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| October 23, 2007 »
Malibu:
Monday afternoon, along Las Flores Canyon, an area high in the hills above Pacific Coast Highway that's been evacuated, Steve Brookes, 43, and a handful of others were parked, waiting to see if the danger would pass. "This is all I know. I was born and raised here." He said it's quiet, and then "every 10 years there's something, fires or floods."
He lived through the 1971 and 1993 fires. Everybody is much more prepared this time than in 1993, when there were no airdrops and fire engines, he said. In 1993, somebody dubbed his street Miracle Park Ave., because it was not burned when much around it was. He brought with him high school yearbooks, tax returns, bank statements, two concert tickets to the Eagles, a fax machine, bicycle, computer and his dog Indy.
Nigel Cooper, 55, owns a software company and lives on Manzanita with his wife, Nancy Lindquist, 50. "Everywhere you live there is always something," he says. He used to live in London and there were problems there too. They're about to move to Oregon. "If the house burns down, at least we won't have to get a moving company."
They took out three dogs, three cats, computers, jewelry, financial papers and his father's family albums. "There's fire, there are earthquakes. You just accept the fact it could happen, and don't get excited if it does. "If it doesn't take the house, we'll go back; in the meantime, it's a beautiful day. I have to make sure I don't get sun-burned."
Nancy Evans, 63, lives on Live Oak Meadow. Her all-wood home burned down in 1993. She rebuilt it with steel and concrete and a metal roof. She was talking to neighbors about the deer. "I have a love-hate relationship with them. We love looking at them and taking pictures of them, but I have to chase them out of my yard because they eat my flowers and my plants. They've kept our yards pretty sparse this year, so that's helpful for the fire." She has a deer-crossing sign in front of her house.
A couple months ago, worried about possible fires, she moved valuables to storage. "It's a very dry year. We burned out in '93. I'm a little nervous." She removed jewelry and photos to her mother's house, and a lot of papers and Christmas decorations to a storage unit, as well as her tax returns. She had her car packed up with family videos. The 1993 fire was hotter and faster, and this time people seemed more prepared, she said. She's waiting it out as long as she can because if she leaves, she can't come back. In '93, her husband rode his bike into town then walked back up to discover the house had burned.
Larry Rick, 49, a physician's assistant at Kaiser, lives on Live Oak Meadow. He says Malibu is not just celebrities. There's a fixer-upper here and a trailer there. Malabama, they call it. About midday, residents were told to leave.
Rick has carriers for three cats, and his wife already took out important papers. Firefighters have assured him the neighborhood is very defendable. In the car he has personal pieces of art and a "get out of town" bag. "Everything else can be replaced, but I don't expect to lose anything."
Jeff Casper, 42, is holding his son Dolphan, 3, on his shoulders, and his wife Eryka Casper, 37, is holding 10-month old daughter Bella in her arms. They are outside their home on Las Flores, at the bottom of the canyon. Their son's preschool burned to ground at Malibu Presbyterian.
They have brought their son's skateboard and artwork, plaster casts of the wife when pregnant, passports, a sailboard, surfboard, design books and videos. Both cars are packed up.
They lived directly across from World Trade Center and moved to Malibu November 2001. "It's déjà vu," Casper said. Last night they made cookies and pizza for the firefighters. Eryka says, "Whether it's an urban landscape or more rural, it's always very humbling, the fragility of life."
-- Anna Gorman
Malibu:
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky blamed environmental restrictions for standing in the way of fire protection in the Malibu area.
"The Coastal Commission believes that every piece of chaparral is an environmentally sensitive plant…You’ve got to be realistic. This is the real world," he said.
The Coastal Commission does not prohibit clearing of brush. In fact, under state law since 2005, Californians must clear brush within 100 feet of their homes and other structures -- 200 feet if they live in Los Angeles County’s high-risk areas, including Malibu.
Steve Hudson, the Coastal Commission’s regional supervisor of planning and regulation, said the commission allows vegetation clearance as long as it’s consistent with that law. New developments must have brush-clearance plans approved by the county fire department, he said.
In addition, new developments in the Santa Monica Mountains area that remove chaparral or coastal sage scrub must pay a mitigation fee. The money goes into a fund for preserving the habitats for rare native animals and plants.
-- Marla Cone
Simi Valley area:
The Ventura County Sheriff's Department late Monday advised residents northeast of Simi Valley in the Bennett Road and Ditch Road areas to be prepared to leave overnight if the winds pushed the Magic Fire south. It's a pattern fire officials have seen in past Santa Ana wildfires.
-- Catherine Saillant
South San Diego County:
Cal Fire will launch a search and rescue mission Tuesday in the Harris fire scorched area to look for illegal immigrants lost or killed. The fire burned a rugged region criss-crossed by trails used by illegal immigrants. Several were discovered Sunday night injured with burns.
-- Tony Perry
Rice Fire (Fallbrook): 1,500 acres consumed, 0% contained, 30 homes damaged, 50 homes destroyed. The fire has crossed I-15 and Highway 395; 32 firefighters working.
Harris Fire: 22,000 acres burned, 5% contained, five firefighters injured, 16 civilians injured, unknown number of buildings destroyed, 400 firefighters working.
Witch Fire: 145,000 acres consumed, seven firefighters injured, one civilian injured, more than 500 houses destroyed and 200 damaged, more than 100 commercial buildings damaged, 50 outbuildings destroyed, 625 firefighters working.
-- Tony Perry
Poway:
Kevin Hitchcock, division chief of the Poway Fire Department, was touring the city in his SUV, jotting down the addresses of the opulent homes on the front line of the fire that he estimates has charred between 150 and 200 residences. Blackened buildings and houses engulfed in flames whizzed by.
"We're not putting out the fire; we're just saving as many homes as we can," Hitchcock said.
As the radio crackled with dispatchers calling out one burning location after another, a voice announced that an elderly woman, confined to her bed, was trapped in her burning home. Hitchcock picked up his radio and calmly ordered an engine to rescue her.
Then a call came in of a house gas line burning. "Nothing we can do, we've got them everywhere," he said.
The situation is so dire, Hitchcock's firefighters are only getting four hours to rest, after shifts as long as 36 hours. He had asked the region central fire commanders for 20 strike teams, each with five engines, but he only received six.
The town of 37 square miles and 48,000 residents is now at risk of losing even more homes. The blaze has traveled from the northeast corner of Poway, cutting diagonally in a southwesterly direction. In the early evening, the challenge was preventing the encroaching fire from crossing one of the town's major thoroughfares, Espola Road.
One thing is certain, Hitchcock said: Many more of Poway's exclusive mansions will burn unless more resources are provided.
-- Joel Rubin
Fire officials are trying to stop the fast-moving Witch Fire from racing westward down the San Dieguito River Valley to the ocean. Some of the priciest communities in San Diego County lie in its path: Fairbanks Ranch, Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar and Solana Beach. The communities include gated communities, country clubs, golf courses and a polo field.
From the origin of the fire near Ramona, it is 35 miles to the ocean. "It's already halfway there," said San Diego Fire Department spokesman Maurice Luque. "We're expecting the worst."
-- Tony Perry
Fallbrook:
After holding flames at bay for hours as they raked the east side of Old Route 395, firefighters could not stop the fire jumping to the west side of the highway. The fire is flaring high along both sides of road, just north of Pala Mesa Drive, near Pala Mesa Golf Course.
-- Christine Hanley
San Bernardino:
About 975 people have registered with the American Red Cross shelter in San Bernardino, according to Dianne Strutt, the shelter's manager. Some ate dinner, others dozed on cots while 20 kids played soccer in one corner of the building. Strutt said that if they break 1,000 refugees, they will open up a similar building on the fairgrounds to take in more people.
In the parking lot, a few dozen people stayed in their cars or RVs. A makeshift animal shelter maintained by the San Bernardino County Vector Control housed about 75 dogs and cats in a truck with cages, according to Mark Scina, the shelter's on-site manager.
For Jana Robertson, a 20-year resident of Crestline, the camping cots were too painful to sleep on because of a neck injury she suffered in a car accident in 2001. During the 2003 fire she stayed with friends, but this time they had moved away. So she was given some towels to roll up under her neck as she slept in her Suzuki Grand Vitara.
"You really do take for granted the luxuries back home, even if it is in the mountains. God, it'd be great to shower though."
Like many residents stranded either inside or outside the shelter, Robertson said it's painful waiting to find out the damage the fire has inflicted. "Faith is what I hope most of us have packed tonight."
-- Francisco VaraOrta
Poway:
In Poway, a city of about 50,000 people northeast of San Diego, an enormous fork of the so-called "Witch" fire exploded at dusk and began racing across hillside developments peppered with million-dollar homes. Seventy structures, almost all of them homes, had been lost by 7:30 p.m., said City Atty. Lisa Foster. About 7,000 households were under a mandatory evacuation, and about two-thirds of the town's population had left. There had been no reported injuries to firefighters or civilians.
Numerous houses had been lost on St. Andrews Drive, Old Coach Road, Old Winery Road and in the housing developments the Heritage and the Maderas.
A menacing fire was churning through the northeast portion of Poway, known as High Valley. Firefighters were attempting to block twin walls of flames from jumping over Espola Road, a main north-south thoroughfare through Poway. But they made no promises. Even with emergency aid pouring into the region, there were still just 80 firefighters in the city of Poway -- about one for every structure that had been lost. At one point Monday afternoon, three separate fires burned in Poway, each destroying structures, said Fire Division Chief Kevin Kitch.
"The entire area is just starved for resources," Kitch said. "This is just too big. There are structures being lost as we speak."
The fires were driving across the city from east to west and were not expected to stop anytime soon, Kitch said. Wind gusts of as high as 38 mph were expected on Tuesday, though the relative humidity was expected to rise a bit, perhaps to as high as 20%, he said. Firefighters were hoping that the winds might drop enough to permit large-scale air drops of water or flame retardant.
"We hope the wind moderates enough to get tankers up, just to give us a chance to breathe," Kitch said. "It's all dependent on the weather. This is a very, very intense fire, with shifting winds, driving winds, no moisture, no humidity -- in a drought-stricken area."
It added up to a night alternately terrifying and mesmerizing for residents. Many of them huddled on nearby bluffs and hilltops to watch the flames burrow down the mountain toward the center of town.
"That one started out as a tiny little flame," said Matt Simms, 24, pointing to fire on a hillside across a small valley. Flames were devouring towering trees as he spoke, and several large houses were ablaze. Like many residents, he was wearing a T-shirt wrapped around his face to guard against the smoke. "Now look at it," he said.
His parents live on the other side of that ridge, he said. They were under an evacuation order and he assumed they had escaped, he said.
"But I keep calling, and they don't answer," he said.
Jason Thompson, the owner of a local pool company, raced in a truck through a development called the Grove to evacuate an elderly client. Towering flames were consuming a house just 100 feet away as he shot toward the front gate.
"It's horrible," he said. "Just horrible."
-- Scott Gold
Piru:
Firefighters were aggressively fighting the Ranch Fire at its eastern flank, hoping to keep the flames trapped north of Highway 126. By 6 p.m., the fire had burned 41,000 acres of heavy brush and chaparral, and was threatening the Ventura County communities of Piru and Fillmore.
It had destroyed three homes and three outbuildings, and prompted evacuation recommendations for an estimated 2,000 residents in Piru and Fillmore. Heavy smoke was visible throughout the day and prompted the closure of Highway 126 between Piru and Chiquita Canyon Road to the east in Los Angeles County.
Several canyon neighborhoods in Los Angeles County near Newhall were also evacuated as flames raced west, pushed by the strong winds.
Ranch Fire statistics, as of 6 p.m.:
- 7 structures destroyed (3 homes and 4 outbuildings)
- 767 firefighters on scene.
- 2,000 recommended evacuated (Piru and Fillmore). No deaths, no injuries.
- 41,000 acres
- Containment expected Oct. 31.
-- Kay Saillant
Canyon Country:
On Monday, Lucy Medina, 32, surveyed the remains of her Canyon Country home. Only its frame and garage were standing. Her sister's Toyota Corolla was gutted.
"This is where we spend Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving -- all the holidays," Medina said. "So that's kind of sad."
Medina said she was frustrated firefighters weren't on the scene when she tried to get back to her house with her two children, Steven, 4, and Sebastian, 7 months old, after a Sunday-afternoon shopping trip and early dinner at Rattler's Restaurant. Firefighters were able to rescue her family's Rottweiler, Champ, by tossing him over to some neighbors before they escaped.
"I'm used to seeing all the smoke, but never did I imagine it would be my home. I guess you never do," Medina said.
-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske
North San Diego County:
After 12 hours of supervising air support above San Diego County's Witch and Harris fires, Chief Ray Chaney ended his day on a note of optimism.
"Today was a day of twists and turns, but twists and turns for the better," said Chaney, air tactical group supervisor with Cal Fire.
Speaking from the Ramona Airport, where a command center was located, he said: "There are certainly areas where we're having difficulty getting air crews and ground crews to the fire. But we were able to make a stand and succeeded. The DC-10 (water tanker) did exceptional drops."
In the Deer Horn Valley, where there are hundreds of homes, the tanker was able to tamp down the fire to the point where "it went from black, boiling flame to a white smoke."
Ground crews followed up with engines and bulldozers. None of the Deer Valley homes were lost, he said.
The day began with winds above 35 mph that caused moderate to severe turbulence, grounding air tankers above the Witch Fire. But by the afternoon, three air tankers, one helicopter, an air attack, fixed-wing plane and a command and control plane were in the air above both fires.
Chaney said that in anticipation of high winds, the agency had brought in helicopters and other aircraft from Northern California days earlier. But they lacked enough command and control craft to direct the air attack.
"Anytime you have this number of fires, you're going to be strapped for resources," said Chaney.
But Chaney said he and his crews were ready to begin operations again at daybreak Tuesday, with "tons" more aircraft expected to arrive from northern California and outside the state.
-- Garrett Therolf
Poway:
Jimmy Fiero, a battalion chief for the San Diego City Fire Department, sat wearily on a hydrant in a tony neighborhood near Lake Poway. A blood-red sun hung low in the sky, nearly blotted out by the thick smoke and ash swirling in the air.
He and his men hadn't slept on Sunday, and worked all the way through Monday as the fire made its way through Poway. "We got ahead of it a few times. Then it got ahead of us. It was a serious game of leapfrog," Fiero said, rubbing his eyes wearily underneath his spectacles.
His men had backed about 10 fire engines into the driveways of several houses in the Bridlewood community to make another stand as the fire tried to blow through the gated community. They were well-aware that only an hour before, fire had destroyed several multimillion-dollar homes less than a mile away.
The houses back up to a steep gully, and the fire was racing down the ridge on the far side. Firefighters waited in the backyards, watching it make its run as the wind picked up and dropped off.
Stockton Fire Department Capt. Dwight Lindsey, assisting Fiero in Poway, stood in a backyard with two of his men and watched it begin its climb up toward the houses. In the backyard, a tattered American flag whipped in the wind and two lawn chairs sat on the lawn staring out over the devastation.
After several minutes of relative calm, the gusts whipped up again, sending flames swirling into the air. Two of the men picked up their hose, ready to send water coursing from the truck. Lindsey spoke to them in calm monotones, pointing to trees and bushes that could cause them problems. With the sun no longer visible in the sky because the smoke was so thick, Lindsey gave the order to turn the water on a patch of trees that exploded to their left, sending flames 50 feet into the air.
He and his two men then carried the hose down the steep slope, trying not to trip in the thick underbrush, beating back the flames in front of them. The only illumination came from the skeletal remains of burning trees. After several minutes, Lindsey had the men pick their way back up the slope, dousing hot spots as embers continued to jump. "We do as much as we can and then move on," Lindsay said. "It's nonstop; as soon as you say 'done' there are five more people begging for us to go to them. You save as many as you can."
-- Joel Rubin
San Bernardino:
The Mundo family fled their Twin Peaks home around 10 a.m. Monday morning and eventually made their way down to the Red Cross evacuation site at the Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino. It's the first wildfire they've experienced since moving to the area four years ago from El Salvador.
"You can feel so many different emotions; in a way you're excited at seeing all the fire and the smoke from a distance, but then you're scared that it will come closer to you," said Alejandra Mundo, 19. The family grabbed some of their jewelry, photos and clothes, but left behind what they hoped was going to become their first home in the United States. Although they had been renting out the house for $1,000 a month, the owner told them a few months ago that she was willing to sell it to them for $325,000 this coming December. "Our dreams could be up in smoke," said the family's matriarch, Sara, 40. "But as long as the family is together that's the most important thing anyone can have."
As of 4 p.m. the family was preparing to stay one to two nights in the shelter. They hadn't heard anything about their home.
-- Francisco VaraOrta
Ramona:
When Bob Gogola left his home outside Ramona on Sunday, he was sure he would never see it again. The 74-year-old Korean War veteran took off in his van and slept the night in the Kmart parking lot in Ramona. He left behind two Rottweilers that he said were too mean to get into the van.
When he tried to get to his house Monday, the road was blocked with embers, logs and trees, some burning. Walking up the dirt road, he saw his neighbor's stucco home burning out of control. Two firefighters from the city of San Mateo in Northern California, Capt. Greg Campbell and firefighter Michael Ramsey, escorted Gogola, who was walking with a cane. The firefighters seemed exhausted after going 24 hours without sleep.
Gogola came around the bend and was overjoyed to find his modest home had been spared. "Hey, look at that, it's my adobe hacienda," joked Gogola. "God, you guys are good. Which one of you guys want a hug?"
-- Richard Marosi
Poway:
Looking north from Twin Peaks Road toward the Culebra Hills development in Poway, a very big, fast-moving fire is coming south with high flames visible against the horizon. There is no electricity, but the whole area is illuminated with an orange light.
The area where the fire is burning, a horse-property subdivision of Poway called High Valley, is sparsely populated.
People here say a number of houses have burned in Poway today, but no one knows how many.
This area is under an evacuation order, but there are so few police officers to spread around, there seems to be no one to enforce it. So a lot of people are lingering, including Mark McDermott, 49, a vice president at a defense electronics firm.
McDermott had been evacuating his horses in the morning from Culebra Hills, when another fire line came down the creek from the east, then fizzled out. That fire followed the path of the Cedar Fire, but the one now coming from the north has a new path. No fire engines can be seen. "This is way different," he said.
He and his wife were going to have dinner, then flee: "You have to get out if you want to sleep," he said.
-- Jill Leovy
Near Valencia:
"Stevenson Ranch is no longer in danger," Fire Inspector Mike Brown said this evening, adding that the wind seemed to be dying down.
The 1,200-acre fire that started Monday afternoon south of Magic Mountain, which once threatened Stevenson Ranch, was 20% contained by 7 p.m.
-- Richard Winton
Between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear:
The Kerr family watched their Grass Valley Lake-area home burn to the ground Monday morning. Asked to move two blocks away by the CHP, the family parked and waited until they saw the house collapse. Three members of the family of five -- father Michael, 42, Sarah, 14, and son Kelle, 13 -- were channeling their grief by volunteering at the Red Cross Evacuation Center in San Bernardino, helping to set up cots and pick up trash early Monday evening.
"We're mountain people; we're tough," Michael Kerr said. "We're here to help out and to help ourselves mentally.
"You have to be either part of the problem or part of the solution, so we're not going to sit around and cry."
Two other family members -- Julie, 41, and John, 12 -- were staying at a Motel 6 to catch up on their rest. All five shared a three-story house, valued at $500,000. They're planning on staying at the shelter overnight to work out details with the insurance company on a temporary dwelling.
"We're going to rebuild," Michael said. "We've been living in that area for 22 years and seeing fires come and go. We ain't leaving."
He's a house painter. She's a homemaker.
All they left with were a few bags of clothes, their dog and some photos. They had 45 minutes to leave.
-- Francisco VaraOrta
Washington, D.C.:
President Bush called Gov. Schwarzenegger shortly before 4 p.m. today to make sure the governor was getting the assistance he needed from the federal government, according to Scott M. Stanzel, a deputy White House press secretary. The president told the governor to call him if there were additional needs.
FEMA has provided fire management assistance grants for four major fires in Southern California. These grants provide 75% cost share (25% local) for expenses like field camps, equipment repair and replacement, mobilization activities, etc. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has deployed fire crews, fire engines, air tankers and helicopters to the incident areas.
Schwarzenegger called Bush back after their initial call to ask for military assistance. The Department of Defense has been in contact with Schwarzenegger's office, and the military has already provided the following assets:
-- Firefighting personnel from the area Air Force and naval posts, including fire engines and support vehicles.
-- Three National Guard helicopters, with another standing by.
-- Approximately 1,700 California National Guardsmen called up to assist in the efforts, and an additional 17,000 California National Guard soldiers and airmen are available.
The administration will continue to work with the governor's office to provide assistance in fighting the fires, Stanzel said.
-- James Gerstenzang
Poway:
About 70 homes in The Grove, a Poway development, burned today. Fire flamed on both sides of the very large, one- to three-acre lots, with horse stables. It's the same area where the Cedar Fire raged four years ago.
Steve Hooker, 50, an 11-year resident, pulled into his house 15 minutes ago and saw a large big-screen TV in the driveway. His sliding-glass door had been smashed with a huge rock and the house ransacked,. There was no power, and he doesn't know what's stolen. "We were just getting ready to get the hell out of here but wanted to let our neighbors know [about the looters]."
"That's got to be the lowest crime on earth, to take things from people when they're already down."
His neighbor, Rita Rast, lived here for 17 years with her husband Bob Rast. They packed their car but are going to hold out as long as can. They were drinking wine and eating cheese and crackers by candlelight in their darkened home. "We're not looking for trouble and we're not heroes, but we're gonna stay," she said. Earlier this evening, she was upset as fire burned up the ridge toward about a half dozen multimillion-dollar hilltop homes. "Where are they? Why aren't they doing something?" she said, noting a lack of fire crews.
-- Robert Lopez
Continue reading "Looting incident reported in Poway" »
Fallbrook:
Houses were burning Monday evening in Fallbrook hilltop canyons just north of Old Highway 395.
Rob and Jacqui Fisher said they were the last residents to leave Wilt Drive, chased by approaching flames. They had about an hour to evacuate the 2,000-square-foot ranch they rent. Rob, a 47-year-old musician, packed his pickup bed with several drum sets and other instruments. His wife filled up her minivan with just about everything she could squeeze in.
"I've been packing every little thing I can," she said before they sped away down the hill, to where, they weren't sure.
"We're homeless for now," Rob said.
Not far away, Trevor Newhouse and his dad gathered with relatives and friends, watching homes light up in flames across a small valley, along Vern Drive. They had saved their 6,000-square-foot ranch and most of their 12 acres of avocados -- for now -- thanks to his aunt and uncle, Jonathan and Melody Bitting, who turned on every sprinkler in their home and orchard. When Trevor and his dad arrived. they all picked up hoses and kept the fire away as it made its first run at them.
The group kept watch until the wind pushed hard, and a new little spot fire began burning on the side of the valley where they were standing.
"We gotta get out of here," Trevor said to everyone.
With night falling, popping and crackling could be heard all around as spot fires broke out and homes burned along Vern and Citrus drives. "The good thing is, I'm not seeing any flames near our house," said Trevor Newhouse, watching the roof burn on a big home nearby. "But that's not good. That's somebody's home."
-- Christine Hanley
Shelters accepting displaced animals include:
LARGE ANIMALS
Pierce College
6201 Winnetka Avenue
Woodland Hills, CA 91371
Antelope Valley Fair Grounds
2551 West Avenue H
Lancaster, CA 93536
SMALL ANIMALS
Agoura Animal Shelter
29525 Agoura Road
Agoura Hills, CA 91301
818-991-0071
Castaic Animal Shelter
31044 N. Charlie Canyon Road
Castaic, CA 91384
661-257-3191
Continue reading "Animal shelters opened" »
Qualcomm Stadium:
George Biagi, San Diego mayoral spokesman, says at least 5,000 and perhaps as many as 10,000 people are at the stadium, although not all are inside. Many are camping out in the parking lot.
-- Rebecca Trounson
Poway:
About 4 p.m., just as firefighters were hoping the wind would begin to die down for the evening, a branch of the Witch Fire erupted, barreling through the east side of Poway, a city that is home to large gated communities and subdivisions of million-dollar houses.
The fire headed south, burning on two fronts: the north side of Lake Poway, and a new finger of the city that wraps around the south side of the lake, over hills with large and expensive houses in an area called High Valley. Residents stood along Espola Road with T-shirts wrapped around their faces and squinting through binoculars trying to point out the houses that were burning.
"It's terrifying," said Donna Cuddy, 45, who was evacuating with her husband, son and two dogs, and hoped to find a hotel near downtown San Diego.
Harold Bridges, a park maintenance worker from Poway, had been drafted to block off intersections to keep people from getting into the High Valley area. "This just happened; it's bad up there."
-- Scott Gold
Chula Vista:
Bernard Gonzales, a spokesman for the Chula Vista Police Department, said evacuations for East Lake Woods, Bella Lago, some of the San Miguel Ranch, and some areas of the Rolling Hills Ranch were voluntary, but most people were leaving. He said in the last few hours, "The fire jumped the 94 and got into an area where Chula Vista is much more susceptible."
He said two military helicopters from the Navy had been dropping water on the fringes of the fire to try and stop the spread. "Those copters make a huge difference in a big hurry," he said. He also said firefighters were stationed in strategic spots on the eastern edge of Chula Vista and they were ready to fight the fire if it continued this way. "Right now it's not imminent, but we'd like to be prepared," Gonzales said.
About 100 residents are strung along Proctor Valley Road in Chula Vista watching the flames, sharing stories and discussing whether or not to evacuate.
The horse trails to the east where the pavement ends have been blocked off, and people are near the edge, looking out toward the forest.
Victor Lemos, 32, was standing with friend Randy Webb, 30, atop a 100-foot hill off Proctor Valley Road. They were wearing face masks to protect against the falling smoke and ash.
"We're just waiting until they give us the word to evacuate," Lemos said. He said he already had everything together, including birth certificates, photos and deeds to the house. "I'm not really too worried about TV and things like that. That all can be replaced."
Lemos works as a detention deputy for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.
Webb did not have much to say, but had his two cats and 6-foot northern pine snake in hand. He ran out to Petco to make sure he had all the crates needed for his animals and was prepared to evacuate himself, his wife and two children.
Melo Garcia, 43, has lived in Rolling Hills Ranch for four years.
"It's coming; it's coming and I'm worried," Garcia said. She had already packed passports, birth certificates, and medicine. She said she was most worried about her anxious 88-year-old mother-in-law, who lives with her.
But Garcia does not believe the fire will burn down her house.
"I don't think it's going to happen," she said. "I have faith."
-- Ari Bloomekatz
Green Valley Lake:
Judy Whitner, 39, was sleeping in her car late Monday afternoon as she awaited word about the home she bought about a month ago in the Green Valley Lake area, between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear. That morning, she and her son, Jamie, 15, quickly gathered some photographs, their two dogs, a neighbor's cat and dog and some of their neighbors' belongings as firefighters swarmed their neighborhood to confront the flames that had already engulfed two homes.
She believed she'd be stuck sleeping in the car because of the animals, who were not permitted inside the shelter. Her son was staying with a friend at a motel.
It wouldn't surprise her to lose her new home.
"I still have boxes left in there," she said. "I haven't even finished unpacking."
"Just as quickly as I was hoping to move into my house, I guess the fire can move me out of it."
She's lived in the area since 1996, but this is the first home she's ever owned. During the last fire in the area, she panicked.
"This time around I'm taking a different approach. Whatever happens, I have no control."
-- Paul Pringle
Poway:
An "extremely active" fire was bearing down on the city from Lake Poway, and an official said deputies were hurrying to get residents out of the High Valley area, now considered at great risk.
City workers were hustling in and out of the City Hall lobby loading stacks of pizzas and bins of salad into vans to take to the city's two evacuation centers -- one at the local community center, and the other at the Boys & Girls Club. "It's approaching dinner time," explained Liz Dean, a city management analyst who evacuated her own family to San Diego earlier in the day, then returned to work, where she juggled boxes of food to take to the evacuees.
Poway began its evacuation of two-thirds of the city at about 4 a.m., said Jennifer Lewis, the city's public information officer. About 51,000 people live in Poway, whose largest employer is a huge Geico facility. About 7,000 homes had so far been evacuated, she said.
The number of people in the city's shelters peaked at about 800 in the early afternoon, prompting officials to send out pleas discouraging any more evacuees from coming to Poway, despite supplies brought in from Wal-Mart and Costco. But the shelters have since emptied out, and with only 600 people for dinner, Poway was once again welcoming refugees.
Not a single resident had to be prodded to leave, Lewis said. "People have been great. Not one person was evacuated by force. Not one," she said. "They have been through this before, and they take it very seriously."
Poway command information is at (858) 679-4301.
-- Jill Leovy
Statewide:
CalFire Assistant Deputy Director Ken Pimlott said it was too early to estimate the cost of this week's firefighting efforts, but that it would amount to at least $10 million. "Where it will land will depend on how long it goes on this week," he said.
Who pays for the firefighting on nonfederal lands depends on a complicated set of cost-sharing agreements. But in big, destructive wildland blazes such as those in Southern California in the last two days, most of the tab is ultimately picked up by the federal government.
The state and local jurisdictions initially pay for the firefighting, with the state absorbing the larger share. But the state can then obtain assistance grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover 75% of the cost.
And when wildfires are bad enough to be declared a federal disaster, such as the 2003 wildfires, FEMA picks up more than 90% of the firefighting expense.
-- Bettina Boxall, Jack Leonard and Julie Cart
Foothill Ranch, near Irvine:
The Ruffs stood in their backyard in Foothill Ranch, looking casual as fire raged about 100 feet away, flames shooting 40 feet in the air. Four or five firetrucks were parked on the street out front.
"I panic really easily, and I'm not even panicking," said Linda Ruff. "We've packed up the cars and have our four cats ready to go, but I see it as exercise. And I'm going to get exercise again when I unpack everything and take it back into my home."
The father, Robert Ruff, a geologist, said he expected such fires this year. His private geology firm had handled a few landslides in the last year, a tipoff to the bone-dry conditions to come.
"I was expecting fires," he said, "I just wasn't expecting them here."
-- Tony Barboza
Malibu:
Robyn Morgan, 69, of Carbon Mesa Road in Malibu, evacuated at 3:30 a.m. Monday.
Morgan wears a necklace with what looks like a gold nugget with a diamond in the middle. It's the remains of her late husband's watch, the only thing they were able to save when their house was burned in the 1993 Malibu fire.
"I have had it on since '93," she said as a chopper dumped water on a smoky ridge above. "I never take it off."
It's hard for other people to understand why she lives here through thick and thin, she said. But when her husband was dying in 1997, the beauty of the canyon became a way for her to comfort him.
"When he was dying, he was in a back bedroom. I told him, 'I want you to look outside. I'm going to make the garden as nice as I can for you.' "
She has heard the talk about rich Malibu residents being bailed out at great cost because of where they choose to live.
"They got the wrong idea about all the rich people in Malibu," she said. "There are movie stars who are super-rich, and there are those making a living who are not super-rich."
She said spends a lot of money clearing vegetation around her home. "A lot goes into Malibu. We are not getting a free ride. We pay our taxes like everyone else."
Her son Damon Bivens, 41, who also lives in Malibu, showed up to be with her. "I can't be too far from Mom when she lives in a place called Carbon Canyon."
He said that no house is worth risking a life for, yet, "This feels different for us, because we lost everything before."
-- Hector Becerra
Poway:
One of the only businesses in Poway to remain open, besides Stater Bros., where people were stocking on bottled water, was the local Baskin Robbins ice cream franchise owned by Mitch Hirota, 49.
Hirota said he came to the store in the morning in a rush to save his inventory, then got stuck there. "I was sure the refrigerators would be out from no electricity, but they weren't, so I stayed open," he said.
His family meanwhile had evacuated from Fallbrook, so he had no place to go back to, and was busy serving ice cream well after dark. To his surprise, business was brisk: Shakes, ice cream and the occasional bucket of water for free for the horses standing around in his parking lot.
-- Jill Leovy
Kris Concepcion, Orange County Fire Authority battalion chief, said in a briefing that he understood that Los Angeles and San Diego counties were in exactly the same situation as Orange County, "but despite that we're fighting the fight regardless and at this point we're not expecting more help."
In the morning, Orange County already had 500 firefighters, and that number stayed the same throughout the day. The county also had 2 water-dropping helicopters; no fixed-wing aircraft was used because the winds were too erratic and dangerous. The only help the county received was from Corona and other cities within Orange County. "This is simply a matter of supply and demand and the supply is greater than the demand and it's not going to be met at this point."
"OC fire officials have asked for more resources and they're just not going to get them," Concepcion said. "We have asked for additional resources but they have not come because there's such a critical draw down. It is a little frustrating."
"But we understand what the priorities are, and we understand what the circumstances are throughout Southern Calfiornia right now even though our operation center is still requesting more help."
Asked what his resources would have been if this were the only fire in Southern California, Conception said, "I guarantee you it would easily be 1.5 times the resources we have right now with fixed-wing aircraft and probably two more helicopters."
"Frequently firefighters had to go to or use old-school tactics, we're talking about hand tools, shovels, picks and a lot of manual labor. They were working very hard and that's because we couldn't have the aerial resources and it was just too windy and too dangerous to fly."
-- David Reyes
Malibu:
Then there is the trio, called Le Resistance, sipping beer and homemade absinthe from the fourth-story veranda of a home called "The Phoenix," so named because it rose from the ashes of the 1993 fire and is made of fireproof concrete and steel.
It's an architectural wonder.
From the veranda, Le Resistance has a panoramic view of Las Flores canyon and a sky literally full of up to four helicopters, two water bombers and a spotter plane, flying all at once, just a quarter of a mile further north.
Billowing orange and red clouds of smoke rising up from behind a ridge in the distance are the focus of their attention and afternoon musings.
"It looks like Chumash Indians sending smoke signals and we are reading them. They're saying, 'It's going to be all right for now,'" said Yvonne Delarosa, an actress who appeared in the movie Helter Skelter and has a recurring role on Weeds.
The group also has a prime view of Delarosa's two goats, Billy and Betty Ramone, named after the punk rock band. The animals have done an admirable job of clipping the brush from the hill overlooking her home below.
The home is owned by Tom Waljeski. Yvonne and her husband Sam, a director, own a home below the veranda.
Lake Forest:
As flames roared down a gully narrowly seperating Foothill Elementary School and Whiting National Forest about 5 p.m., as many as 50 spectators stood within 30 feet of the fire taking pictures of the inferno.
One man wearing a bandana posed for his girlfriend as black smoke and embers rose skyward amidst the popping of dry bush burning next to the school.
Trisha Wuich, 32, creative arts coordinator at nearby Saddleback Church, had spent the day watching the fire from her office window. Her curiosity got the best of her, however, and now she stood within feet of the conflagration, taking cell-phone videos to send to her husband.
"I probably shouldn't do this," she said as ash darkened the late-afternoon sky. "But it's natural curiosity. I called my husband and said, 'If I'm dead it's because of curiosity.' We were watching flames from a distance, and all of a sudden separate patches jumped together. It came out of nowhere; your eyes started to water and your chest started to tighten."
Suddenly an Orange County sheriff's deputy appeared and ordered the gawkers to leave. "Adios, sayonara, bye bye everybody," he said.
As the throng departed reluctantly toward the Ralphs grocery store on nearby Portola Parkway, a fire engine arrived with its lights flashing to knock the flames down.
-- Duke Helfand
Miramar base:
With the fire approaching the base, aircraft at the Miramar Marine Corps Air State in San Diego are being sent to other bases. Included are F/A18 Hornets, C-130 transports, and helicopters. Meanwhile, two firefighting helicopters from the Naval Air Station on Coronado were deployed to help fight the Witch Creek Fire. And Marine families at Camp Pendleton have been told to stand by for possible evacuation.
Near Miramar Reservoir:
A solid block of orderly traffic crept south along Scripps Ranch Road, caravans of horse trailers, cars packed with belonging and pets.
Tom Fath, who owns two homes, said he had evacuated twice in one day: first, from his Poway home to flee to his Scripps Ranch home, only to be told again he must leave. Frustrated, he took offensive action: "I rented those," he said pointed to the newly loaded mobile home and trailer. He didn't know where he was going, but he was getting out of Scripps Ranch.
Along the way, stores and shopping centers were closed and vacant.
-- Jill Leovy
San Diego County:
In a valley just east of highway 15, and north of the 76 (just off the exit), Jim King was among a small crowd gathered along a dirt road, watching giant flames climb the hillside off Rice Canyon road, about a mile away.
King rents an old 1970s home in Rice Canyon, and says it is full of ranches and avocado groves.
He was awakened by firefighters rapping on his door about 4:30 am. He saw several small spot fires burning about a half-mile beyond his backyard. They had lost electricity. In the pitch dark, he and his wife grabbed some clothes, and their cat, "October."
"I don't know if my house burned down or not," he said, pointing to the ridge as leaping flames crested the hill and strong gusts pushed south.
"Oh man, it's going to push this way. There's nothing in between but brush."
That wasn't good news to the others gathered with him. Many own homes in a tract called Valley Center. They had not yet been evacuated officially, and were watching and waiting to see whether they would be spared.
Throughout the afternoon, the wall of flames in the distance only seemed to get closer.
"We've always been surrounded by fire. But it has never touched us," said Michael Hart, 53, standing with two of his three children. "This is out of control. It's never come over here. And this one they haven't been able to put out right away," he said, pointing towards the fire. "That does not look good."
Like other Valley Center residents, Hart had the family packed and ready to go on a moment's notice.
Hart's neighbors, Wayne and Lavena Ihms, just bought their home in June. They and others feared they only had a couple of hours before the flames reached their community.
"There's nobody stopping it," said Wayne Ihms. "You can feel the wind, can't you?"
-- Christine Hanley
Near Santa Clarita:
As flames slowly made their way toward Stevenson Ranch late Monday afternoon, Ava Raich was busy packing valuables. A sheriff's deputy came up the street and warned of a mandatory evacuation. Raich, who has five children, including twins, a boy and a girl in the first grade, said she packed computers, important family papers and photographs.
"I packed each of the younger kids' special blankets," she said. "I also packed my grandfather's WW II Marine uniform and his purple heart. It's that kind of stuff you can't replace."
-- Richard Winton
Santa Clarita:
Furley Lumpkin, 54, a telecom executive, had just sold his Quartz Road house near the Magic Mountain fire, packed his belongings and planned to move to Texas when he heard that fire was lapping yards away from his property line. He got stuck in traffic trying to get home and frustrated, parked at a nearby grocery store and hiked half a mile to his house just as flames arrived. Suddenly, a helicopter swooped over and dropped water along his property line, followed by a fixed wing aircraft dumping fire retardant.
"It was really fast, it was as if the firefighters had this scenario in their emergency plans and drills," Lumpkin said. "They are really aggressive about protecting houses."
He said some neighbors were hosing down their houses. But, he said, "You are not going to do it with garden hose."
He said he was unsure whether he would stay at his house tonight.
"I want to watch this a little bit and let it cool down. It may not be safe to be here, there may be embers. But then you hate to leave."
-- Molly Hennessy Fiske
Lake Arrowhead:
Yvette Page, 43, and her extended family of eight fled from their Lake Arrowhead home after awakening at 5 a.m. to the smell of smoke and the glow of flames illuminating her windows. She said she screamed at the "top of my lungs" and everyone in the home -- including a pregnant daughter and grandchildren -- ran, grabbing only the family cat, five kittens and computer discs holding precious digital photos.
Her husband David, 47, and son-in-law James Gronley, who could not fit in the family car, volunteered to stay behind to look after the house. By late afternoon, Page had not been able to reach them and said she was extremely worried, even though David had vowed to leave should fire threaten their home, which was valued at $700,000, she said.
She and the rest of the family spent seven hours winding their way down the mountain, first directed to one shelter then another, finally ending up at a Red Cross shelter at the National Orange Show fairgrounds -- all still in their pajamas - at the National Orange Show Fairgrounds.
She was trying to reach her insurance company to determine if it would cover a stay in a motel or hotel. Page was having breathing problems and her pregnant daughter had fallen down the stairs at home in the early morning darkness. "I dont know if the fire was chasing us or if we were chasing it," said Page, with a bitter laugh. "Now that we're here safe it's just starting to sink in how scary the situation really could be."
About 700 people had registered at the shelter late afternoon. Most were from the Twin Lakes community near Lake Arrowhead. Red Cross officials said full capacity at the fairgrounds was 2,000. An animal shelter was also available and people were toting in dogs, cats and other pets. The refugees were largely calm despite worrying about their homes, and seemed resigned to potentially a long stay. Outside, children laughed and played even as an overlay of thick smoke enveloped the fairgrounds.
-- Francisco Vara Orta
Lake Forest:
Several firefighters escaped major injuries this afternoon after being forced to deploy fire-retardant survival tents along Santiago Canyon Road after they were overtaken by the flames.
A branch of the Santiago Fire roared up a hillside near Silverado Canyon, forcing four or five firefighters to take cover as the blaze burned over them, authorities said. The firefighters had only minor, if any, injuries, according to preliminary reports.
A year ago, flames from the Esperanza Fire raced up a mountainside and killed five firefighters near Twin Pines.
Lake Forest:
An Orange County Fire Authority spokesman said the Santiago Fire had burned 15,000 acres by 2 p.m. and was 30% contained. The blaze was leaping relentlessly in a south, southeasterly direction, burning ominously close to the Foothill Ranch and Portola Hill comunities in Lake Forest. Officials called for a voluntary evacuation of the two communities, directing residents to El Toro High School, which was used as an evacuation center.
The Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park was also in the fire's path.
About 500 firefighters and two water-carrying helicopters stood between the fire and hundreds of homes, said Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion. Local firefighters were holding their own, but said they could use the help of colleagues who were sent to Malibu on Sunday to fight the fire there. Concepcion said Orange County sent 15 engines and 48 firefighters to help battle the Malibu fire. Some returned Monday to help with the Santiago Fire, but not all, Concepcion said.
"We would also love to have fixed-wing aircraft [to help suppress the fire], but the wind is erratic and not safe," he said. "We would [also] like to have more help from outside agencies, but unfortunately surrounding counties are a little busy."
Concepcion said investigators determined that the fire was deliberately set near Santiago Canyon and Silverado Canyon roads in three locations "close enough to each other to be considered points of origin and suspicious." He declined to identify the propellant suspected in the arson.
Four firefighters reported minor injuries. No houses have been lost, but two outbuildings were damaged and one destroyed.
-- David Reyes
Del Mar Fairgrounds:
In the Rancho Bernardo area of north San Diego County, more than 1,500 people, 2,200 horses and other pets took refuge Monday at the Del Mar fairground and racetrack. Among them were about 30 elderly patients from the nearby Via Rancho Bernardo skilled nursing home, who arrived by ambulance by midday; some had difficulty breathing and were immediately given oxygen.
The frail patients, many with disheveled hair and blank looks, could not walk and were squeezed onto thin mattresses or laid on the bare floor. Nearly all of them bore bits of white masking tape on their foreheads, marked with their name and sometimes their condition scrawled in black magic marker. One read: Depression. Another: Diabetes. Others lay on the ground with oxygen tanks by their sides.
Federico Neri, 70, who was left speechless by a stroke four months ago, wailed in distress as he laid sandwiched between two other elderly patients on a bare king mattress. He was hooked up to a feeding tube; masking tape on his forehead identified him as a diabetic.
His wife, Chita, 69, fretted that he had been unable to receive his required dialysis Monday because fires had closed the Rancho Bernardo treatment facility.
"What would happen if he can't have his dialysis soon?" she asked. "He needs it three times a week."
Another 200 people arrived from the Via Rancho skilled nursing center by bus. Volunteers helped them disembark from the bus and retrieve their walkers and wheelchairs. Paul Smith, supervisor with Americare Ambulance, said the fire was a less than a mile away when the nursing home was evacuated.
The Del Mar fairgrounds also hosted hundreds of horses, one zebra and chickens. Jimmy Cao, 14, who arrived from Carmel Valley Apartments five miles away with his mother, aunt and a brown hamster named Boo Boo, said they decided to come to the fairgrounds even though the evacuation in Carmel Valley was voluntary.
"When we hear more news we'll decide what to do. I don't think the fire will reach us," he said.
The Del Mar exhibition hall was filled with refugees and more animals, including dogs and cats. First aid volunteers circled the cavernous hall, asking if anyone needed medical attention. "Breathing problems?" "Chest pains?" they asked.
Cathy Bellino, a 46-year-old financial analyst with Northrup Grummond, said she had fled her home in Rancho Bernardo early this morning. As she stood in a block-long line for a free hamburger and water, she cuddled a six-week-old black kitten she had just adopted Sunday. She was so stressed out by the fires, which were burning close to her home, that she had forgotten the kitten's name.
According to Becky Bartling, the Del Mar facility's deputy general manager, evacuees began arriving at 8 p.m. Sunday, many with horses, and peaked Monday afternoon. She said the facility had enough food and water for two to three days, but managers were scrambling to get more beds from call mattress rental companies.
She asked evacuees heading to the facility to bring blankets, pillows, medicines and food for pets.
It was unclear how long they would need to stay there.
-- Sonia Nazario
Las Flores Canyon, Malibu:
Firefighters were hitting hot spots on the ridgelines of Las Flores Canyon hard throughout the day with water tankers, helicopters and planes. The canyon is a designated trigger zone for Topanga Canyon, whose 12,000 to 14,000 residents will receive mandatory evacuation orders if the fire spills into Las Flores.
A voluntary evacuation call was issued in Las Flores before midnight, but went largely unheeded. At 3 a.m., sheriff's deputies came up in caravans, with bullhorns, and distributed a mandatory evacuation notice door-to-door. Some residents complied. But dozens and dozens, knowing that when they cross the barrier at the end of the road at Pacific Coast Highway, they can't come back -- not for horses, not for expensive paintings -- ignored the order. On Monday, they gathered in the streets, keeping a close eye on the progress of the fire abatement effort. The wait, which would prove if they had been smart or stupid to linger, was nerve-wracking. Staying could have been the dumbest move of their lives. So when these residents rooted for the water bombers, it was with a special zeal.
One man, with a bandana over his face to protect against smoke inhalation, stood with a group of neighbors with binoculars, all of them watching a column of smoke rising on a mountaintop about a mile up the canyon. The group was about a half mile above PCH. Michael Blum, 36, a freelance graphic designer, rents a modest wood-shingled home surrounded by lush brush and oak trees, not far from a brook.
"You could say I'm trying to make educated guesses about combinations of terrain and wind," Blum said. "My guess is that this lower portion of the canyon is safe - but the truth is, we're nowhere near being safe."
"if you feel you're going to be safe, you try and stay as long as you can."
He spoke to a certain psychology of Malibu living: As long as the good guys are winning, residents are smart to stay. "There's something special about living in Malibu; it has rural roots and there's still people around here who arrived in the 1940s. Personally, I surf. Some of the best waves in the world are two miles from here at Surfrider Beach."
All of a sudden a caravan of six sheriff cars and an ambulance sped up the road. A skinny, shirtless man with long sandy blond hair and wraparound sunglasses spooked and yelled, "Let's scatter!" Three or four people vanished. Blum didn't budge.
The Malibu town crier later explained that if you get in an argument with the police, you might wind up in handcuffs. Kris Russel, 31, ignored repeated orders to vacate his parents' two-story, four-bedroom yellow and coffee colored stucco home, called "The Creek House." The house, which was built to replace a home destroyed by fire on the same site in 1993, had a For Sale sign at the end of the driveway.
"My parents are worried about the impact this fire will have on the value of their home; they're asking about $1.6 million," Russel said.
Last night a sheriff's car cruised by at 2 in the morning. Kris was outside and deputies ordered him to leave. "Well, at first I thought, 'This is it. I have to go,'" he said. "But then I talked to some neighbors who said, 'Aw man, you don't have to leave.'"
Law enforcement said they can't force someone to leave.
This the fifth major fire in the area since 1988 - the first one in 1988, the Monte Nido Burn in 1991, the Old Topanga Fire in 1993, the Calabasas Fire in 1996 and now the Canyon Fire.
Earlier Monday, authorities widened the evacuation zone to include the 20 to 50 homes along Pima and Scheren Roads.
Hundreds, perhaps even a few thousand, people live in Las Flores Canyon. The homes are remarkably diverse, ranging from extraordinary architectural fantasies to soaring four- and five-story adobe-colored mansions and small wood-shingled bungalows. The ridge crests are spiked with palatial estates.
Las Flores is lined with sycamore, oak, pine and pepper trees. The hills are cloaked in thick chaparral.
Last night, after the first evacuation order, new BMW's and luxurious sedans and exotic sports cars filled to the rooftops with blankets and rocking chairs could be seen sliding down the canyon.
-- Louis Sahagun
Santa Clarita:
In Westridge, a new residential community a half-mile south of Magic Mountain, authorities set up road blocks late Monday afternoon to prevent homeowners from driving into the flames. But many defied them by simply parking their cars and walking up to their homes.
"I've been here three-and-a-half years and this is the second fire I've seen," said Ron Stahlberg. "My car is down at the shopping center. They wouldn't let me bring it up here. I'm not about to get out. I don't think it's going to come over the ridge."
-- Richard Winton
Foothill Ranch:
Dave Solo, 47, was sitting on his porch drinking a $300 bottle of Cabernet and smoking a cigar, as the fire crept down Borrego Canyon through the Foothill Ranch development at 4:15 p.m. Solo has a garage full of wine; he figured this may be the last time he gets to enjoy it. The flames were within 10 to 20 feet of the 2,000 homes on each side of the road, and many residents were evacuating.
Solo had sent his wife and two daughters to a nearby shopping center, where they were waiting for him to see if the fire gets so close he has to flee. "There's a fire 30 feet behind my house and I have oak trees. Things are insignificant as long as I have my family waiting for me. Life is too short to worry about property," Solo said.
Then, with cigar in mouth, he got into his BMW sedan, and drove down the hill towards his wife and children.
-- Tony Barboza
Warren O'Meara, 56, said he didn't evacuate during the devastating Cedar fire in 2003, but was doing so this time -- or rather, trying to, through the clogged streets near his Scripps Ranch area home.
His wife and daughter were in one car and he was heading out in another. Neither had gotten very far, he said, and O'Meara was frustrated.
"They tell us to get the hell out of here and you try and you can't get anywhere," he said. "People are flipping out because of the toll the fire took on these neighborhoods in 2003."
O'Meara said he and his wife were in touch by cellphone, discussing various routes to take, without much success. "What's going to happen, God forbid, if the fire does come and we've got thousands of people trapped in their cars?
"It's good that we get out, but they have to have a plan. This is crazy. There is no plan."
-- Joel Rubin
By 4 p.m., a few patients at the emergency room at Pomerado Hospital in Poway had received their final care and were waiting outside for their buses and ambulances to take them elsewhere.
"We got all of them out. There are just a few left in the emergency room and a few staff and doctors," said San Diego Police Officer Kenneth Verdone.
Authorities said friends and relatives could call (858) 613-4000 to locate patients.
Along Poway Road, Juan Morellos of Oaxaca, Mexico, rode his bike. He seemed nonplussed by the evacuation. "I saw a house burn to the east and there is fire all around," he said, pedaling away as he accepted a bottle of water from a stranger.
-- Jill Leovy
Debbi Chessani, 39, a school cafeteria worker out walking her cocker spaniel, Roxie, said the flames just north of Piru didn't worry her. She and other family members had already packed the SUV and were ready to go if things got worse in her rural neighborhood.
"When I see flames coming down the mountain, that's when it will be time to go,'' Chessani said. She packed treasured photographs, clothes and food for her animals.
Sunday night, as an orange glow from the Ranch fire appeared over a ridge, she was more concerned, Chessani said. But when no flames followed, she went to bed.
Over the years, she's watched flames advance all the way to the town's park. This time, the winds seem to be much wilder, she said.
-- Greg Griggs
At the exclusive gated community of Bridlewood Country Estates near Lake Poway, homes were burning all around a few fire crews, stretched thin. Residents were forced to evacuate Windpiper Road, but Rita Skomra and her husband and son sneaked back in to try to save their home. They used a garden hose to knock down a fire along the fence separating their home from a neighbor's house. Then the neighbor's back fence ignited, and Skomra waited desperately in her front yard, hoping to flag down a firetruck.
"After all this work, I don't want that fence to start everything burning. We worked hard to save our home," she said.
The winds have been so severe that palm trees and jacarandas have been blown out of the ground. Flames and black smoke and embers are everywhere.
-- Robert Lopez
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