Entire neighborhoods ravaged by wildfires

By The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times

	DAVID CREAMER / AP Susan Stewart, left, reacts as her son Todd locates a piece of her jewelry while digging through the ashes of their home in San Bernardino, Calif., yesterday. The home was destroyed by a wildfire that moved through the area.
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Other links Wind-driven flames threatening the San Fernando Valley

SAN DIEGO — Ash fell on the beach like snow, and drivers turned on their headlights in the smoky daytime streets yesterday as wildfires that have reduced entire neighborhoods to moonscapes skipped through the hills of Southern California and threatened 30,000 more homes.

California's deadliest outbreak of fires in more than a decade has killed at least 15 people, destroyed at least 1,134 homes and consumed more than 500,000 acres stretching from the Mexican border to the suburbs northeast of Los Angeles.

"This will be the most expensive fire in California history, both in loss of property and the cost of fighting it," said Dallas Jones, director of the state Office of Emergency Services.

The death toll jumped to 15 yesterday after the bodies of two people were found on a road near San Diego.

Several people suffered burns and smoke inhalation, including eight hospitalized at the University of California, San Diego, Medical Center. Two had burns over more than 55 percent of their bodies, spokeswoman Eileen Callahan said.

Managers of California's power grid estimated that 70,000 to 85,000 Southern California customers were without electricity because fires had damaged transmission lines.

A 90,000-acre wildfire that straddles the Los Angeles-Ventura county line began moving slowly toward million-dollar mansions in a gated community in Los Angeles.

California Department of Forestry Battalion Chief Thomas Foley said that in a "worst-case scenario," the blaze could spread all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said his home near San Diego was among the hundreds damaged or destroyed. Farther east, a small border crossing 70 miles from San Diego was closed as fire cut off roads leading to the U.S.-Mexico border, said Vince Bond of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

The dry, hot Santa Ana winds that have fanned the flames began to ease in some areas yesterday, raising hopes that overwhelmed firefighters could make progress with the help of reinforcements on their way from other Western states. But the danger was still high.

The San Diego-area fires raced through chaparral and grass, sometimes sparing one home or one cluster of trees while destroying those around it.

President Bush designated the fire-stricken region a major disaster area, opening the door to grants, loans and other aid to residents and businesses in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. "This is a devastating fire, and it's a dangerous fire. And we're prepared to help in any way we can," Bush said at the White House.

Gov. Gray Davis moved to activate the National Guard and summon help from neighboring states.

The call for firefighters reached to the Northwest, where a Portland-based interagency task force handled the dispatches. The Northwest aid includes five air tankers, a regional management team, 20 support personnel and a 20-person hotshot crew from the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon, said David Widmark, a spokesman for the Pacific Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

Davis predicted the cost of the fires would be in the billions. He toured the fire area in San Bernardino and saw "just homes reduced to rubble, charred belongings still sending off smoke."

The state is pouring $5 million to $6 million a day into battling the blazes and the mounting daily cost is burning a hole in the state's already singed coffers.

But nobody is counting pennies as the tab is expected to grow to $90 million to $100 million, despite the state's ongoing budget crisis.

"Money is secondary in this process," said Steve Maviglio, press secretary to Gov. Gray Davis.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's entire annual emergency fire suppression budget is $70 million. But it projects half the money it spends may be reimbursed by the federal government because about half the fires are burning on federal land.

Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger had a fire briefing in Ventura County and praised work by firefighters. "They say these are the most devastating fires that have happened in the last decade," he said. "What the firefighters are doing here is extraordinary."

Schwarzenegger said he would go to Washington, D.C., today to meet with federal officials "to make sure that the federal money will come through."

A state of emergency was declared in the four stricken counties, where fires had laid waste to entire blocks of homes, closed major highways, shuttered schools, disrupted air travel nationwide and sent people running for their lives.

Many of those who died in the wildfires ignored evacuation orders and were caught by flames because they waited until the last minute to flee, Sheriff Bill Kolender said.

"When you are asked to leave, do it immediately," he said. "Do not wait."

San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman said he was worried that three fires that incinerated 585 homes in San Diego County would merge into a super fire, pushing already strained resources to the breaking point.

Across Southern California, the sun glowed red, ash dropped across the landscape and smoke stung the eyes and lungs.

People were urged to stay indoors because of the smoky air, and hospitals treated a number of people who complained of breathing trouble.

Eleven people were killed by the so-called Cedar Fire, California's largest blaze at 150,000 acres. The fire was ignited Saturday near the mountain town of Julian when a lost hunter set off a signal fire, authorities said.

Residents of Valley Center recalled yesterday how they were caught off-guard by the flames, which roared up from Hell Hole Canyon with little warning. Gary Olson, 47, had been watering down his house when the fire arrived.

"You just felt a gust of hot wind. It was one big flame. It was moving so fast you didn't have time to think," he said.

Winds were pushing flames across the road, forcing residents to drive through the fire.

In San Bernardino County, a blaze called the Old Fire has destroyed more than 450 homes. Yesterday, the flames jumped a road and moved into the heavily forested town of Crestline.

A major fire burning closer to Los Angeles is believed to have been started by arsonists.

"Those who start these fires are no better than domestic terrorists and should be dealt with as such," said Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley.

Seattle Times staff reporter Hal Bernton contributed to this report.

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