Strong winds frustrate fire-containment efforts
- COMBINED NEWS SERVICES
- SAN DIEGO - Fast-moving wildfires raging out of control in Southern California threatened thousands more homes and forced an estimated 500,000 people to evacuate.
"We have had an unfortunate situation that we've had three things come together: very dry areas, very hot weather and then a lot of wind," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "And so this makes the perfect storm for a fire."
More than 6,000 firefighters were battling at least 16 fires, the governor said. Caravans of fire engines from all over the state headed down freeways to join the fight.
Driven by gale-force desert winds and chaparral turned to tinder by the driest year on record, the conflagrations burned beyond the control of firefighters, who could only try to keep stray sparks from spreading.
The fires jumped over freeways and hit many homes so suddenly that residents had only seconds to flee the advancing flames.
In Rancho Santa Fe, a suburb north of San Diego, houses burned just yards from where fire crews fought to contain flames engulfing other properties. Groves of eucalyptus trees exploded in the heat in one ritzy cul-de-sac, sending off a scattered popping that sounded like machine-gun fire.
"If it's this big and blowing with as much wind as it's got, it'll go all the way to the ocean before it stops," said San Diego Fire Capt. Kirk Humphries. "We can save some stuff but we can't stop it."
The winds were not expected to subside until today or tomorrow.
Officials in San Diego said yesterday that well over 200,000 acres had been burned in San Diego County alone and more than 350,000 houses were evacuated.
The county estimated, based on census data, that about 513,000 people were ordered to leave, said spokesman Luis Monteagudo. Thousands more were evacuated in San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange counties.
"It's a mass migration here as we try to get people out of harm's way and into shelters or safe areas," Monteagudo said.
By afternoon, the northern suburbs of San Diego were a patchwork of blocked roads, blackened hillsides and empty streets of shuttered houses. Heavy, choking smoke hung in the air. Neighbors coughed at convenience stores as they compared notes.
In Escondido, just north of the city line, Richard and Jean Sanders sipped soft drinks at a sandwich shop across the road from their housing development. After they were evacuated Monday, they watched from a freeway overpass as a fast-moving fire raced up a hill and hit their neighborhood.
"God, I hope that's not our house," Richard Sanders, 70, recalled telling his wife as one home after another went up in flames. The couple borrowed binoculars from teenagers and found their house was spared.
The first victim of the wildfires was Thomas Varshock, 52, who was found dead Sunday in southern San Diego County. Four people died during the evacuation process.
More than 200 homes were burned in Running Springs and Lake Arrowhead, where retired resident Kim Wurm refused to evacuate. She said she stayed to protect her home and those of her friends, but that she had never seen such devastation in 25 years in "fire country."
"It's like a bomb went off. It's like shock and awe. It is shock and awe," she said.
THE TOLL
THE FIRES: No hope of stopping them as long as the Santa Ana winds are blowing, but they may moderate today or tomorrow.
EVACUATED: More than 350,000 houses - nearly a third of San Diego County, and an estimated 500,000 people. "It's basically a mass migration," said a county spokesman.
- Stay Tuned for San Diego Fire Updates Coming Soon!
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