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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
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