Calif. Wildfires Kill 13, Destroy 825 Homes
Monday, October 27, 2003
SAN DIEGO — More than 7,000 firefighters in Southern California are struggling to contain devastating wildfires (search) that have killed at least 13 people and destroyed more than 825 homes in the state's deadliest outbreak of fires in more than a decade.
Hot Santa Ana winds complicated efforts to tame a series of fires that run from the Mexican border to suburbs north of Los Angeles. Weather forcecasters believe conditions will begin to improve on Tuesday and expect a tropical depression to move through the west later in the week.
The wind subsided for a time during the night but picked up again Monday morning in San Bernardino County. San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman cautioned that "winds can kick up very quickly and change the situation."
The Santa Ana wind season usually stretches from September through February, with October often the strongest. The area's rainy season could start any time but heavier rain is not likely until January.
• Photo Essay: Ring of Fire Surrounds Southern California
"People should be indoors for health reasons," San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy (search) said at a press conference Monday. "The air quality is very poor. And people should be near home in case there are shifts in the winds."
Murphy emphasized the importance of employers asking employees to stay home. "We need to conserve electricity and keep people off the roads," he said.
But most importantly, residents should conserve water, Murphy said. "We need every drop of water to fight the fire."
The blazes triggered a harrowing flight to safety for thousands of residents, many of whom had little time to collect cherished possessions before escaping.
"I was grabbing wet towels. Fire was at our feet. It was blazing over our heads and burning everywhere," said Lisza Pontes, 43, recounting her Sunday morning escape from a fire in San Diego County.
The death toll was the worst in the state since the 1991 fire in the Oakland hills of Alameda County that killed 25 and destroyed more than 3,200 homes and apartments.
Airline travel was disrupted, major highways were blocked and some schools were closed. A professional football game was shifted to Arizona.
Bush Asked for Federal Help
Million-dollar homes disappeared in flames almost as fast as canyon brush in San Diego's affluent Scripps Ranch area. In San Bernardino County, a blaze called the Old Fire, which had destroyed more than 400 homes, torched 25 more when it jumped a road and moved into the heavily forested town of Crestline, fire information officer Candace Vialpando of the U.S. Forest Service said Monday.
Gov. Gray Davis asked President Bush to declare Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties disaster areas to qualify them for federal aid. Bush didn't immediately say he would do that, but did pledge Monday to help in any way possible.
"We want to help put them out. I mean, this is a devastating fire and it's a dangerous fire. And we're prepared to help in any way we can," Bush told reporters at the White House.
Cathy Sang-Pio of the American Red Cross said the organization currently has seven shelters operating to help fire victims with immediate needs like damage assessment, shelter and clothing. "We expect 700 to 1,000 more people in the next few hours who need our help as the fires spread," she told Fox News on Monday.
Brandy DeBatte, 21, stayed at her Crestline home until the electricity went out and the smoke started to thicken.
"I got our animals. I got insurance papers. I didn't want to be up there if the town was going to burn down," she said.
Hours later, she had second thoughts as she realized how much she had left behind: "I should have gotten more out, and I didn't."
Cedar Fight Is Deadliest
About 30,000 homes were endangered by the fires, which had consumed more than 330,000 acres, or 500 square miles -- almost half the size of the state of Rhode Island -- of dense, dry brush and trees.
All of the fatalities happened since Saturday. Nine people were killed by the so-called Cedar Fire in San Diego County, the state's largest blaze at approximately 100,000 acres. About 260 homes, ranging from modest to expensive, were destroyed.
The San Diego County victims included two people who died inside their car as they apparently tried to escape the flames, which witnesses said moved so fast they didn't get any warning.
That fire was started Saturday near the mountain town of Julian when a lost hunter set a signal fire, authorities said. The hunter may face charges.
Another fire near San Diego that started Sunday killed two people and destroyed 57 homes while burning about 15,000 acres, authorities said. It also prompted evacuations in northeastern Escondido.
Around the congested suburbs of San Bernardino, a city of about 200,000 some 50 miles east of Los Angeles, one flank of a nearly 80,000-acre fire burned through four towns while the other flank destroyed more than 450 homes. Two fires -- the Old Fire and the Grand Prix -- had merged on Sunday, creating a flame front 35 to 40 miles long.
Two men collapsed and died, one as he was evacuating his canyon home and the other as he watched his house burn, the county coroner said.
Authorities said they were seeking two men for investigation of arson and possibly murder in connection with the San Bernardino fires. Three looters were arrested, police said.
Another 80,000-acre fire, northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County, threatened approximately 2,000 homes and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Firefighters were spread thinly around threatened communities, focusing on saving what homes they could. The gusty wind prevented the air tanker drops of retardant and use of backfires that are key tactics of fire containment.
The area is vulnerable because drought and an infestation of bark beetles have killed millions of trees. And in some places, brush has not been trimmed by fire or man for decades.
Some of the evacuations ordered included Indian reservation casinos, California State University, San Bernardino, where fire burned two temporary classrooms and a temporary fitness center, and a state mental hospital.
About 1,100 prison inmates also were evacuated, and at least 200 juveniles were evacuated Sunday from two probation camps, said Ken Kondo, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Probation Department spokesman.
Fire also forced the evacuation of a Federal Aviation Administration control center in San Diego, disrupting air travel across the nation. Some airlines canceled flights into the region.
The National Football League moved Monday night's football game between the Chargers and Miami Dolphins from Qualcomm Stadium, which is being used as an evacuation center, to Tempe, Ariz.
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That must be heartbreaking for them. 
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