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Qualcomm Stadium:
It was not Dennis Gulyas' first fire. So when his brother called at 4 a.m. Monday with the news that the Witch fire was heading toward Rancho Penasquitos, he rolled over and went back to sleep.
By 6 a.m., with Gulyas still in bed, his wife, Rosa, daughter, Kimberly, and son, Dennis Jr., began packing valuables, their five cats and dog.
"I grew up in San Diego. I'm used to fires," Gulyas said. "I figured I'll get up later and water down the roof."
His family left for Qualcomm Stadium, arriving at 8:30 a.m.
By 11 a.m., Gulyas was on top of his house, hosing the roof.
"I noticed there was nobody in the neighborhood. There was a lot of ash and smoke but no flames," Gulyas said. "A cop drove up and told me to leave."
On Tuesday, Gulyas' family camped out under the shade of a pine tree in the stadium parking lot. He slept on the sidewalk on an inflated mattress, while his wife and daughter slept inside a tent. Dennis Jr. and a friend slept in another tent.
"We're all getting back to the basics, even Buddy, our dog," Gulyas said. At home, "he uses our cat box litter box. This morning he had to do his business on the ground like a normal dog."
Gulyas said he was a Red Cross volunteer at the 1994 Northridge quake.
"The relief effort is much more orderly here," he said. "People aren't pushing, yelling and fighting like they were in L.A."
-- H.G. Reza
Malibu:
Rod Percival, 46, coasted his mountain bike down Las Flores Canyon Road, his dog Ayla skittering behind him. Like many residents, Percival and his wife had refused to leave Malibu. Late Tuesday morning, he used his trusty bike to take stock, as best as he could, of the fire danger.
A neighbor, Bruce Bolander, 43, asked Percival how things looked.
"We're safe. I've just ridden around the entire canyon," Percival responded. "The fire's out."
Bolander asked his friend if he thought there was any way to sneak his wife Bonny passed the sheriff's barricade. She was at Duke's, a popular restaurant down on PCH.
"Is she prepared to walk?" Percival asked, not conveying much optimism.
Bolander muttered an expletive.
Percival himself wanted to go down to PCH, but knew that if he did so, he would not be let back in.
"I need some beer. I'm out of beer," Percival joked. "This is terrible."
High above Las Flores Canyon, at fire Camp 8, L.A. County Fire Capt. Jeff Kaliher said the situation in the still smoldering mountains of Malibu was improving. Firefighters below and aircraft in the sky had kept a critical front of the wildfire from marching toward Topanga Canyon.
"We're holding the eastern line," Kaliher said.
Things had improved to the point where his strike team could relax a little, roughhouse with the two camp dogs, picnic and lather up their fire engine. Planes surveyed the fire from above.
Kaliher had not been impressed with choices made by some Malibu residents. Some of the homes had terrible brush clearance, he said.
"There's some homes, the only reason they're here is because engines were here to save them," Kaliher said.
The fire captain said he was hopeful the Malibu fire could be contained soon. But he also knew, one way or another, his team's job was far from done.
"You've got San Diego. You've got Arrowhead," Kaliher said. "Once they determine we're not needed here, we'll be reassigned elsewhere."
-- Tami Abdollah
Lake Arrowhead:
At the command post at Rim of the World High School, authorities said Running Springs is the area of greatest concern because the Slide fire continues to move in multiple directions.
The entire area from Snow Valley Lake west to the Valley of Enchantment are under mandatory evacuation, including all of Lake Arrowhead.
The west and north sides of Lake Arrowhead were evacuated Monday. On Tuesday morning the west and east sides of Lake Arrowhead were evacuated.
The East side of the Grass Valley blaze is fairly well controlled, while the West side is more active, according to CDF spokesman Glenn Barley.
Barley said there were no additional structures burned in Lake Arrowhead today as of 7:20pm Tuesday night.
-- Maeve Reston
Carlsbad:
If you are driving around the El Camino Real Mall in Carlsbad and you think your eyes are playing tricks on you, they aren't.
That's a traveling zoo tucked next to the loading dock area near Macy's, complete with a Bison named "Baby Bo," llamas, kangaroos, alligators, monkeys, exotic birds, snakes, a chinchilla, a sloth and even hissing cockroaches.
Driven from their 5-acre Fallbrook ranch and animal house by the wildfires Monday afternoon, the owners of Pacific Animal Productions pulled off the 78 freeway seeking shade for their 100 animals.
But when the three-trailer caravan pulled into the parking lot, Westfield mall officials began setting up a temporary animal shelter.
"Before we knew it, they started pulling out electrical cords and water hoses," said Karla Majewski, who owns the zoo, which provides educational programs at schools, fairs and festivals.
"We didn't have any intention of staying here. We came here to stop and regroup. It's almost like they knew we were coming. They didn't blink or flinch."
News of the traveling zoo spread fast and within hours, nearby grocery stores and health-food stores had dropped off food and water for the animals. Every few hours, mall security workers stop by to pick up a new load of animal waste.
In the afternoon, Majewski and her crew of friends and family took the restless animals out of their trailers to stretch their legs and see the sights. For about half an hour, the RV evacuation center became a petting zoo.
"People were wondering what all these crazy critters were doing marching toward them," Majewski said.
-- Dave McKibben
Continue reading "Hissing cockroaches and a chinchilla" »
San Diego:
San Diego-area officials said at a briefing Tuesday night that about 200,000 acres had burned in the county and mandatory evacuation orders had gone out to 560,000 residents. Of those, about 50,000 have been allowed to return to their homes, mostly in Scripps Ranch, Poway and Del Mar. Firefighters said shifting winds had made the fire increasingly unpredictable.
"This was going to be, and is, probably, the worst fire this county and state has ever seen," said San Diego County Sheriff William B. Kolender. "It is extremely difficult and very hard to solve something that you cannot control. I think it will end up okay. None of us really know."
Officials also said that Tijuana fire officials offered Tuesday to bring 34 firefighters and equipment over the border to help out. The offer was accepted immediately, officials said, and the firefighters were expected to join the front lines late Tuesday night.
-- Scott Gold
San Bernardino:
As manager of the Green Valley Water District, in a rural mountain village of 750 that has lost at least 55 homes, Rick Mull took upon himself one of the most unassuming but critical jobs.
As homes burned around the town's picturesque Alpine lake, he was close behind to turn off the water.
"Many folks took up and left in a panic and forgot to turn their water off," Mull said.
Mull, 51, has spent his whole life "on the mountain," and while his home was safe from the fire, many of his friends' and neighbors' homes were now burning piles of rubble.
They left in a panic, and did not turn off the water in their homes. Therefore, when the property burned, water that supplied the communal tanks was flowing freely on these burned homes, taking water away that could have been used by firefighters.
"In the last few days, we've gone through 400,000 gallons of water on just one neighborhood street because of leaking pipes," he said.
Mull's job has been to go to burned property and lift the heavy lids off water meters. He then probes several feet down into the hole with a 4-foot-long steel rod with a key at the end, turning each home's water system off.
His mantra: "If we don't get the water turned off, the fire department won't have water for their hoses, and we'll lose more homes."
But it was rarely as easy as that. In one case he had to walk into a pile of burning rubble, at the edge of a 3-foot jet of flames spewing out of a broken gas line, in order to turn off water gushing out of a broken pipe a few feet away .
As he walked back to the street he said: "Well, that wasn't exactly the safest thing to do, but hey, it's not draining our tanks anymore."
-- Louis Sahagun
Rancho Bernardo:
Joe Fiore, 56, an emergency room doctor, was picking up debris around his Aquamiel Road house. His house had survived.
He had ignored orders from police and firefighters to evacuate. His wife would have been there too, but a flying ember hit her in the eye and she went to seek medical help.
"I was so lucky. I had a million embers flying at me. It was very, very, very scary.''
Seven houses on his cul-de-sac were completely destroyed. Here was a collapsed wall, there a charred window frame, a flattened pile of shingles, some twisted metal, all covered in ash.
Up the hill, Corazon Place was a scene of total devastation. All of the cul-de-sac's 11 homes were destroyed, and a small dead bird was lying up against the curb. The hulks of two Mercedes rested on their rims. Residents were down the street at the police blockade, hoping to get back in soon to see if their houses had survived. The Bonnett family had somehow arranged for a police escort and found their house still standing. Daughter Jessica, 17, was emotional, her hands shaking.
"My fish is alive!'' she said, crying and laughing at the same time.
Don and Susan Buckley, both 49, sneaked around a police barricade in Highlands Ranch to check their Mediterranean style house on the edge of steep ravine.
They walked the last couple hundred yards in silence, holding hands. As they rounded a bend, Susan let out a deep sigh: "It's there! Oh my God we are so lucky! We are so lucky.''
They embraced, kissed briefly, then walked through the front door, which had been broken in by firefighters. Fire had burned to within 10 yards of the house, destroying a vegetable garden and solar collector, and some palm trees they had planted. Their pool had a thick black layer of soot and grime. Up the hill, they gazed out onto what had been four mansions. Nothing remained.
Susan: "Oh my God, look-the whole hillside is gone. It couldn't have come any closer."
On the kitchen counter were empty Gatorade bottles, energy bar wrappers and a note from San Diego Fire Engine 12, Lincoln Park:
"House saved,'' it said. "Sorry about the door!''
-- Joel Rubin
Ramona:
Hemet Airport has been supporting aircraft for fires to the north, outside of San Diego County. Gillespie Field in the southern part of the county is launching helicopters.
There are 12 choppers on the Witch fire, eight on the Harris and half a dozen on the Rice fire.
Ramona airport people also are supporting the Poomacha fire in Palomar, the Witch Fire and the Rice fire
Ramona-based retardant crew foreman Gawain Saunders said: "Each member of my team is just as important as the next guy. It's a tough day, but we're all very happy about what we're doing."
So far this year, he's been to fires in Arizona and Utah.
Ray Chaney, the spotter, came in for a half-hour break at noon, grabbed a cheeseburger and told everybody, "the whole county is on fire."
In an interview, he said that when he was up there "it's pretty ominous to see. You're looking at an entire column of fire from the Mexican border to the Palomars."
At 1 p.m. there was a conference call with guy named John Richardson, who had just arrived at Ramona, and was in charge of all air operations in San Diego County. He's the incident command team air operation branch director from CalFire.
He took part in a 45-minute conference call where officials in charge of air resources throughout Southern California talked about their problems and jockeyed for resources. "When you need a priority aircraft, you can't get anyone. I hate going outside the chain of command, but it might be 20 minutes before you can get anyone on the phone," said Richardson.
He's got 5 planes and teams for three major fires. You can make them go only so long, seven hours at a time. Unless he gets a new team, one of the fires will have no spotters this afternoon.
At 12:45, there was a report of a fire at the airport itself. There were no firefighters handy, so they had to call some in. At 1:15, the airport manager wanted to shut down the airport, but the firefighters got there just in time.
Richardson said a lot of the planes coming in and out were 40 and 50 years old; some were military aircraft used in Vietnam. Some have bullet holes. "It's like fighting a fire with a bunch of 1950s Mustangs with a nice paint job."
Aircraft are coming in from other states. Lutz keeps asking for a DC-10. The present planes carry 1,200 gallons, a DC-10, double that.
-- Garrett Therolf
Qualcomm Stadium:
Ying Huang arrived in San Diego on Sunday night after a cross-country flight. The Harvard Law School student had a week of local job interviews scheduled.
By 5 p.m. Monday, her family knew they would have to leave their Carmel Valley home. But Ying's mother, Yali Huang, was worried about leaving her house dirty.
"I couldn't believe it. My mom was hurrying through the house cleaning and dusting the blinds," Ying Huang said. "We finally convinced her that coming back to a dirty house would be a good thing."
The family arrived at Qualcomm Stadium at 9 p.m. Monday and slept on donated cots and bedding.
"It's been a crazy week," Ying Huang said. "I brought my interview suits. But I won't be needing them on this trip. My interviews have been rescheduled."
****
Earl Sanders looked out of a broken down car he called home and saw the mountain above Spring Valley on fire.
Sanders, disabled and homeless for about a year, grabbed his cane and belongings, which were shoved inside a trash bag. He put both in a shopping cart and walked to a nearby McDonald's.
"I had to evacuate, but I had no transportation and no money," he said. "I slept on the sidewalk in front of McDonald's and asked God what he had planned for me."
About 9 a.m. Tuesday, a good Samaritan gave him $5, enough for a bus ride to Grossmont Center in La Mesa and trolley fare to Qualcomm Stadium.
There, Sanders, 48, was given a meal, a change of clothing, a cot and bedding.
"God is working it out for me,'' he said, tears streaming down his face. "I was sleeping in a car last night. I will be sleeping in a bed tonight."
"It's bad being homeless," Sanders said. "But it's also sad to see people lose their homes and valuables. There's always somebody worse off than me."
-- H.G. Reza
Saugus:
California Fire Chief Ralph Alworth at the Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Center in Riverside said here was what they knew about the second fire-related death in L.A. County:
On the first day of the Buckweed Fire, a civilian trying to flee in his car got into a wreck and his car caught fire. His death today is being classified as fire-related.
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