said would cut red tape by directing state agencies to aid fire victims with such things as filing for tax extensions and unemployment insurance.

On the other side of the Cleveland National Forest, residents in the Riverside County town of Corona worried that flames they had watched on the news all week might reach them. They packed an elementary school Friday and heard assurances that there was no imminent threat, though some packed valuables in their cars, just in case.

"Your feelings are real but we want to relieve some of that anxiety," John Hawkins, Riverside County fire chief, told residents.

Also Friday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein urged Congressional leaders to provide an additional $1 billion for firefighting and fire recovery efforts.

The National Weather Service had some good news for firefighters: Winds were forecast to be light on Saturday, with highs hovering around 80 in most of the active fire areas.

By NOAKI SCHWARTZ, Associated Press Writer

Calif. residents face weeks of hardships

2007-10-26T19:32:00.001-07:00

RAMONA, Calif. - With some of the worst wildfires dying down, many Southern Californians lucky enough to find their homes still standing could nevertheless face hardships for weeks to come, including polluted air, no electricity and no drinking water. Power lines are down in many burned-over areas, and the smoke and ash could irritate people's lungs for as long as the blazes keep burning.

Randy and Aimee Powers returned to this mountain community in San Diego County on Friday to find their home without electricity or water, after fire trucks drained the town's reservoir.

"It's better to be at home. We're going to stick it out and do whatever we have to do up here to survive. We'll make it through," said Randy Powers, who joined a half-mile-long car caravan on Ramona's Aqua Lane.

Residents of 10,000 Ramona homes who called the water department when they found their water turned off were greeted by a recorded phone message that said: "We are in extreme water crisis situation. No water use is allowed."

Thousands of people continued returning to their neighborhoods as shelters across Southern California began shutting down. The largest, Qualcomm Stadium, which had housed 10,000 refugees at the height of the disaster, was being emptied out and readied for Sunday's NFL football game between the San Diego Chargers and Houston Texans.

While the danger had eased considerably since the weekend, numerous fires were still burning out of control, and one in Orange County triggered renewed efforts to evacuate residents Friday.

In San Diego County, the area hardest hit, only one of five major fires was more than 50 percent contained. In the Lake ArrowheadSan Bernardino County, one of two fires that have destroyed more than 300 homes was 70 percent contained, while the other was only 15 percent contained. A blaze in Orange County that blackened 26,000 acres and destroyed 14 homes near Irvine was 30 percent contained, but it was sending up a massive plume of smoke at late afternoon. mountain resort area of

The activity of the blaze led officials to try to enforce an existing mandatory evacuation order that was ignored by some residents of isolated Silverado Canyon, said Lynnette Round, an Orange County Fire Authority spokeswoman.

Authorities believe the blaze was deliberately set and asked for help finding a white Ford F-150 seen in the area where the fire started.

In all, more than a dozen fires had raced across more than 490,000 acres — or 765 square miles — by Friday. At least three people and possibly seven have been killed by flames. Seven others died of various causes after being evacuated.

About 1,800 homes have been destroyed, and damage has been put at more than $1 billion in San Diego County alone.

Across Southern California, 60 firefighters and about 30 civilians have been injured.

One of five people who have been arrested on arson charges since the wildfires broke out pleaded not guilty Friday. Police said witnesses spotted Catalino Pineda, 41, starting a fire Wednesday on a San Fernando Valley hillside. He is not linked to one of the major blazes.

Powers headed for a Ramona park where a water distribution center was manned by the National Guard. He and his wife needed jugs of spring water for themselves and their tropical fish.

"We can't flush the toilets and we've opened up the floodgates and are letting everyone back. I'm not sure if that's a good thing," said Brad Fisher of the Ramona Community Emergency Response Team. "There's a real pioneer mentality."

About 12,600 San Diego Gas and Electric customers remained without power Friday and 675 were without natural gas, said utility spokeswoman April Bolduc. The outages were mainly in hard-hit areas like Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Fallbrook, Rancho San Diego and El Cajon.

Pollution control authorities across Southern California warned that smoke and ash are making the air dangerous. People with heart or respiratory disease, the elderly and children in those areas were urged to remain indoors.

Some people, like Robert Sanders of Rancho Bernardo, had no homes to return to. The 56-year-old photographer came back to find his house reduced to a smoldering pile of rubble. The fire-resistant box he kept his transparencies in was intact, but its contents were melted.

"I've lost my history," Sanders said. "All the work I've done for the past 30 years, it's all destroyed."

Nearby, Allen Jost and his wife, Edie, were among the lucky ones. Although 26 of 53 homes in their Lancashire Way neighborhood were destroyed, they lost only the spa on their back porch.

Wearing gloves and a respirator mask as he swept soot from his driveway, Jost predicted that hard-hit Rancho Bernardo would eventually bounce back.

"It's going to be a construction zone," said Jost, whose home was still without power and gas. "But the neighbors are already getting together and talking about getting a single source for demolition and design and all that. I think when people rebuild, they'll rebuild in a way that this'll never happen again. We're going to have nice new houses — in a year or two."

By noon, the neighborhood was bustling with people digging through the debris with rakes and shovels, trying to find something that had survived the inferno. Khosrow Motamedi dug up a Persian rug and part of his coin collection.

"So far as I know, no one wants to leave," said Motamedi, 41. "It's a beautiful place, under normal circumstances."

At a news conference, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger acknowledged it would take time to recover.

"It won't be overnight, and it won't be easy, but we won't let up until Southern California gets back to normal," he said as he announced several relief measures.

Until things return to normal, Renee Miller, seven months pregnant, was making do with one of dozens of portable toilets set up around Ramona. Her children, ages 8, 5 and 3, had not had showers in four days, she said, but she was swabbing them with antiseptic hand gel found at hand-washing stations.

"They are filthy little kids today," she said.

Meanwhile, more than 100 miles away in Malibu, former major league baseball player Pete LaCock cleaned up debris at his home. Everything in the house had been damaged by smoke.

"Sheets, clothes, paintings, everything," he said. "It'll take two to three months to get back to normal."

Still, LaCock considered himself lucky. Although the Presbyterian church down the street was destroyed, firefighters managed to stop the flames at his garage and guest house. "The firemen were so great," he said.

One thing working in firefighters' favor was the weather. The sinister desert winds that gusted as high as 100 mph earlier in the week were gone and not expected to return any time soon.

Firefighters continued to battle dangerous blazes in many areas, including one that crested San Diego County's 5,500-foot Palomar Mountain, site of the world-famous Palomar Observatory. Crews cleared brush and set backfires Friday to halt the flames' advance.

The observatory, operated by the California Institute of Technology and home to the world's largest telescope when it was dedicated in 1948, did not appear to be in immediate danger, said observatory spokesman Scott Kardel.

To the southeast, a fire that had already destroyed more than 1,000 homes churned its way toward Julian. The town of 3,000, in the rolling hills of an apple-growing region, was ordered evacuated.

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

Cool weather brings relief to smoldering California

2007-10-26T10:41:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Cool, damp weather moved into Southern California from the Pacific Ocean on Friday boosting efforts to beat down stubborn wildfires, while weary families returned to find many homes unscathed but hundreds of others burned to rubble.

After six days of relentless blazes from Los Angeles to the Mexican border, most of the raging fires had either been doused or brought under relative control as the emergency turned to the long business of recovery.

At the height of the fires, some 500,000 people were evacuated from their homes. But on Friday, the few hundred remaining in the largest emergency shelter -- San Diego's Qualcomm sports stadium -- were being moved to several smaller centers. The stadium, which at one time had housed and fed more than 10,000 people, was due to close Friday.

Favorable weather should help firefighters struggling with two major fires in San Diego County and Orange County, although the flames were generally moving away from populated areas and into forests.

"Today will be the best day of the week for firefighters," National Weather Service forecaster Andrew Rorke said.

As of Friday morning, the wildfires had blackened some 800 square miles of Southern California and destroyed 2,000 homes and other structures. Losses were expected to top $1 billion in hard-hit San Diego County alone.

RANDOM BLAZES AND RECOVERY

The destruction was random, with some trees half burned and others half green. In some neighborhoods, the burned remnants of homes sat next to pristine ranch houses.

Steve Conner, 62, whose suburban San Diego home was one of 30 reduced to ruins on his block, described the moment he confronted the loss of his house and neighborhood.

"Emotionally, it was just beyond belief," the Vietnam War infantry veteran said, his voice shaking. "It's just totally wiped out. All the trees are black ... It just reminded me of Vietnam. It just reminded me of a war zone."

In parts of San Diego County, residents were told to drink only bottled water because of damage to water pipes.

As families began returning, the chances rose for more grisly discoveries. Fire officials said more bodies could be found in remote areas where people had refused to leave their homes, or who were overrun by the speed of the inferno.

Four burned bodies found in the path of the wildfires on Thursday raised the death toll, either directly from the flames or while evacuating, to at least 12 people. The four were thought to be illegal immigrants overrun by fire near the Mexican border as they walked through rugged terrain.

As officials began the massive clean-up and recovery operation, a risk firm said insured losses would likely be $900 million to $1.6 billion.

In most cases, hot, dry winds brought down power lines onto brush parched by a record drought, and erratic gusts sent embers flying, setting off new fires. At least one blaze is being treated as arson and a $250,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

Fire evacuees seek return to normal

2007-10-26T05:54:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO - The NFL stadium where thousands of displaced residents sought refuge is closing as an evacuation center, a symbolic show of progress against wildfires still menacing Southern California.

Once sheltering more than 10,000 people, Qualcomm Stadium was home to just 350 on Friday morning. It was to close later in the day.

Across San Diego County, the region hardest hit by the firestorms that began last weekend, thousands of evacuees have been trickling back to neighborhoods stripped bare of houses, trees and the familiar signs of suburbia.

The lucky ones will find their homes still standing amid a blackened landscape. Others, like Robert Sanders, are not so fortunate.

The 56-year-old photographer returned to a smoldering mound that once was his rented house in the San Diego neighborhood of Rancho Bernardo.

Among the possessions he lost to the flames and withering heat were his transparencies, melted inside a fire-resistant box, and a photograph of his father.

"I've lost my history," Sanders said. "All the work I've done for the past 30 years, it's all destroyed."

Thousands of people lost their homes this week to the wildfires that left an arc of destruction from Ventura County to the Mexican border.

In all, fires raced across 490,000 acres — or 765 square miles, an area half the size of Rhode Island. They were fanned early in the week by Santa Ana winds that produced gusts topping 100 mph.

Of the 1,800 homes lost so far, 80 percent were in San Diego County. The property damage there alone has surpassed $1 billion.

Still unsettled is whether the San Diego Chargers will play their home game against the Houston Texans at Qualcomm on Sunday. Mayor Jerry Sanders said the stadium should be ready but indicated the decision will be made by the NFL and the team.

Officials have opened assistance centers in the hardest-hit communities, where displaced residents can get help with insurance, rebuilding and even mental health counseling.

"The challenge now is starting to rebuild and getting them the resources they need to do that," San Diego County spokeswoman Lesley Kirk said Friday. "The county and city of San Diego are very committed to helping these people."

A show of the federal government's support came Thursday when President Bush toured the fire-ravaged area with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bush pledged the government's cooperation.

"We want the people to know there's a better day ahead — that today your life may look dismal, but tomorrow life's going to be better," he said.

As the governor and president witnessed the devastation, the state came under criticism for failing to deploy sufficient aerial support in the wildfires' crucial first hours.

An Associated Press investigation revealed that nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two cargo planes sat idle as flames spread, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.

The Navy, Marine and California National Guard helicopters were grounded for a day partly because state rules require all firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry "fire spotters" who coordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived, the high winds made it too dangerous to fly.

Additionally, the National Guard's C-130 cargo planes were not part of the firefighting arsenal because long-standing retrofits have yet to be completed. The tanks they need to carry thousands of gallons of fire retardant were promised four years ago.

"When you look at what's happened, it's disgusting, inexcusable foot-dragging that's put tens of thousands of people in danger," Republican U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said.

The wildfires are directly blamed for killing three people, a 52-year-old man in Tecate along the Mexican border and a couple in Escondido. Their bodies were discovered in the charred remains of their hillside home.

Border Patrol agents also found four charred bodies in what was believed to be a migrant camp east of San Diego , near the Mexican border. Medical examiners were trying to determine their identities and whether they had died in a fire that destroyed almost 100 homes.

In Orange County, local authorities, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were investigating a fire that destroyed 14 homes. It was believed to be started by an arsonist.

Even as evacuees returned home and fire crews began mop-up duties in some areas, the wildfires continued to threaten homes in others.

An aerial assault was helping firefighters corral two blazes in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles , a thickly wooded resort area where 313 homes have been lost.

Sean Clevenger's home was a rare sight — part of an oasis of seven unburned houses in a neighborhood that was largely destroyed by fire in the mountain community of Running Springs.

"I still can't believe this is my neighborhood," he said, staring across the street at a plume of flames rising from a broken gas main amid rubble.

"Right there was a red house and everything was green around it," he said. "Now I look out and I see a lot of sky through the trees."

6 burned bodies found in California

2007-10-25T23:38:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO - On a day when firefighters methodically beat back several of the wildfires menacing Southern California and thousands of evacuees were allowed home, authorities said Thursday they had found six bodies burned by the flames.

Border Patrol agents on routine patrol found four bodies in a wooded area near Barrett Junction, just east of San Diego and along the Mexican border, agency spokeswoman Gloria Chavez said. The area is near a major corridor for illegal immigrants who often walk hours or even days to cross into the United States from Mexico.

Authorities said they discovered the bodies Thursday afternoon but did not know how long ago the victims died or whether the flames were responsible for their deaths.

"They could have been out there a while," said Paul Parker, a spokesman for the San Diego County medical examiner's office. They were tentatively identified as three men and one woman.

Two bodies were discovered in the rubble of a burned home in San Diego County. Like a 52-year-old Tecate man killed Sunday in a fire along the Mexican border, the pair had been urged to evacuate.

Their deaths brought the number of people killed by flames to three, while seven died of other causes connected to the evacuations.

Flames have consumed more than 487,000 acres — about 760 square miles — and at least 1,800 homes since the weekend. About 24,000 homes remained threatened, as several major fires were no more than 30 percent contained in San Diego County and the Lake Arrowhead mountain resort area in mountains east of Los Angeles.

Despite the deaths, there were hopeful signs Thursday. Firefighters took advantage of calmer winds and cooler temperatures to launch an aerial assault on several stubborn blazes.

Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for most residential areas of San Diego and shelters emptied rapidly. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said an evacuation center at Qualcomm Stadium, which had housed as many as 10,000 people, would be closed at noon on Friday.

President Bush surveyed the damage in the hard-hit community of Rancho Bernardo, where he draped his armed around a woman who had lost her home.

"We want the people to know there's a better day ahead — that today your life may look dismal, but tomorrow life's going to be better," said Bush, who earlier declared seven counties a major disaster area, making residents eligible for federal assistance to help them rebuild.

His visit came just hours after rescue crews found the bodies of a married couple in Escondido. Neighbors told authorities they last saw the two around midnight Monday. They were reported missing sometime after that.

San Diego County sheriff's deputies on Wednesday had taken a cursory look around the couple's home and found no one inside. When the two did not turn up during the day, a search-and-rescue team was sent to the site and found one body Wednesday night and a second set of remains early Thursday.

They were identified as John Christopher Bain, 58, a mortgage broker, and his wife, Victoria Fox, 55, a teacher. A relative who did not want to be identified because she was too distraught to talk to other reporters confirmed the deaths to The Associated Press, and their names matched property records for the address where they were found.

At least 52 firefighters and about 30 other people have been injured.

In the Los Angeles area, fire crews worked to tamp out many wildfires, including two that burned 21 homes and were now fully contained. But the focus shifted to flames still raging in Orange and San Diego counties, particularly in rural areas near the Mexico border where more evacuation orders were issued.

San Diego officials said Thursday the number of homes destroyed had surpassed 1,400, about 400 more than previously reported. That would bring the number of homes destroyed in the seven affected counties to at least 1,800.

The Santa Ana winds that had fueled the flames were all but gone by Thursday, but San Diego County remained a tinderbox.

Towns scattered throughout the county remained on the edge of disaster, including the apple-picking region around Julian, where dozens of homes burned in 2003. Authorities also evacuated Jamul, an upscale community of about 6,000 in a hilly region about 20 miles east of San Diego.

David and Brandy Hradecky, who defied evacuation orders with their daughters, said a small percentage of residents stayed in Jamul and worked with firefighters to save their neighbors' homes.

David Hradecky said he spent 2 1/2 days using his bulldozer to create firebreaks around seven homes. He said his young daughters even used 5-gallon buckets to put out hot spots and quench the thirst of farm animals that had been left behind.

"Where are you going to go? They were evacuating the evacuee places. We know what to do. We took care of all the people's houses," said Brandy Hradecky.

To the north, crews were battling a 38,000-acre fire in northern San Diego County that was burning on Palomar Mountain.

Fred Daskoski, a spokesman for the state fire department, said there was no immediate threat to the mountain's landmark observatory, which housed the world's largest telescope when it was completed in 1908.

In the Lake Arrowhead area, fire officials said 16,000 homes remained in the path of two wildfires that had destroyed more than 300 homes.

Both fires remained out of control, but were being bombarded by aerial tankers and helicopters.

A 26,000-acre blaze in Orange County has been declared arson. Five people in San Diego, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties have been arrested on suspicion of arson, but none has been linked to any of the major blazes, authorities said Thursday.

A sixth man, Russell Lane Daves, 27, of Topock, Ariz., was shot to death by San Bernardino police Tuesday after he fled officers who approached to see if he might be trying to set a fire.

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer

As Calif. fires burned, copters grounded

2007-10-25T23:37:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES - As wildfires were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.

How much the aircraft would have helped will never be known, but their inability to provide quick assistance raises troubling questions about California's preparations for a fire season that was widely expected to be among the worst on record.

It took as long as a day for Navy, Marine and California National Guard helicopters to get clearance early this week, in part because state rules require all firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry "fire spotters" who coordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived, the powerful Santa Ana winds stoking the fires had made it too dangerous to fly.

The National Guard's C-130 cargo planes, among the most powerful aerial firefighting weapons, never were slated to help. The reason: They've yet to be outfitted with tanks needed to carry thousands of gallons of fire retardant, though that was promised four years ago.

"The weight of bureaucracy kept these planes from flying, not the heavy winds," Republican U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Associated Press. "When you look at what's happened, it's disgusting, inexcusable foot-dragging that's put tens of thousands of people in danger."

Rohrabacher and other members of California's congressional delegation are demanding answers about aircraft deployment. And some fire officials have grumbled that a quicker deployment of aircraft could have helped corral many of the wildfires that quickly flared out of control and have so far burned 500,000 acres from Malibu to the Mexican border.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials have defended the state's response, saying the intense winds prevented a more timely air attack.

"Anyone that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain," Schwarzenegger replied angrily to a question Wednesday. "The fact is that we could have all the planes in the world here — we have 90 aircraft here and six that we got especially from the federal government — and they can't fly because of the wind."

Indeed, winds reaching 100 mph helped drive the flames and made it exceedingly dangerous to fly. Still, four state helicopters and two from the Navy were able to take off Monday while nearly two dozen others stayed grounded.

Thomas Eversole, executive director of the American Helicopter Services & Aerial Firefighting Association, a Virginia-based nonprofit that serves as a liaison between helicopter contractors and federal agencies, said valuable time was lost.

"The basis for the initial attack helicopters is to get there when the fire is still small enough that you can contain it," Eversole said. "If you don't get there in time, you quickly run the risk of these fires getting out of control."

The first of the 15 or so fires started around midnight Saturday. By Sunday afternoon, fires were raging in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange counties.

At the request of firefighters on the ground, at 4 p.m. Sunday the state Office of Emergency Services asked the National Guard to supply four helicopters. Under state rules, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection "spotter" must accompany each military and National Guard helicopter to coordinate water drops.

The spotters have 24 hours to report for duty, and it took nearly all that time for them and the National Guard crews to assemble. By the time they were ready to go, the winds had made it unsafe to fly.

The helicopters finally got off the ground Tuesday.

Mike Padilla, aviation chief for the forestry department, acknowledged the Guard's helicopters were ready to fly before the spotters arrived. He said state officials were surprised.

"Typically we're waiting for them to get crews," Padilla said.

In a conference call with reporters Thursday, state officials rejected the notion they were ill-prepared, noting that more than 20 helicopters and airplanes were stockpiled in Southern California ahead of the wildfires because of the danger of flames erupting.

But high winds after the fires began meant "there was very little opportunity" to fly, said the forestry department's director, Ruben Grijalva.

"This is not a resource shortage on those days, this is a weather-condition problem," he said.

That explanation doesn't jibe with what U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray said state officials told him Tuesday night. Bilbray, who represents parts of San Diego, and other lawmakers were informed that 19 Navy and Marine helicopters were ready to fly, some as early as Sunday, but didn't take off because there were no state fire spotters to accompany the crews, said Bilbray's spokesman, Kurt Bardella.

Alarmed, Bilbray quickly helped broker an agreement to waive the spotter requirement, allowing flights to begin Wednesday.

"We told them, 'You don't want the public to be asking why these units weren't flying while we had houses burning,'" Bilbray told the AP.

By the time the helicopters got airborne, the area burned had quadrupled to more than 390 square miles, and the number of homes destroyed jumped from 34 to more than 700.

Criticism from Bilbray and other lawmakers on the call helped lead Grijalva on Wednesday to abandon the state's long-standing policy to have a spotter aboard each aircraft and instead let one spotter orchestrate drops for a squadron of three helicopters.

"I directed them to do whatever was necessary to get those other military assets into operation," Grijalva said.

He said he could not explain why more spotters were not deployed before the flames spread to ensure that every aircraft ready to fly could take off.

Padilla said state spotters do training exercises with the Navy and National Guard and are used to working with them on fires. That's not the case with the Marines, so when helicopters from that branch were made available, the state was caught off guard and had no spotters available.

Regardless, he said, safety — not availability of spotters — was the overriding concern in determining when to allow aircraft into the skies.

Padilla said he didn't want the Marines to participate because they "would have been a distraction" since they weren't trained.

"It's no different from me walking into Baghdad and saying, 'I'm ready to fight the bad guys,'" he said. "They would no more want me in their arenas, not being trained, prepared and equipped, than I would want them if they were not trained, prepared and equipped."

The C-130 saga is a much different story.

More than a decade ago, Congress ordered replacement of the aging removable tanks for the military planes because of safety concerns and worries that they wouldn't fit with new-model aircraft. California's firefighting C-130 unit is one of four the Pentagon has positioned across the country to respond to fire disasters.

New tanks were designed, but they failed to fit into the latest C-130s. Designers were ordered back to the drawing board. Republican Rep. Elton Gallegly said Congress was assured the new tanks would be ready by 2003.

Four years later, the U.S. Forest Service and Air Force have yet to approve the revised design. Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Paula Kurtz said "technical and design difficulties" have delayed the program.

Rohrabacher and Gallegly are angered by the delay, which has left no C-130s capable of fighting fires on the West Coast. The last of the older-model C-130s with an original tank was retired by the California National Guard last year.

"It's an absolute tragedy, an unacceptable tragedy," Gallegly said.

The situation meant that rather than deploying C-130s from inside the state, Schwarzenegger was forced to ask Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to call in the six remaining older C-130s from other states as far away as North Carolina.

None of them began fighting the fires until Wednesday afternoon.

In the meantime, the state relied mostly on smaller retardant tankers that carry about a third of the C-130's 3,000-gallon capacity.

Gallegly said such firepower was sorely needed earlier.

"I have actually flown in one and pressed the button," he said. "I know what they can do."

By AARON C. DAVIS and MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writers

Calif. fire crews aided by easing winds

2007-10-24T21:58:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO - A merciful easing of the winds fueling Southern California's sprawling wildfires finally gave fire crews a chance to fight back against some blazes Wednesday, and weary residents could take solace in an overriding sign of hope: Just one person has died from the flames.

That contrasts to 22 dead from a fire of similar magnitude in 2003. And while the final toll has yet to be tallied from this week's fires, officials were crediting an automated, reverse 911 calling system that prompted the orderly evacuation of more than half a million people — 10 times the number evacuated four years ago.

"They are more determined that people leave," said Steve Levstik, who got his call 15 minutes before flames swept through his Rancho Bernardo neighborhood.

"It was very intense. On the call, it was like, 'This area, go! This area, go!' In 2003 there was less guidance. It was like, 'Just pay attention to the news and if it looks bad, leave.'"

On Wednesday, winds dropped to 21 to 36 mph, considerably less than the fierce gusts of up to 100 mph that whipped fire zones earlier in the week.

The improving weather allowed for a greater aerial assault on the flames and helped firefighters beat back the most destructive blazes. Helicopters and air tankers dropped 30 to 35 loads of water on two fires that have burned hundreds of homes in the San Bernardino Mountains, near Lake Arrowhead.

"They're taking it down considerably," said Dennis Bouslaugh of the U.S. Forest Service.

Firefighters had fully contained the three major fires in Los Angeles County by nightfall, and largely contained many of the fires north of San Diego.

Despite the progress, none of the six major blazes in San Diego County was more than 15 percent contained, and those fires threatened more than 8,500 houses. The top priority was a fire in San Bernardino County that threatened 6,000 homes and continued to rage out of control.

So far, this week's fires have destroyed about 1,500 homes and burned more than 700 square miles across five counties, from Ventura in the north all the way into Mexico. The state Office of Emergency Services said 28,000 homes were still threatened.

Property damage has reached at least $1 billion in San Diego County alone, and President Bush signed a major disaster declaration for California. The president was scheduled to visit the region Thursday.

The death toll from the most recent blazes may rise as fires continue to burn and authorities return to neighborhoods where homes turned to piles of ash, but displaced homeowners and authorities were relieved that early reports were so low.

The San Diego County medical examiner officially listed six deaths connected to the blazes, but he included five who died during the evacuation who were not directly killed by the fire. In 2003, all but a handful of the 22 dead succumbed to the flames.

Terry Dooley, who was ordered out of his home with his wife and three sons Monday, said authorities learned important lessons from Hurricane Katrina and the 2003 California fires that wiped out 3,640 homes and blackened 750,000 acres during a two-week period.

"They learned how to get things done more quickly," Dooley said as he waited at a roadblock Wednesday to return home to San Diego's upscale, densely populated Rancho Bernardo area.

In addition to the reverse-911 system, authorities shut down schools, halted mail delivery and urged people to stay home and off the roads if they were not in danger.

Another factor separating these fire from other disasters has been wealth. Unlike many of the poor neighborhoods flooded by Hurricane Katrina, the hardest-hit areas in California were filled with upscale homes, with easy access to wide streets. Less wealthy areas — including rural enclaves and horse farms that stretch through the mountains east of San Diego — benefited from easy road access and small crowds.

On Wednesday, about two dozen people gathered at a police barricade in Rancho Bernardo, which was one of the hardest-hit areas, hoping to retrieve medications and belongings — or simply to see if their homes were intact.

What awaited many was an apocalyptic scene: entire streets leveled, cars reduced to charred hulks of metal, homes with only chimneys left standing. House after house, 29 on one street alone, were reduced to piles of blackened concrete, twisted metal and white ash.

At one point, police officers lifted a barricade into the neighborhood only to turn residents away several hundred yards down the road at a second barricade. Some of the homeowners cursed at the officers.

"You let us in just to send us back out," one angry man yelled from his car.

Dooley knew his home was OK because his home answering machine still worked.

Six of San Diego County's 42 evacuation centers were full Wednesday but there was plenty of space at Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL Chargers, where 10,000 people sought refuge. People rested on cots that lined covered walkways circling the bleachers and quietly watched television as National Guard troops watched. There were no bathroom lines.

Some displaced homeowners complained that the evacuations went too far.

Ron Morris, 68, saw smoke but no flames when he was ordered to leave a motor home park in Ramona, northeast of San Diego, Sunday night. He drove his recreational vehicle to Qualcomm Stadium's parking lot.

"It's good that everyone got out, but they did it too early in my opinion." he said.

Authorities made no apologies.

"One happy consequence" of the 2003 fires is that people remember that fire can be very unpredictable, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

"All but the most unlucky people can see the fire coming," he said. "There's no reason you should have loss of life, certainly for civilians."

The causes of many fires remained under investigation. A 30-square-mile Orange County fire that destroyed nine homes was believed to be arson because authorities found three different ignition points within a short distance.

In San Bernardino County, a motorcyclist who authorities say set a small fire in a rural foothill area of the San Bernardino Mountains has been booked for investigation of arson, but investigators said they didn't know whether he was connected to any of the larger fires.

In the city of San Bernardino, police said they shot and killed a man who fled Tuesday night when officers approached to see if he might be trying to set a fire. After a chase, the man, whose name was not released, backed his car into a police cruiser and an officer opened fire, police said.

The only confirmed death from the flames was Thomas Varshock, 52, of Tecate, a town on the U.S. side of the border southeast of San Diego. He was ordered to evacuate, but he didn't leave and authorities left him to take care of other evacuations.

Al Guerin, a San Diego County assistant sheriff, estimated only 100 to 200 people ignored evacuation orders. That included 20 people in the rural community of Jamul, near the Mexican border. Firefighters returned to save them.

Homeowners who stayed behind knew firefighters were overwhelmed and figured their lives were safe, Guerin said.

"They say, 'Yeah, OK,' and then they call you later and say 'Help! Help! Help!'" he said.

Despite road blocks in the San Bernardino mountains, east of Los Angeles, some stayed behind.

"They don't want to lose their stuff," said Running Springs resident Don Rice. "And they get overconfident. We've all made it through a lot of fires."

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer

4,500 acre Malibu fire is 80 percent contained

2007-10-24T18:45:00.001-07:00

MALIBU - Headed into Day Four, the 4,500-acre Malibu fire was about 80 percent contained today, with no active flames reported.

Six homes, including a landmark castle and at least three oceanfront homes, the Malibu Presbyterian Church and five businesses in the Malibu Colony shopping center were destroyed in the early hours of the blaze, which roared out of Malibu Canyon before dawn on Sunday.

All together, 22 structures were damaged or destroyed. The fire, which was burning east from Malibu Canyon, was halted before reaching Las Flores Canyon.

How the fire started has not been determined, but it is believed to have been sparked near Malibu Canyon and Piuma roads by power lines blown down by Santa Ana winds that were clocked at hurricane force in the area.

Some canyon roads were reopened today, and some of the roughly 1,500 evacuees were being allowed to go home.

No serious injuries were reported in connection with the fire.

Winds ease in battle against wildfires

2007-10-24T18:44:00.001-07:00

"They are more determined that people leave," said Steve Levstik, who got his call 15 minutes before flames swept through his Rancho Bernardo neighborhood.

"It was very intense. On the call, it was like, 'This area, go! This area, go!' In 2003 there was less guidance. It was like, 'Just pay attention to the news and if it looks bad, leave.'"

On Wednesday, winds dropped to 21 to 36 mph, considerably less than the fierce gusts of up to 100 mph that whipped fire zones earlier in the week.

"They're taking it down considerably," said Dennis Bouslaugh of the U.S. Forest Service.

Authorities said they had largely contained many of the fires north of San Diego, and all five fires in Los Angeles County were about 50 percent contained or more.

So far, this week's fires have destroyed about 1,500 homes and burned 674 square miles across five counties, from Ventura in the north all the way into Mexico.

"They learned how to get things done more quickly," Dooley said as he waited at a roadblock Wednesday to return home to San Diego's upscale, densely populated Rancho Bernardo area.

In addition to the reverse-911 system, authorities also shut down schools, halted mail delivery and urged people to stay home and off the roads if they were not in danger.

"You let us in just to send us back out," one angry man yelled from his car.

Dooley knew his home was OK because his home answering machine still worked.

Six of San Diego County's 42 evacuation centers were full Wednesday but there was plenty space at Qualcomm Stadium , home to the NFL Chargers, where 10,000 people sought refuge. People rested on cots that lined covered walkways circling the bleachers and quietly watched television as National Guard troops watched. There were no bathroom lines.

Some displaced homeowners complained that the evacuations went too far.

"It's good that everyone got out, but they did it too early in my opinion." he said.

Authorities made no apologies.

"One happy consequence" of the 2003 fires is that people remember that fire can be very unpredictable, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

"All but the most unlucky people can see the fire coming," he said. "There's no reason you should have loss of life, certainly for civilians."

Homeowners who stayed behind knew firefighters were overwhelmed and figured their lives were safe, Guerin said.

"They say, 'Yeah, OK,' and then they call you later and say 'Help! Help! Help!'" he said.

Despite road blocks in the San Bernardino mountains, east of Los Angeles, some stayed behind.

"They don't want to lose their stuff," said Running Springs resident Don Rice. "And they get overconfident. We've all made it through a lot of fires."

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer

Quarter-million people urged to flee as fires menace Southern Calif.; dozens of homes burn

2007-10-24T05:27:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Wildfires blown by fierce desert winds Monday reduced scores 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 in the fires, and dozens were injured. Nearly 130 homes had burned in one mountain town alone, and thousands of other buildings were threatened by more than a dozen blazes covering at least 310 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.

Firefighters — who lost valuable time trying to persuade stubborn homeowners to leave — were almost completely overwhelmed as gale-force winds gusting to 70 mph scattered embers on the dry brush. California officials pleaded for help from fire departments in other states.

A pair of wildfires consumed 128 homes in the Lake Arrowhead mountain resort area in the San Bernardino National Forest east of Los Angeles, authorities said.

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, some 265,000 people were warned to leave their homes. More than 250,000 were told to flee in San Diego County alone, where 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 taken by bus to other lockups.

In San Diego County, where at least four fires burned, more than 194,000 reverse 911 calls — calls from county officials to residents — were made alerting residents to evacuations, county Supervisor Ron Roberts said.

Many of those told to evacuate ended up at Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL's Chargers, where thousands of people huddled in eerie silence on the bleachers, staring at muted TV news reports of the wildfires. A lone concession stand served coffee and doughnuts.

Many evacuees gathered in the parking lot with their pets, which were banned from the stadium.

The sprawling Del Mar Fairgrounds on the coast was also turned into an evacuation center, along with high schools and senior centers.

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 abandon their homes 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."

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

The blazes in San Diego County and elsewhere erupted one after another over the weekend. Things got worse Monday, when several new fires erupted and other fires merged. Parts of seven Southern California counties were ablaze.

All San Diego police officers and detectives were ordered to return to work to help move people to safety and handle other fire-related emergencies.

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 over 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.

Gov. Arnold 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.

In Fallbrook, northeast of San Diego, a quick-moving fire forced thousands to flee. Marine officials at neighboring Camp Pendleton opened the base to residents.

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."

In late October and early November of 2003, 15 fires in many of the same areas killed 22 people and destroyed 3,640 homes. Ten years earlier, in October and November of 1993, 26 fires in those areas killed four people and damaged or destroyed 1,200 structures.

Mel Gibson evacuated

2007-10-24T05:25:00.001-07:00

(BANG) -Mel Gibson is the latest celebrity to flee the Malibu fires. The 'Lethal Weapon' star and his family were evacuated from their Malibu mansion as the raging blaze continues to spread.

Richard Gere - who witnessed the fire's devastation as he flew into Los Angeles for the 11th annual Hollywood Awards on Monday (22.10.07) - said: "It's as far as you could see in both directions. The smoke was actually in the plane as we flew through."

'Dallas' star Victoria Principal was also evacuated and left her home taking only her pets and some precious family photographs. The actress has donated $50,000 to the Malibu evacuation centre for food and blankets and another $10,000 to the animal shelter rescuing stray pets.

The fire is causing chaos in Hollywood.

Top restaurant Nobu - a favourite with Jennifer Aniston, Britney Spears and Victoria Beckham - has been closed since Sunday (21.10.07), but is serving meals to fire-fighters.

Filming for hit TV show '24' has been suspended after smoke blew over the location where Kiefer Sutherland and the crew were due to shoot.

Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott's bed and breakfast Chateau La Rue, which features in their reality TV series 'Tori and Dean: Inn Love', has also been hit.

Tori - who is away filming US TV talent show 'Dancing with the Stars' - said: "Our friend that is also our groundskeeper there, he got a reverse 911 call from the sheriff saying get out, so he said it's pandemonium. He's on the road now and the B+B is locked up. We cancelled guests for the week."

'Dancing with the Stars' contestant Jane Seymour's home has also been affected by the fire and many other stars homes could be at risk including Jennifer Aniston, Pierce Brosnan, Sting, Bill Murray, Robert Redford, Courteney Cox and her husband David Arquette, Tom Hanks, Richard Gere, Goldie Hawn and David Duchovny.

Sean Penn - whose land has been ravaged by the fire - has had his trailer completely destroyed in the blaze.

Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in seven counties and a piece of land the size of New York has already been burnt to the ground as strong winds continue to spread the fire.

California fire crews hope slowing winds help them control blazes

2007-10-24T05:24:00.001-07:00

Exhausted firefighters and wildfire refugees are looking forward to today's diminishing winds after days of ferocious Santa Ana's stoked 16 California wildfires.

Wind advisories expire at noon.

The Santa Ana wind siege started Sunday and sent a blowtorch of flame through communities from Santa Barbara and Malibu to the Mexico border.

The destruction is breathtaking: 410,000 acres, or about 640 square miles, burned, half-a-million people evacuated, 1,300 homes destroyed and damage exceeding $100 million.

At least 45 injuries, 21 of them to firefighters, have been reported.

One person was killed by the flames, and the San Diego medical examiner's officer listed four other deaths as connected to the blazes.

The welcome forecast of lower temperatures and lighter winds will be accompanied by an injection of additional fire crews and equipment from other states.

Frustration over the firefighting effort erupted yesterday when a fire official said not enough had been done to protect homes.

Orange County Fire Chief Chip Prather told reporters that firefighters' lives were threatened because too few crews were on the ground. He said a quick deployment of aircraft could have corralled a massive blaze near Irvine.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dismissed the criticism when questioned by an ABC News reporter.

The governor says "Anybody that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain because there's a bunch of nonsense."

Schwarzenegger says plenty of planes have been ready but it's been too windy to fly in many cases.

Last night, a new round of mandatory evacuations was ordered in the San Diego County communities of Fallbrook and Julian, an area devastated by a 2003 wildfire.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured the Qualcomm Stadium evacuation center yesterday. He says he's optimistic slackening winds will allow a greater aerial assault and help firefighters beat back the most destructive blazes.

Calif. firefighters hope winds slacken

2007-10-24T05:23:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO - After three days of a vicious firestorm, exhausted firefighters and weary residents looked forward Wednesday to a break — an expected slackening of the gale force winds that have ignited the state's largest complex of wildland blazes.

Forecasters said the Santa Ana breezes that have fanned flames across Southern California will begin to weaken late Wednesday afternoon, followed by cooling sea breezes. The series of 16 wildfires has destroyed nearly 1,300 homes.

"By Thursday, we're expecting it to be pretty much over," said Noel Isla, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's San Diego office.

The welcome forecast of lower temperatures and lighter winds will be accompanied by an injection of additional firefighters and equipment from other states. Frustration over the firefighting effort erupted Tuesday, when a fire official said not enough had been done to protect homes.

"It is an absolute fact: Had we had more air resources, we would have been able to control this fire," he said.

The fires have injured 21 firefighters and at least 24 others. One person was killed by the flames, and the San Diego medical examiner's officer listed four other deaths as connected to the blazes.

The state's top firefighter said Prather misstated the availability of firefighters and equipment. Eight of the state's nine water-dumping helicopters were in Southern California by Sunday, when the first fires began, along with 13 air tankers, said Ruben Grijalva, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection .

Grijalva said the fires, spread by winds that at times topped 100 mph, would have overwhelmed most efforts to fight them.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dismissed the criticism when questioned by an ABC News reporter.

"Anybody that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain because there's a bunch of nonsense," he said. "The fact is that we could have all the planes in the world here — we have 90 aircraft here and six that we got especially from the federal government — and they can't fly because of the wind situation."

He praised the rapid deployment of fire crews and equipment across a region from north of Los Angeles to the Mexican border. The wind-driven fires had burned 410,000 acres, or about 640 square miles, causing at least $100 million in damage.

The wildfires have led to the largest evacuation in state history, with more than 500,000 people forced to flee their homes. Thousands packed evacuation centers.

San Diego school officials announced on the district's Web site that all classes and programs would be canceled for the rest of the week "due to the continued extreme fire conditions and unhealthy air."

Late Tuesday night, officials issued a new round of mandatory evacuations in the San Diego County communities of Fallbrook and Julian, an area devastated by a 2003 wildfire. Water and power in the town were cut off.

Dozens of additional fire engines and hundreds more firefighters, as well as at least six more aircraft, were expected to arrive Wednesday from other states, mostly throughout the West.

"Crews, engines, helicopters — they're coming in from all over the country," said Bob Shidelar, a fire operations director from Northern California who was helping fight a fire in the mountains of San Bernardino County. He said firefighters there were badly understaffed.

Winds could reach 50 mph in mountain passes early Wednesday and blow erratically, presenting an especially daunting challenge to firefighters battling out-of-control blazes in San Diego County and the mountain resorts east of Los Angeles.

"There's all those fuels, just sitting there waiting," said Leonard Villareal, a San Diego fire district spokesman. "The winds kick it up and kick it up quickly, and it moves really quickly because there's all that fuel to eat."

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, touring an evacuation center at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, said he hoped the slackening winds expected late Wednesday would allow a greater aerial assault and help firefighters beat back the most destructive blazes.

"If the weather cooperates, maybe we can turn the tide," he said.

Fires Disrupt Hollywood Lives, Work

2007-10-24T05:21:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The rich and famous of Hollywood couldn't evade Southern California's devastating fires. Production on TV series was disrupted and stars traded their beachfront homes for shelter in posh hotels.

Kelsey Grammer was among those who fled Malibu, the celebrity-favored oceanfront town that also is home to Mel Gibson, Cher, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Aniston, Mel Brooks, Ryan O'Neal and more.

Grammer made light of the evacuation for the sake of his 6-year-old, Mason.

"My daughter was nervous in the beginning," he told the E! entertainment channel Monday. "I said, 'Oh, honey, it's nothing. Just relax. Come on, we're going to have some fun.' So she shined the flashlight around and we got out. ... We're safe. We got the dog, we got the kids."

His house remained untouched Tuesday, said his publicist, Stan Rosenfield.

Promises, the Malibu rehabilitation center where Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan have sought treatment, moved staff members and about 18 patients.

"We evacuated Sunday morning before the order came because the conditions there were very frightening," Promises founder and CEO Richard Rogg told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The power went out, the winds were blowing at hurricane force and you could see flames coming over the mountain top."

Rooms were booked for patients in an "upscale hotel" near the Promises facility in west Los Angeles, where staff members "regrouped and tried to keep the schedule going as normally as possible," Rogg said.

Promises, which said its Malibu facility was undamaged Tuesday, does not disclose patient names.

Malibu resident Jane Seymour was sweeping across the stage Monday on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" while her husband, actor-director James Keach, protected their house.

"The fire is close to our home, and there was a mandatory evacuation. My husband is illegally there, fighting the fire," Seymour told People magazine. She stayed focused on her performance "with great difficulty," she said.

"I actually decided to abandon my cell phone today. I told a friend if there's something I need to know, then let me know," said the actress ("Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman").

The couple's home was undamaged and didn't appear to be in any imminent danger Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman, Susan Madore.

Tori Spelling and her husband, Dean McDermott, whose San Diego County bed-and-breakfast is featured on their Oxygen channel show "Tori & Dean: Inn Love," learned Monday that the Fallbrook-area B&B had been evacuated, along with the town.

"Fallbrook is obviously very near and dear to our hearts, so we're really worried about the people that live there, there are such great people in that little town," Spelling told the TV magazine "Entertainment Tonight."

Meanwhile, Hollywood mogul David Geffen opened up his recently renovated Malibu Beach Inn to firefighters and rescue workers for free, the trade paper Daily Variety reported.

While many evacuees sought refuge in school gyms and a San Diego stadium, the well-heeled chose different accommodations.

Shutters on the Beach and the Viceroy in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills' Peninsula and Four Seasons hotels were booked for the rest of the week with guests who had fled the fires in Malibu and San Diego, hotel reservations managers told Variety.

Reservations at some of the hotels had been light until the fires erupted Sunday, the paper said.

Wind-fueled wildfires across Southern California have destroyed more than 1,300 homes, burned more than 500 square miles and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

The business side of Hollywood also was affected by the far-flung disaster, which came as studios are bracing for a possible writers' guild strike and trying to stockpile projects.

Fox's "24" was scheduled to shoot Monday and Tuesday at a shuttered Naval air station in the Orange County city of Irvine but was forced to retreat because "smoky conditions made filming impossible," according to producer 20th Century Fox Television.

The cast and crew returned to the studio to shoot other scenes and it was uncertain if or when they would return to the Irvine facility, a spokesman said Tuesday.

ABC's freshman series "Big Shots" had to reschedule a shoot planned for Tuesday in the Angeles National Forest, a network spokesman said.

Production on CBS' "NCIS," which shoots at a Santa Clarita studio near the so-called Magic Fire in northern Los Angeles County, encountered minimal disruption, with a few crew members unable to make it to work because of fire concerns, a show spokeswoman said.

"It's not really going to make a difference for the show. This (the fire) will be gone in a week or two and production will be back up ... It makes a difference for the 100,000-plus people directly affected by the fire, losing their homes and being evacuated," series creator Don Bellisario said.

California wildfires force historic evacuation

2007-10-23T21:11:00.001-07:00

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Fierce wildfires raged across Southern California on Tuesday, threatening more than 60,000 homes as night fell and forcing half a million people to flee in the state's largest evacuation.

California's worst fires in four years, driven by hot Santa Ana winds that have not relented for three days, tormented the San Diego area in the south and threatened mountain communities farther north.

Some 1,500 homes and other structures had been destroyed by the fires as of Tuesday evening and the 500,000 people evacuated in their path was the largest in the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.

"I'm worried for my baby, my house, my kids, everything." said Ana Ramirez, 30 and pregnant, who was taking shelter at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium along with her 4-year-old daughter.

Most of the destroyed homes were in the San Diego area, where four major wildfires burned unchecked and one person was killed on Sunday. Four other deaths were reported among the evacuees and more than three dozen people had been injured, including 18 firefighters.

Firefighters battled flames that shot more than 100 feet

high, as they desperately tried to save homes in the fires' path.

As the firestorms raged past nightfall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked President George W. Bush to upgrade California's wildfires to a "major disaster," which would trigger federal help.

Bush issued a declaration of emergency early Tuesday. But Schwarzenegger told him in a new letter that "this disaster is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capability of the state and local governments."

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN ECONOMIC LOSSES

Schwarzenegger said 68,000 homes, from cabins to luxury villas, were threatened statewide and 10,000 men and women were working the fire lines. More than 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) have been blackened and the state government put economic losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"We have had three things come together -- very dry areas, very hot weather and a lot of wind. This makes the perfect storm for fire," Schwarzenegger said at Lake Arrowhead, where blazes threatened two nearby mountain communities.

Bush planned to visit the fire-stricken area on Thursday.

Running Springs, a town of about 5,000 people nestled in the San Bernardino Mountains, was surrounded by fire by Tuesday afternoon and thousands of homes appeared in danger, but crews were able to fight back the flames and save most of them.

Firefighters in the Mexican border city of Tecate tried to control fires that sent up black smoke and covered houses and cars with gray ash. Fires also burned on the outskirts of the Mexican city of Tijuana, 20 miles from San Diego.

California power authorities issued a transmission emergency because downed power lines had left San Diego with only 60 percent of its usual supply of electricity.

The hot Santa Ana winds, which have fanned the flames as they blow in to Southern California from the desert, continued to gust up to 65 mph (105 kph) and high wind warnings remained in effect for most of the region until Wednesday afternoon.

Officials were hoping that easing winds and an accompanying rise in humidity would help them gain the upper hand against the wildfires.

San Diego officials said people were evacuating quickly. In the region's last major fire in 2003, 15 people died and 5,000 buildings were destroyed.

Erica Schmidt said friends in San Diego county ignored evacuation orders to safeguard their own homes.

"It bothers me to know my friends are still up there because they can't get out. All the roads are closed," Schmidt said.

Some 8,000 people, including senior citizens from nursing homes, went to the Qualcomm stadium, where the San Diego ChargersDel Mar Fairgrounds, famed for its horse racing track. Thousands of horses and family pets were also accommodated. football team plays, or to the

People taking shelter at Qualcomm called it well organized and clean, in contrast to the chaos at New Orleans' Superdome, which was used as a refuge after Katrina.

On Tuesday afternoon, some San Diego evacuees were allowed to return to their communities.

Californians pay price of communing with nature

2007-10-23T21:09:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Iain Blair lost a close friend to a devastating 1993 blaze in his rural Los Angeles canyon community.

Sarah Tippit fled for her life four years ago as flames jumped a highway and burned 11 homes in her idyllic San Diego neighborhood of Tierrasanta, known to locals as the "island in the hills."

Both Blair and Tippit returned to their homes afterward, and on Tuesday both were anxious, packed and ready to leave as fires raging out of control threatened their homes once again.

An estimated 1,500 homes burned and about 500,000 people were evacuated as some 17 blazes turned blue October skies brown and orange across Southern California.

But even those terrified or displaced most likely will return to homes built close to nature or teetering on stilts on ocean bluffs because threats of fire, mudslides and earthquakes are seen as a price worth paying.

Living in scenic canyons can be especially appealing but also especially dangerous during fires. The narrow canyons form a funnel through which winds and fire whip through, making it difficult for residents to escape along winding roads or sometimes one-way roads.

"I am looking out the window across 18,000 acres (7,284 hectares) of wilderness," Blair said from his home in Topanga Canyon between the Pacific Ocean and the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. "Every morning, I see deer, hawks, the occasional mountain lion and bobcats. But I am only 20 minutes from civilization.

"People want to live in beautiful surroundings wherever they are. I think most people refuse to live by fear," said Blair, a writer and musician.

The burgeoning Southern California population over the past 20 years has seen once arid brushland turned into vast relatively inexpensive housing developments.

AFFORDABLE LIVING

"People tend to live where they can afford it and real estate is very expensive around here," said John Bullock, 48, sitting out the fire at San Diego's Qualcomm sports stadium after leaving his Spring Valley home.

Others have sought refuge from urban sprawl and busy freeways by moving into forest communities with romantic names like Running Springs and Harmony Grove.

In celebrity-heavy beach cities like Malibu , multimillion-dollar villas on mountain peaks jostle for views of the sparkling Pacific Ocean. More than 20 homes and businesses were burned in Malibu on Sunday.

Richard Halsey, director of the California Chaparral Institute and a wildland fire researcher, said fire safety was rarely part of housing planning decisions.

"We are so hung up on property rights. That would be fine but fire protection is seen by a lot of people as a right. It's not. It's a privilege," Halsey said.

Residents in fire-prone areas are told to clear away brush from the perimeter of their homes. But Halsey said that was not enough because most homes burn from the inside when flying embers enter through ventilation systems.

"They are trying to make the landscape safe, and that is impossible," he said.

Tippit, a former Reuters reporter who is now an artist, could see the vast San Diego County blaze from her home nestled at the foot of a canyon.

"We are in danger because if it hits Scripps Ranch then it will come straight down the canyon to us. That's what happened in the 2003 fire," she said.

Tippit's home survived that blaze but many of those that were destroyed have been rebuilt, or families made homeless have moved to new places nearby.

"I think a lot of people didn't believe it would happen again in the same spot," she said.

Calif. fires destroy hundreds of homes

2007-10-23T14:09:00.001-07:00

By ALLISON HOFFMAN and GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writers

SAN DIEGO - Walls of wind-whipped flames consumed hundreds of homes across tinder-dry Southern California on Tuesday, and authorities ordered people in more than 350,000 homes to flee the fires.

The blazes bedeviled firefighters as fires roared from mountain passes to the edges of the state's celebrated coastline, spreading so quickly that even hotels serving as temporary shelters for evacuees had to be evacuated. Two people have been killed.

By day three, the dozen wildfires had burned more than 1,300 homes and businesses, and the destruction may only be the start for the region. With temperatures rising and wind gusts remaining fierce, the flames were proving nearly impossible to fight.

Marilee Bishop of Running Springs and her 10 year-old-daughter, Erica, rubbed their red eyes Tuesday morning as they woke up in a Wal-Mart parking lot where they spent the night after being forced to leave their home.

"No one ever expects something like this to happen to them," said Bishop, as thick smoke rose in the skies behind her.

Since they began Sunday, the fires have burned at least 373,000 acres, or 583 square miles — an area larger than New York City. Fully a quarter of the California coast was ablaze. Flames climbed halfway toward the Nevada line, chewing through chunks of seven counties and devastating numerous communities.

At least 346,000 homes were ordered to evacuate in San Diego County alone, sheriff's officials said. State officials were still struggling to estimate how many people had fled.

As the fires spread, most out of control, smaller blazes merged into larger, more fearsome ones. Evacuations were being announced in one community after another as firefighters found themselves overwhelmed by gale-force Santa Ana winds, some gusting to 70 mph.

Authorities hadn't even begun to estimate the dollar value of the damage in some of the hardest-hit areas. A fire that struck Ramona, a city outside San Diego, had destroyed 650 structures. A blaze near Fallbrook, on the eastern edge of Camp Pendleton, wiped out another 500, or three buildings for every one firefighter allocated to it. And 200 more buildings burned in a fire just south of Potrero, across from the Mexican city of Tecate.

President Bush declared a federal emergency for seven counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts.

"All of us across this nation are concerned for the families who have lost their homes and the many families who have been evacuated from their homes," Bush said. "We send the help of the federal government."

Fire crews and fleeing residents described desperate conditions that were sure to get worse. Temperatures across Southern California were about 10 degrees above average and were expected to approach 100 degrees Tuesday in Orange and San Diego counties.

Deputies arrested two men for looting in the community of Ramona, and there were a handful of other looting cases reported, said San Diego Sheriff's Lt. Mike McClain.

The fires were exploding and shooting embers in all directions, preventing crews from forming traditional fire lines and severely limiting aerial bombardment, officials said.

"Lifesaving is our priority. Getting people out from in front of the fire — those have been our priorities," said Capt. Don Camp, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Thousands of residents sought shelter at fairgrounds, schools and community centers. The largest gathering was at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, where up to 10,000 evacuees anxiously watched the stadium's television sets, hoping for a glimpse of their neighborhood on the local news. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders pleaded for donations of blankets, cots, pillows and food for the people staying there, and officials said more people were expected to arrive Tuesday.

The wildfires claimed at least two lives. An unidentified civilian died of burns in a fire in Santa Clarita, in northern Los Angeles County, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jay Nichols said. Another man, Thomas Varshock, 52, was found dead Sunday.

Overall, 45 people have been injured, 16 of them firefighters.

A dozen firefighters battling blazes in Orange County had to deploy emergency shelters, a last resort when they are surrounded by flames, Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather said.

"They should not have had to do that," he said, complaining that quicker air support from the state might have snuffed those blazes before they blew up. "If we'd had the resources earlier to take care of those lines with hand crews, we wouldn't have been in that situation."

In San Diego County, public schools were closed, as were campuses at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University.

The scope of the infernos was immense and was reminiscent of the blazes that tore through Southern California four years ago this month, killing 22 and destroying 3,640 homes.

The fires have been made worse by fierce Santa Ana winds. The winds — which sweep through Southern California's canyons in fall and winter — are stronger than normal, turning already parched scrubland into tinder. They generated walls of flame that bore down on housing developments in a wide swath.

East of Los Angeles, a two-front fire destroyed at least 160 homes in the Lake Arrowhead area, the same mountain resort community where hundreds of homes were lost four years earlier. Officials said at least 100 more homes were destroyed Tuesday in the mountain community of Running Springs, not far away.

"It's just sad when you see that," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at a news conference after touring the area. "We have to do everything that we can to help these people ... to help them get back on their feet as quickly as possible."

More than 500,000 flee as California fires rage for third day

2007-10-23T14:08:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - More than half a million people were ordered to evacuate across California on Tuesday as wildfires raged for a third day, razing over 1,000 homes and threatening to overwhelm weary firefighters.

The wind-driven infernos have so far scorched at least 335,000 acres (1,355 square kilometers) of tinder-dry brush, making the blaze one of the worst wildfire crises in Californian history.

One person has died and more than 20 people have been injured in fires that erupted on Sunday and spread quickly across the region, fanned by powerful winds gusting in from the desert.

President George W. Bush has declared an emergency in California and ordered federal aid to be directed to the fire-stricken region.

Many parts of the state have experienced record low rainfalls and record-high temperatures this year, leaving vast swathes of rugged countryside bordering built-up residential areas at the mercy of fires.

"All of us across this nation are concerned for the families who have lost their homes, and the many families who have been evacuated from their homes," Bush said during an address in Washington.

"We send our prayers and thoughts with those who've been affected, and we send the help of the federal government, as well."

By Tuesday there were at least 14 separate fires throughout southern California, spanning a region from north of Los Angeles to south of the Mexican border. Some fires were so vast that they could be seen from space and smoke was so thick in the area that weather radars mistook it for rain clouds.

Several thousand firefighters backed up by 316 fire engines, 19 air tankers, 15 bulldozers and eight helicopters battled fires throughout the night.

The Pentagon has sent six Air Force and National Guard water-dropping planes to help tackle the blaze while 1,500 National Guard troops are being deployed to help manage evacuations and assist firefighting efforts.

Chip Prather, the fire chief of Orange County, said the number of fires had stretched state-wide resources to breaking point.

"The bottom line is there is not enough air assets, not enough helicopters, not enough air tankers," he said. "There are not enough resources to go round."

A forestry official meanwhile said the seasonal Santa Ana winds were making the fire impossible to contain at blazes raging near Lake Arrowhead, a popular mountain resort 100 miles (150 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.

"The problem with this one has been the winds," US Forest Service spokeswoman Robin Prince said. "It's just moved the fire so rapidly that the fire crews can't keep up with it."

In San Diego, evacuees were sent to Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers American football team. By early Tuesday, 20,000 weary evacuees were huddled inside the stadium, reporters said.

Cindy Alexander, a 54-year-old woman living on disability benefit, was struggling to maintain her spirits after spending the night curled up in the backseat of her son and daughter-in-law's car.

"We've had a hard life," said Alexander, whose home in Ramona had burned to the ground. "It's like 'Okay God -- what else?'"

A statement from San Diego County officials said approximately 513,000 people in the district had received mandatory evacuation orders and an additional 12,000 people had been advised to leave their homes.

The statement said a total of 349,915 households had received calls asking them to evacuate.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said the speedy evacuations of vast numbers of residents had helped keep casualties to a minimum.

"If there's a statistic that so far stands out, it's the fact that we have had minimal loss of life," Sanders said.

"People are moving, people are getting the message and they are responding. Having said that, the weather continues to be unpredictable."

The causes of the different fires raging throughout the state varied, with a fallen power line believed to be the cause of the blaze in Malibu and arson blamed for a fire in Orange County that torched 15,000 acres.

The fires are the worst to hit California since 2003, when 22 people were killed and 3,000 homes were destroyed.

Southern California businesses shuttered by fires

2007-10-23T14:07:00.001-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Many Southern California companies shut down or pared back operations on Tuesday as more than a dozen wildfires raged out of control in the region.

From corporate headquarters to retail stores, a number of companies told employees to tend to family needs first. "It's quite chaotic and we're all in the midst of it," said Emily Kilpatrick, spokeswoman for wireless technology and semiconductor developer Qualcomm Inc.

Few showed up to Qualcomm's San Diego headquarters where the bulk of its 11,200 employees work, and like many in her company and across the region, Kilpatrick was working from home. She added that the firm closed for several days in 2003 because of wildfires.

Hamburger chain Jack in the Box Inc.'s corporate headquarters in San Diego were closed on Monday and Tuesday, though spokesman Brian Luscomb said there were a couple of dozen employees working at the building on Tuesday morning.

San Diego-based pet supply company Petco, which is privately owned, pared down its headquarters operations to essential staff only, said vice president Kevin Whalen. He said he voluntarily left his home with his daughter as a safety precaution on Monday as fire and smoke approached.

At computer maker Gateway Inc many workers did not show to its Irvine headquarters. "Employees were encouraged to work from home," said spokesman David Hallisey, who was not in the office himself.

Starbucks said it closed about 120 of its stores in San Diego and Ventura counties, and as of Monday evening, 16 McDonald's restaurants in Southern California were closed, a spokeswoman said.

ECONOMIC IMPACT UNCLEAR

With fires still raging, California officials and private experts said it was too soon to estimate the financial damage from the latest in a long series of fires, earthquakes, mudslides and other disasters to hit the nation's most populous state.

This week, many were recalling another severe fire that hit San Diego County in 2003.

"Everybody is saying it is a lot worse than the fire in 2003," said Alan Gin, an economist with the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego.

Yet "ironically whenever there is a disaster it stimulates economic activity during rebuilding," Gin said. "We've lost 5,000 construction jobs over the past year so this will put some of those people back to work. That will be financed by insurance money flowing in from outside the county."

The fires, now numbering at least 17, have burned unchecked since Sunday in a region stretching from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border 230 miles to the south.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said about 1,000 homes in San Diego County had been destroyed, but a full picture of the damage was unclear.

"They haven't been able to get close enough to the areas to get an accurate count because a large number of the homes that have burned are in the outback," said Alan Nevin, a housing economist with San Diego-based MarketPointe Advisors.

The fires disrupted tourism, a major source of revenue in a region famed for its beaches and temperate climate.

The famed San Diego Zoo closed its 80-acre (32-hectare) Wild Animal park after suffering some damage, including the loss of a condor breeding facility. In a statement, the Zoo said no animals had died. Another top tourist draw, SeaWorld, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch, was also closed.

Yet people evacuated from their homes filled area hotels.

U.S. airlines allowed travelers to Southern California change their travel plans without a fee.

Wildfires whip across California for third day

2007-10-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Wildfires stoked by fierce winds burned unchecked across Southern California for a third day on Tuesday with 300,000 people in San Diego alone evacuated as flames destroyed or threatened homes from humble forest cabins to luxury villas.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders told people to "stay at home, stay off the freeways" so fire crews and evacuees could keep moving as the winds changed course. He said about 1,000 homes in San Diego County had been destroyed.

"We are in for another very dangerous day today. We may be forced to do very quick and immediate evacuations," said Ron Lane, head of San Diego County office of emergency services.

"We no doubt are going to be issuing additional evacuation notices today," he added.

Officials said people were cooperating and evacuating quickly, resulting in minimal loss of life, as they remembered the last major fire in 2003 when 15 people died and 5,000 buildings were destroyed.

"We've been through this before," said Sonya Johnson, 43, who evacuated with her husband and young son and set up camp in the Qualcomm sports stadium.

"I am sitting here thinking about the things I didn't take, like pictures and our will," she added.

At least 17 fires, whipped by hot, dry Santa Ana winds gusting to 70 miles per hour (113 kph) have swept the drought-stricken region unchecked over the past two days from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border 230 miles to the south.

Just one person has died, in a San Diego fire on Sunday, and some three dozen have been injured.

Two new fires erupted overnight in both Los Angeles and San Diego counties and burned quickly. But in the celebrity enclave of Malibu, north of Los Angeles, where the first fire raged early Sunday, there was no active burning and 500 of the 1,400 firefighters were dispatched to other areas.

President George W. Bush early on Tuesday declared an emergency in the state and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief in the seven counties stricken by wildfires.

Some 300,000 acres have burned, an area about twice the size of Chicago, stretching fire crews and state emergency services. But federal authorities said the emergency response was well under control.

High wind warnings remained in effect for most of the region until Wednesday afternoon.

HUMANS, HORSES, PETS

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger summoned aid from 1,500 National Guard troops, including 200 from the Mexican border, to help with firefighting, evacuations and crowd control.

Neighboring states, including Nevada and Arizona, rushed in crews and equipment.

Tens of thousands of evacuees in San Diego , including senior citizens from nursing homes, went to the Qualcomm stadium, where the National Football League's San Diego Chargers play, or to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, famed for its horse racing track. Thousands of horses and pets were also accommodated.

Evacuees at Qualcomm said the operation was well organized and clean, a sharp contrast to the chaos at New Orleans' Superdome, which was used as a refuge after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city in 2005.

But the San Diego residents were anxious to return home and worried about what they left behind.

"You just get tired, tired of waiting," said Brad Donaldson, 53, who evacuated to Qualcomm with his wife on Monday.

In addition to mandatory evacuations through much of the area north of the city, voluntary evacuations were announced for South San Diego near the Mexican border.

The Marine base at Camp Pendleton, one of the largest in the United States, was on alert for possible evacuation of its 60,000 people, including families.

The firestorms closed major highways, schools and businesses and plumes of thick black smoke drifted across much of Southern California, blotting out the sun.

The economic costs have yet to be tallied in wealthy San Diego, home to big communications and biotechnology companies as well as a large tourism industry.

And despite high real estate values in the area, with an average home cost of $500,000, big U.S. insurers were not expected to see major losses from the wildfires, analysts said.

No big insurer losses seen from wildfires

2007-10-23T14:04:00.001-07:00

Wildfires raging through Southern California should not cause major losses to home insurers such as Allstate Corp, Nationwide and State Farm, according to a report by Goldman Sachs analyst Thomas Cholnoky on Tuesday.

More than 11 major wildfires are burning, mostly unchecked, with hundreds of thousands of residents in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas forced to evacuate as high winds fan the flames.

"Over 900 properties have been destroyed and thousands of others remain threatened," said Neena Smith, catastrophe response analyst at Risk Management Solutions, a company that predicts insured losses.

Cholnoky said that while it was too early to assess insurer losses, it appeared that "non-traditional" companies and markets such as British-based Lloyd's might bear the brunt of the losses.

Lloyd's had no immediate comment. Neither did Nationwide. Allstate and State Farm could not be reached immediately for comment.

Eight of 10 property and casualty insurers' shares were down Tuesday, and the group is underperforming a rally in the other financials. Allstate shares have declined $1.16, or 2.1 percent, to $53.29 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

"Most of the more traditional writers (of home insurance) have explicitly avoided writing any exposures in 'brush' defined areas," Cholnoky said in a research note.

The exception could be where winds have driven fires from these outlying areas closer to San Diego, he said.

Cholnoky said the average cost of homes in the area was about $500,000, meaning that every 100 homes lost would generate $50 million in insurance losses.

Some 250,000 people have now been ordered to evacuate ahead of the flames.

Seven of the 10 most expensive wildfires in U.S. history, as defined by insurance losses, have occurred in California, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a group that provides industry statistics.

The largest, in Oakland and Alameda Counties in 1991, resulted in more than $2.5 billion in insured damages (in 2006 dollars).

Fire crews being redirected from Malibu after getting the upper hand there

2007-10-23T11:40:00.001-07:00

MALIBU - Fire crews appeared to have the upper hand today on the 4,400-acre wildfire near Malibu, and about 500 firefighters there were dispatched to other fire zones, authorities said.

As on 9:45 a.m., no smoke was visible above the Malibu coast and nothing in the area was actively burning, said Ed Schaefer of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Some 1,400 firefighters were assigned to the fire last night, said Inspector Ed Osorio of the county fire department. That number had been reduced to 900 as of mid-morning today.

Crews remained on the lookout for hotspots, authorities said, and full containment of the blaze was expected by Friday.

The fire destroyed or damaged nearly two dozen homes and businesses and prompted hundreds of evacuations, authorities said.

All public schools remained closed today in Malibu. A community meeting was planned for 7 tonight at Malibu High School, 30215 Morning View Drive, at which officials will brief residents on evacuations and road closures, the city of Malibu reported.

Another community meeting is planned to start at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Agoura/Calabasas community center, 27040 Malibu Hills Road, Calabasas. Further fire-related information is available online at www.malibu-ca.gov.

The so-called Canyon Fire, which began about 4:50 a.m. Sunday, may have been sparked by power lines felled by strong Santa Ana winds, officials said. Gusts to 60 mph pushed the flames into

canyons dotted with multimillion-dollar homes.

The flames were about 15 percent contained this morning, the county fire department reported.

Six homes and two businesses were destroyed, and nine homes and five businesses were damaged.

Three people suffered minor injuries, the county fire department reported. About 1,500 people were evacuated Sunday as the flames tore through brush and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Malibu Presbyterian Church was among the buildings destroyed. Among the homes destroyed was the Kashan Castle, also known as Hodge Castle, a 10,500- square-foot hilltop landmark built in 1978.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared a regional state of emergency because of the wildfires burning around the Southland, toured the area yesterday, and said significant progress had been made. He also said the firefight was smoother than the effort in 2003, when a fierce fire tore through more than 17,000 acres in Malibu, destroying more than 300 homes.

Classes were canceled today at Pepperdine's Malibu campus.

City Hall was closed yesterday, and remained closed today to the public. However, city staff will be on hand to respond to urgent matters, the city reported.

American Red Cross shelters remained open at Agoura High School, 28545 W. Driver Ave.; and at Pacific Palisades High School, 15777 Bowdoin St., and at Malibu High School, 30215 Morning View Drive.

PCH remained closed between Topanga Canyon and Kanan Dume. Malibu Canyon and Topanga Canyon roads were closed between PCH and Mulholland Highway.

Malibu schools remain closed because of fires

2007-10-23T11:38:00.001-07:00

MALIBU - All public schools remained closed today in Malibu as firefighters worked to contain a 3,800-acre fire that damaged or destroyed some two dozen homes and businesses and prompted hundreds of evacuations.

A community meeting was planned for 7 tonight at Malibu High School, 30215 Morning View Drive, at which officials will brief residents on evacuations and road closures, the city of Malibu reported.

Another community meeting is planned for to start at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Agoura/Calabasas community center, 27040 Malibu Hills Road, Calabasas. Further fire-related information is available online at www.malibu- ca.gov.

The so-called Canyon Fire, which began about 4:50 a.m. Sunday, may have been sparked by power lines felled by strong Santa Ana winds, authorities said. Gusts to 60 mph pushed the flames into canyons dotted with multimillion-dollar homes.

Three people suffered minor injuries, the county fire department reported. About 1,500 people were evacuated Sunday as the flames tore through brush and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Malibu Presbyterian Church was among the buildings destroyed. Among the homes destroyed was the Kashan Castle, also known as Hodge Castle, a 10,500- square-foot hilltop landmark built in 1978.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared a regional state of emergency because of the wildfires burning around the Southland, toured the area yesterday, and said significant progress had

been made. He also said the firefight was smoother than the effort in 2003, when a fierce fire tore through more than 17,000 acres in Malibu, destroying more than 300 homes.

Classes were canceled today at Pepperdine's Malibu campus.

City Hall was closed yesterday, and remained closed today to the public. However, city staff will be on hand to respond to urgent matters, the city reported.

American Red Cross shelters remained open at Agoura High School, 28545 W. Driver Ave.; and at Pacific Palisades High School, 15777 Bowdoin St., and at Malibu High School, 30215 Morning View Drive.

PCH remained closed between Topanga Canyon and Kanan Dume. Malibu Canyon and Topanga Canyon roads were closed between PCH and Mulholland Highway.

A map of the area in Malibu, California, affected by fires

2007-10-23T11:37:00.001-07:00

500 Firefighters Redeployed From Malibu To Other Fire Zones

2007-10-23T11:35:00.001-07:00

Fire crews appeared to have the upper hand Tuesday on the 4,400-acre wildfire near Malibu, and about 500 firefighters there were dispatched to other fire zones, authorities said.

As on 9:45 a.m., no smoke was visible above the Malibu coast and nothing in the area was actively burning, said Ed Schaefer of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Some 1,400 firefighters were assigned to the fire last night, said Inspector Ed Osorio of the county fire department. That number had been reduced to 900 as of mid-morning today.

Crews remained on the lookout for hotspots, authorities said, and full containment of the blaze was expected by Friday.

The fire destroyed or damaged nearly two dozen homes and businesses and prompted hundreds of evacuations, authorities said.

All public schools remained closed today in Malibu. A community meeting was planned for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Malibu High School, 30215 Morning View Drive, at which officials will brief residents on evacuations and road closures, the city of Malibu reported.

Another community meeting is planned to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Agoura/Calabasas community center, 27040 Malibu Hills Road, Calabasas. Further fire-related information is available online at Malibu-Ca.gov.

The so-called Canyon Fire, which began about 4:50 a.m. Sunday, may have been sparked by power lines felled by strong Santa Ana winds, officials said. Gusts to 60 mph pushed the flames into canyons dotted with multimillion-dollar homes.

The flames were about 15 percent contained this morning, the county fire department reported. Six homes and two businesses were destroyed, and nine homes and five businesses were damaged.

Three people suffered minor injuries, the county fire department reported. About 1,500 people were evacuated Sunday as the flames tore through brush and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Malibu Presbyterian Church was among the buildings destroyed. Among the homes destroyed was the Kashan Castle, also known as Hodge Castle, a 10,500- square-foot hilltop landmark built in 1978.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared a regional state of emergency because of the wildfires burning around the Southland, toured the area yesterday, and said significant progress had been made. He also said the firefight was smoother than the effort in 2003, when a fierce fire tore through more than 17,000 acres in Malibu, destroying more than 300 homes.

Classes were canceled Tuesday at Pepperdine's Malibu campus.

City Hall was closed Monday, and remained closed Tuesday to the public. However, city staff will be on hand to respond to urgent matters, the city reported.

American Red Cross shelters remained open at Agoura High School, 28545 W. Driver Ave.; and at Pacific Palisades High School, 15777 Bowdoin St., and at Malibu High School, 30215 Morning View Drive.

PCH remained closed between Topanga Canyon and Kanan Dume. Malibu Canyon and Topanga Canyon roads were closed between PCH and Mulholland Highway.

Hollywood kingpin gives free lodging in Malibu to fire evacuees

2007-10-23T11:33:00.001-07:00

A newly renovated lodging in Malibu, Calif., has opened its doors to area residents evacuated by the raging wildfires and to firefighters.

And David Geffin, the Hollywood mogul (Geffen Records and more) who owns the Malibu Beach Inn, isn't charging them a dime.

"When you see hundreds of firemen working hour after hours, we wanted to do something to show our gratitude," the inn's managing director, Alan Goldschneider, tells me.

The inn, many of whose 47 rooms and suites overlook exclusive Carbon Beach (residents include Goldie Hawn), looks like a lodging beach lovers should check out.

Aside from Geffen's generosity with fire victims, regular rates are decent considering its enviable star-spotting locale: They start at $365. When booking online, you're offered "enhancements" that aren't outrageously priced. A rose petal turndown is $20; a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from a local vineyard is $35.

Well, this is celeb-land after all. The menu does include a $499.50 bottle of 1999 Cristal Champagne.

Jane Seymour’s Husband Refuses to Leave Malibu Home

2007-10-23T11:31:00.001-07:00

Jane Seymour's husband James Keach is refusing to leave their Malibu home, despite a raging wildfire and an order that residents evacuate immediately.

"He's standing there with the hose. There was a mandatory evacuation, but he refused to leave," Jane told "Extra" after her "Dancing with the Stars" performance last night.

She added, "I haven't seen him in two days. I begged him to leave."

More than a dozen wildfires are scorching Southern California, from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border. Hundreds of thousands of acres have been burned, and at least 500,000 people have been forced from their homes.

Just today, President Bush declared a state of emergency in Southern California, paving the way for federal aid. The declaration follows a request for aid by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after he toured the destruction in Malibu.

In Malibu the fires have destroyed several homes and threatened hundreds more. Mel Gibson, James Cameron, Olivia Newton-John and many other stars have been forced to evacuate. Country singer Tanya Tucker's home has reportedly caught fire, and she has been forced to leave Malibu with her family and dogs.

Patients at the swanky Promises Rehab Center, which housed stars like Britney and Lindsay Lohan, have reportedly been ordered to evacuate.

Yesterday Britney told photographers she was "real scared" about the possibility of flames creeping toward her hillside mansion.

In San Diego, Tori Spelling and husband Dean McDermott are fearing for their property as a wildfire moves closer.

Their newly-renovated bed and breakfast Chateau La Rue is reportedly being evacuated.

Calif. wildfires force mass evacuations

2007-10-23T04:17:00.000-07:00

SAN DIEGO - The wind-fueled fires that have burned more than 700 homes and chased away 265,000 residents may be only the start of the destruction in Southern California, where Tuesday's forecast called for hotter temperatures and more explosive gusts.

The blazes bedeviled firefighters as walls of flame whipped from mountain passes to the edges of the state's celebrated coastline, spreading so quickly that even hotels serving as temporary shelters for evacuees had to be evacuated.

Wanda Tomkinson, 79, fled the Doubletree hotel in Del Mar with her husband and their Boston Terrier after employees called each room to tell customers they had to leave. The couple, carrying medication, clothes, tax records and a dog bowl, said they were relying on a family friend to take them in.

If not, Tomkinson added, "the Lord'll take care of us."

With some 245,957 acres, or 384 square miles, ablaze, President Bush declared a federal emergency for seven Southern California counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts.

The wildfires claimed one life, in San Diego County, and injured 42. At least 16 of the injured were firefighters.

"We are getting very strong northeast winds. They are very erratic, causing us to modify our procedures," said Capt. Don Camp, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fires were exploding and shooting embers in all directions, preventing crews from forming traditional fire lines and severely limiting aerial bombardment, he said.

"Lifesaving is our priority. Getting people out from in front of the fire — those have been our priorities," Camp said.

Thousands of residents sought shelter at fairgrounds, schools and community centers. The largest gathering was at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, where evacuees anxiously watched the stadium's television sets, hoping for a glimpse of their neighborhood on the local news.

San Diego County was ablaze from its rural north to its border region with Mexico, where the wildfires that started Sunday claimed their only fatality to date: Thomas Varshock, 52, of Tecate, a town on the U.S. side of the border southeast of San Diego. His body was found Sunday afternoon, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said, although no other details were released.

At least 250,000 residents in San Diego County alone were ordered to evacuate. Public schools were closed, as were campuses at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University.

In the northern part of the county, 500 homes and 100 businesses had been destroyed as a wildfire exploded to 145,000 acres and marched toward the Pacific Coast enclave of Del Mar, forcing a partial evacuation.

The scope of the infernos was immense and was reminiscent of the blazes that tore through Southern California four years ago this month, killing 22 and destroying 3,640 homes.

The fires that started Sunday were whipped by ferocious winds, generating walls of flame that bore down on housing developments in a wide swath.

Homes burned from the beaches of Malibu to the mountain retreats east of Los Angeles and south through Orange and San Diego counties to Mexico.

East of Los Angeles, a two-front fire destroyed at least 160 homes in the Lake Arrowhead area, the same mountain resort community where hundreds of homes were lost four years earlier.

As the fires spread, most out of control, smaller blazes were merging into larger, more fearsome ones. Evacuations were being announced in one community after another as firefighters found themselves overwhelmed by gale-force Santa Ana winds, some gusting to 70 mph.

The winds — which sweep through Southern California's canyons in fall and winter — are stronger than normal, turning already parched scrubland into tinder.

The Department of Defense agreed to send six Air Force and Air National Guard water- or retardant-dropping planes Tuesday to aide the massive firefighting effort after a request by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Touring an evacuee camp at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the governor pledged to do everything in his power to assist the firefighting effort and help those who have lost their homes.

"I will be relentless all the way through this," Schwarzenegger said.

By ALLISON HOFFMAN and GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writers

Over 250,000 urged to flee Calif. fires

2007-10-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

SAN DIEGO - Wildfires blown by fierce desert winds Monday reduced scores of SouthernCalifornia 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 in the fires, and dozens were injured. Nearly 130 homes had burned in one mountain town alone, and thousands more buildings were threatened by more than a dozen blazes covering at least 310 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 home at a mobile home park as flames darkened the sky over the nearby ridge line.

A pair of wildfires consumed 128 homes in the mountain resort community of Lake Arrowhead, in the San Bernardino National Forest east of Los Angeles, authorities said.

"We're stretched very thin and we can't get any planes up," said forest spokesman John Miller.

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

More than 265,000 people from Malibu to San Diego were warned to leave their homes. More than 250,000 were told to flee in San Diego County alone, where 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 large zip-lock plastic bags.

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

At San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL's Chargers, thousands of people huddled in eerie silence on the bleachers, staring at muted TV news reports of the wildfires. A lone concession stand served coffee and doughnuts.

Many evacuees gathered in the parking lot with their pets, which were banned from the stadium.

The sprawling Del Mar Fairgrounds on the coast was also turned into an evacuation center, along with high schools and senior centers.

San Diego County fires were burning so fast that authorities did not have an accurate count of how many homes had been destroyed.

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

All San Diego police officers and detectives were ordered to return to work to help move people to safety and handle other fire-related emergencies.

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 his neighbor Ken Morris' horses.

"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 a large number of 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.

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

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the seven affected counties, opening the way for government aid.

"Its a tragic time for California," he 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.

San Diego County spokeswoman Lesley Kirk said fire crews were stretched thin and were anxiously awaiting reinforcements from other parts of the state.

"The winds are up, it's very, very dangerous conditions," Kirk said. "Fires are popping up all over the place."

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."

By ALLISON HOFFMAN and GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writers

LT among wildfire evacuees in San Diego

2007-10-22T17:44:00.001-07:00

Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson was one of 40 members of the San Diego Chargers' organization who were forced to evacuate their homes as wildfires burned in San Diego County, and the team will spend the rest of the week practicing in Arizona.

The Chargers, who had just returned from their bye weekend, canceled practice Monday due to poor air quality and so the players could take care of their families, spokesman Bill Johnston said.

The Chargers, scheduled to host Houston on Sunday, announced they will fly to Phoenix on Tuesday and practice at the Arizona Cardinals' headquarters in Tempe on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The Cardinals have a bye this weekend.

"Our team is more than willing to accommodate them," Cardinals spokesman Mark Dalton said.

"Our overwhelming priority now is the safety of our players and staff and their families," the Chargers said in a statement. "Our prayers are with everyone who is impacted by this tragedy."

Four years to the week after being forced to move a Monday night game to Tempe on short notice because of deadly wildfires, the Chargers and the NFL said it was too early to know if the fires will affect this Sunday's scheduled home game against Houston. As it was in 2003, Qualcomm Stadium's parking lot was being used as an evacuation center.

"We are monitoring," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail.

Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds forced the evacuations of nearly 250,000 people in the county.

There was no immediate word if any Chargers employees had lost their homes. Many Chargers players, as well as other current and former pro athletes, live in Poway and other suburbs in northern San Diego County.

Trevor Hoffman, baseball's career saves leader, was among a handful of Padres personnel who had to evacuate.

Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn and his wife left their Poway home at 6 a.m. and were waiting out the fire at his daughter's house in Mission Valley.

"I think we're going to be all right. I hope," Gwynn said. "When we left it was fine, but who knows?"

Gwynn said he and his wife didn't wait for a reverse 911 call notifying them to get out.

"We were up watching the news, they gave a description of what area they wanted evacuated, and it was us," said Gwynn, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 29 along with Cal Ripken Jr.

"There was lots of smoke," Gwynn said. "It was still dark, but you could see ash falling everywhere. Trees were down and the power had just went off when we left."

Gwynn said they didn't grab much more than some clothes and insurance papers.

"I hope my house is there when it's all over, but that's why you have insurance," Gwynn said. Gwynn, the baseball coach at his alma mater, San Diego State, canceled practice Monday and was keeping in touch with players whose families live in affected areas.

Hoffman said he left his home in exclusive Rancho Santa Fe at about 6:30 a.m. and was heading north with his family.

"I'm just thinking about San Diego as a whole right now, being under siege by all these fires," Hoffman said by cell phone. "I'm sure everybody is kind of doing due diligence as far as getting their families out."

Tomlinson couldn't immediately be reached for comment. His mother, Loreane, said from Waco, Texas, that he called at 5 a.m. PDT and told her that he and his wife were looking for a hotel. "I told him to keep me posted," Loreane Tomlinson said.

Center Nick Hardwick said players were asked at a team meeting to raise their hands if they were affected, "and at one point, three-quarters of the room raised their hands. I guess a lot of guys live up there. There were some pretty long faces this morning. A lot of coaches and people upstairs have to deal with this."

Hardwick lives in Point Loma, near the Pacific Ocean.

"It's pretty humbling, for sure," Hardwick said. "You've got guys with families dealing with real situations. You don't normally expect that coming to work. Normally, the worst-case scenario is when you miss a block or something, but if your house is burning down and you have to get your family out of the city, that's a different issue."

Tomlinson's business manager, Lamar Andrews, said he checked on the player at 5 a.m. and he and his wife had already left their home. Andrews said two other players he represents, safety Marlon McCree and linebacker Matt Wilhelm, also evacuated.

Bruce Bochy, the longtime Padres manager who just finished his first year as manager of the San Francisco Giants, lives in north Poway and said he heard about the fires while vacationing with his wife in Paris. Bochy, who left San Diego early Sunday morning, said he got several increasingly frantic text messages from his son, Greg, who was house-sitting.

"They made him evacuate the house," Bochy said by cell phone. "I think it's still there. It's gotten some houses close to us, which is why he had to evacuate."

Bochy also said he got a call from David Wells, asking if he'd lost his house. Wells, who was at his hunting ranch in Michigan, lives near Hoffman.

By BERNIE WILSON, AP Sports Writer

Wildfire burns homes in Malibu, Calif.

2007-10-22T17:42:00.001-07:00

MALIBU, Calif. - A wildfire driven by powerful Santa Ana winds forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes in the Malibu Hills and briefly threatened a university Sunday. Flames destroyed a church and several homes, one of them a landmark castle.

No residents or firefighters were injured, authorities said.

About 500 firefighters worked to protect Pepperdine University and some 200 homes in the upscale Malibu Crest and Serra Retreat neighborhoods, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Sam Padilla.

The blaze had charred at least 1,000 acres, or more than a square mile. Wind that gusted as high as 65 mph carried embers across the Pacific Coast Highway, closing the popular road and setting fire to cars and trees in the parking lot of a shopping center where several stores were damaged.

Television news video showed several other buildings also in flames in the area, including clusters of beach-side homes.

"This fire is zero percent contained, which means we're at the mercy of the wind," acting Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said.

Flames consumed the landmark Castle Kashan, a stately fortress-like home with turrets and arched windows, as about a dozen residents watched from across a street. Chunks of brick fell from the exterior of the burning building overlooking the coast.

Faculty and staff members at the 830-acre Pepperdine campus were urged to evacuate, school spokesman Jerry Derloshon said. Students were instructed to gather their belongings from their dorm rooms and report to the school's cafeteria and basketball arena.

But by early afternoon the campus was "secure," county Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said. Flames were no longer visible in the hills around the school, and power had been restored, Derloshon said.

Earlier, helicopters had dropped water on flames in the hills above the campus, and palm trees smoldered on the ocean-facing side of the campus.

At least three homes and two commercial buildings had been confirmed destroyed in the area, and nine other homes were damaged, Freeman said.

The fire is expected to burn for another two to three days, Freeman said. Until it is extinguished, "there will literally be thousands of homes that will be threatened at one time or another," he said.

Fire crews had found downed power lines, which may have started the blaze in Malibu Canyon, fire Capt. Mike Brown said.

Erratic wind gusts hampered efforts to drop water from aircraft and pushed flames toward HRL Laboratories, commonly known as Hughes Lab, a research and engineering facility jointly owned by Boeing Co. and General Motors Corp. about a mile north of Pepperdine. One outbuilding caught fire, Boeing spokeswoman Diana Ball said.

Flames engulfed Malibu Presbyterian Church, which had been evacuated, said youth pastor Eric Smith. "That's the really good news, that everyone's out and safe," Smith said.

Susan Nuttall sat in her black Mercedes in a cul-de-sac just off the Pacific Coast Highway, saying she had fled her condo just below the Pepperdine campus.

"We're all scared to death and we have nowhere to go," said Nuttall, 51, still wearing a bathrobe and holding her Chihuahua.

Mitra Rajabi came to get her 80-year-old mother from her home near Pepperdine.

"We've been through this before, but it's never been this bad," said Rajabi, 39, of Pacific Palisades. "It was like a war zone."

About 200 homes were evacuated the communities of Malibu Colony, Puerco Canyon, Monte Nido and Sweetwater Canyon, Brown said.

To the south, a blaze was also burning near Potrero, about 40 miles southeast of San Diego, fire officials said. One structure had been destroyed and an unknown number of people evacuated, officials said.

Fifty to 100 homes were potentially in harm's way, said San Diego County Fire Capt. Matt Streck.

Wildfires had been widely expected in Southern California during the weekend as hot weather and strong Santa Ana wind marked the height of traditional wildfire season after one of the driest rain years on record.

Malibu, home to about 13,000 people, including many celebrites, stretches along 27 miles of Pacific coastline. Last January, a wildfire driven by Santa Ana winds destroyed the home of actress Suzanne Somers and three other multimillion-dollar residences.

The community also is home to about 25 rehabilitation facilities, including Promises Residential Treatment Center, whose guests have included Britney Spears, Ben Affleck, Charlie Sheen, Diana Ross and Matthew Perry.

By NOAKI SCHWARTZ, Associated Press Writer

2,400-Acre Malibu Fire Destroys 5 Homes, Church

2007-10-22T17:38:00.001-07:00

MALIBU, Calif. A brush fire that swept through Malibu, scorching more than 2,400 acres and destroying at least five homes and a church, was about 10 percent contained Monday, but no injuries were reported, authorities said.

The Malibu fire was reported about 4:50 a.m. Sunday and may have been sparked by downed power lines along Malibu Canyon Road, county fire Inspector Sam Padilla.

Since then, flames have been whipped at times by Santa Ana winds gusting up to 60 mph. About 1,400 firefighters were battling the flames, aided by water-dropping helicopters, which were battling high winds to make pin-point drops.

"It's been a long night," Padilla said. The main firefight was in the Carbon Canyon area, but the winds were swirling and threatening to push the flames back toward Pacific Coast Highway.

PCH remained closed between Topanga Canyon and Kanan Dume. Malibu Canyon Road was also closed.

About 1,500 people were evacuated Sunday as the flames tore through brush and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop in an area studded with multimillion-dollar homes.

Malibu Presbyterian Church was among the buildings destroyed. Fire officials said Sunday that at least nine other homes and five businesses had been damaged, including four businesses in the Malibu Colony Shopping Center.

Among the homes destroyed was the Kashan Castle, also known as Hodge Castle, a 10,500-square-foot hilltop landmark built in 1978. The castle was put up for sale in March for $17 million.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has declared a regional state of emergency because of the seven wildfires burning around the Southland, toured the area Monday morning, and said significant progress had been made. He also said the firefight was smoother than the effort in 2003, when a fierce fire tore through more than 17,000 acres in Malibu, destroying more than 300 homes.

"We have learned a lot in the last four years since the last fires we had in 2003," Schwarzenegger said. "One of the things you see is there is much more equipment available, more manpower is available, quicker action, everyone is coordinating much faster."

All classes were canceled Monday at Pepperdine's Malibu campus. Classes were also canceled at all Malibu public schools, along with Topanga Elementary School.

Mandatory evacuations were in place for Malibu Knolls, Malibu Colony, Sweetwater Canyon, Malibu Road, Carbon Canyon, Carbon Mesa, Puerco Canyon, Rambla Pacifico, Monte Nido, Big Rock and Topanga Canyon south of Saddle Peak and Tuna Canyon, according to the city of Malibu.

Voluntary evacuations were in effect for Corral Canyon, Sunset Mesa, Old Topanga Canyon and Hillside Drive.

Malibu and county officials urged residents in other areas to be prepared to evacuate.

"The winds are erratic, they are unpredictable," county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. "There is no telling where the fires will move and when, so until the fire departments tell us it is safe and it is contained, you have to assume that at any given moment, even where there is no fire, that something could pop up in your neighborhood."

Sheriff Lee Baca said residents in all of the fire areas across Southern California were being cooperative when asked to evacuate, and he encouraged other residents to be prepared to move. He also assured residents that their homes would be protected from looters.

American Red Cross shelters were established at Agoura High School, 28545 W. Driver Ave.; and at Pacific Palisades High School, 15777 Bowdoin St.

(Source: CBS Broadcasting Inc.)

Stars' Seaside Retreats Threatened by Malibu Wildfire

2007-10-22T17:35:00.001-07:00

Seaside celebrity enclave Malibu Colony in California has been ravaged by a fast-paced wildfire, which broke out early on Sunday morning.

The blaze has already claimed an animal hospital and landmark buildings Hodge Castle, which was reportedly once owned by Bob Dylan, and Malibu Presbyterian Church.

Locals are mourning the loss of socialite Lilly Lawrence's castle home--because it included a private museum featuring letters from Grace Kelly, Princess Diana and six U.S. presidents.

More than 500 firefighters are battling the blaze as WENN goes to press, but Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Sam Padilla admits the fire is far from under control.

Residents of Malibu Colony were evacuated to nearby Zuma Beach as the wildfire threatened their homes.

Built in the 1930s, the cluster of luxury homes that is Malibu Colony has been a favorite of celebrities over the years.

Linda Ronstadt, Larry Hagman, Jeff Bridges, Mel Brooks, Sting and Bill Murray are among the stars who reportedly own and rent homes in Malibu Colony.

In January, a smaller fire hit near the Colony area, and claimed the oceanfront home of actress Suzanne Somers.

Malibu fires in November 1993 destroyed Sean Penn and Ali MacGraw's homes and came close to claiming estates owned by Mel Gibson and Richard Gere.

Students at nearby Pepperdine University have also been evacuated from their rooms to a campus cafeteria.

The wildfire is expected to blaze throughout Sunday and Monday as hot weather and heavy Santa Ana winds marked the height of traditional wildfire season after one of the driest rain years in Southern California on record.

Arson experts have already started to investigate the cause of the fire.

(Source:WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK)

Wildfires sweep Southern California, 1 dead, homes destroyed in Malibu

2007-10-22T17:32:00.001-07:00

MALIBU, Calif. - Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds threatened thousands of Southern California homes Monday as firefighters struggled to combat the blazes that rapidly engulfed the region, killing one person and forcing thousands to evacuate.

In many cases, crews couldn't begin to fight the fires because they were too busy rescuing residents who refused to leave, fire officials said.

"They didn't evacuate at all, or delayed until it was too late," said Bill Metcalf, chief of the North County Fire Protection District. "And those folks who are making those decisions are actually stripping fire resources."

About a dozen blazes erupted over the weekend, fuelled by strong Santa Ana winds and drought-parched land from the high desert to the Pacific Ocean. Things got worse Monday, when several new fires sprouted, adding to the 16,000 hectares or 160 square kilometres that had already burned. The worst damage was in Malibu, where a church and several homes, including a landmark castle-like dwelling were charred.

Firefighters acknowledged they were overwhelmed.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency late Sunday in seven counties. One person died in a fire which burned more than 5,600 hectares about 110 kilometres southeast of San Diego, just north of the Mexican border town of Tecate, said Matt Streck of the California Department of Forestry.

Four firefighters and at least 10 other people were hospitalized, Streck said. Some of the injured were hikers, and others may be illegal immigrants.

Another blaze devoured more than 2,000 hectares in northern San Diego County and forced the evacuation of the community of Ramona, which has a population of about 36,000.

Several structures were burned on the edge of town and sheriff's deputies called residents to alert them the fire was approaching the city, said San Diego sheriff's Lt. Phil Brust.

"The winds are up, it's very, very dangerous conditions," San Diego County spokeswoman Lesley Kirk said. "Fires are popping up all over the place."

In Malibu, about 700 firefighters worked to protect hundreds of homes in several upscale communities nestled in the hills. About 1,500 people were evacuated and the blaze destroyed a church and several homes, one of them the landmark Castle Kashan, a stately fortress-like home with turrets and arched windows. Chunks of brick fell from the exterior of the burning building overlooking the coast.

No residents or firefighters were injured, Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said.

The castle belonged to Lilly Lawrence, the daughter of a former Iranian oil minister. She said she was able to gather a few things before the fire engulfed her home, including some jewelry and memorabilia that included Elvis Presley's army fatigues.

She didn't seem too worried about losing most of her belongings in the fire.

"My parents taught me not to allow my possessions to posses me," Lawrence told KABC-TV. "So, that's the story. The house is a house."

Winds carried embers across the Pacific Coast Highway, closing the popular road and setting fire to cars and trees in the parking lot of a shopping centre where a supermarket, drug store and other shops were damaged.

"This fire is zero per cent contained, which means we're at the mercy of the wind," acting Malibu Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said.

In all, five homes and two commercial buildings had been confirmed lost throughout the Malibu area, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman said. Nine more homes were damaged, he said. Early Monday, several houses in the suburbs around Santa Clarita were destroyed, Padilla said. That blaze had burned about 10,000 hectares.

The fire is expected to burn for another two to three days, he said. Until the blaze is extinguished, "there will literally be thousands of homes that will be threatened at one time or another," he said.

The fire may have been started by downed power lines, Capt. Mike Brown said.

"This is a conflagration we knew was going to come at some point," Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said at a Malibu press conference Sunday, noting Southern California's ongoing dry spell.

"We were cruising for a bruising," he said. "We are very, very lucky as we stand here tonight that the damage has been as limited as it has been." ( By Noaki Schwartz, The Associated Press)