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We’re signing off for the night. Check latimes.com for more updates throughout the night. The metro staff of the Los Angeles Times will be back in this space tomorrow morning. Thank you for reading
Sacramento:
Officials said today that state air support was ready Monday afternoon to join the fight against the Southern California firestorms, but the planes were grounded by dangerous winds. Although there was some flying early Monday, possibly just for reconnaissance, it wasn't until Tuesday that most planes got in the air, because of the time needed to get them ready and bring them to Southern California, and because of serious wind conditions Monday that made flying dangerous.
Maj. Gen. William H. Wade, the adjutant general, California National Guard, said the Guard received "mission request" Sunday afternoon for aircraft. Because of rules requiring crews to get sleep and also the time it took to prepare planes and assemble crews, the Guard had three ready to go at Los Alamitos by late morning Monday, and after fire managers arrived, could have launched them at 12:35 p.m. if not for the wind. The fourth came in and all four were ready to go at 3:43 p.m. Monday.
"All four aircraft were ready to deploy, but unfortunately were still on hold because of high winds," Wade said. ...
Continue reading "State air support was grounded by dangerous winds, officials said" »
Lake Arrowhead:
Cooler temperatures and lighter winds helped firefighters make progress on the Grass Valley fire near Lake Arrowhead and the Slide fire near Running Springs and Arrowbear. By Thursday evening the Slide fire was 15% contained at 11,675 acres, though about 10,000 homes continued to be threatened.
Throughout the day, water-dropping helicopters and tankers focused on knocking down the Slide fire's southwestern flank to keep the fire's edge from moving north into the community of Arrowbear or back into Running Springs.
No additional homes were lost to either the Slide or Grass Valley fires, according to Mike Dietrich, fire chief of the San Bernardino National Forest. The Grass Valley fire did not grow in size Thursday.
But firefighters on the Slide fire were still focused on preventing the fire from consuming homes and creating anchor points to begin a containment line around the fire.
"There's still a lot of problems," said Randy Clauson, division chief on the San Bernardino National Forest, who headed the initial attack.
"We know the winds are going to switch and start coming from the other direction."
"It's still Southern California; it changes rapidly," Clauson said.
As they made progress on the Grass Valley fire, Clauson said commanders hoped to continue moving engines and crews to fight the Slide fire. Efforts to contain that blaze were complicated by a shortage of hand crews, bulldozers and air resources because of the competition from the fires in San Diego and Orange County. In the late afternoon, air-operations officials were also forced to ground several air tankers because of the dense smoke.
U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell visited devastated areas of Lake Arrowhead on Thursday afternoon after a trip to San Diego with the president. Standing on a hilltop surrounded by rubble, she praised the fuel-thinning efforts that fire officials say helped save thousands of homes.
"I'm very proud of the work our folks have done," Kimbell said.
As gas and power-line crews worked the mountain areas, San Bernardino sheriff's officials still had no estimate of when all residents might be able to return. People who live in Cedar Pines Park and Valley of Enchantment were allowed to return if they showed proof of residency.
-- Maeve Reston
San Bernardino:
They weren't handing out energy drinks, offering massages or directing evacuees to self-help classes at the Orange Show Fairgrounds on Thursday.
This wasn't San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium -- the Ritz of evacuation centers. This was its more spartan, less genteel cousin, a place packed with tough mountain people not always comfortable in the flatlands.
Not that they were complaining -- much.
"It's too freakin' noisy, too many kids. But what can you do, they have a lot of energy," said 54-year-old Joe Cote, a refugee from Green Valley Lake, one of the mountain communities that has seen dozens of homes burned to the ground. "The food isn't the greatest, but it's wholesome."
On Wednesday night, more than 1,800 people slept in the two enormous aircraft-hangar-like buildings. Row upon row of cots filled the vast rooms. Lines snaked toward the hot food stalls. Tables were set up by medical personnel checking for everything from asthma to head lice.
A chain-link fence became a makeshift day care center for the hundreds of children here. Once inside they played with balls, balloons and watched repeated showings of "Happy Feet."
Continue reading "More spartan digs for San Bernardino evacuees" »
San Bernardino:
San Bernardino County officials are not immediately releasing a list of homes destroyed in the fire. County Assessor Bill Postmus announced the decision, saying fire and law enforcement agencies had asked him to refrain because roads into the destruction zone remain closed.
Santiago Canyon:
Last Sunday, Ben Viloria, 57, and his wife, Susan, were in Laguna Beach celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary, but he could not fully concentrate on the occasion. He noticed that it was extremely windy and thought that authorities should shut down a stretch of nearby Santiago Canyon Road.
"That's what I was concerned about, some arsonist," Viloria said. "It didn't have to happen. Whoever did this put all these lives and all these properties in jeopardy."
All around him, homes are charred, and some tree stumps are still smoking. Fifty hand crews and firefighters marched into his neighborhood just minutes after neighbors fled Tuesday morning. A volunteer firefighter friend gave him updates all Tuesday and ultimately came to his home with tears in his eyes, saying, "You can't stay. You can't stay." The friend looked at Viloria's son and said, "Don't let him stay."
He and his 29-year-old son defied the evacuation order as long as possible. The last thing he did before leaving was turn on his Rainbird sprinkler, which firefighters say could have helped protect the home. When he returned from his brief evacuation, he saw that though the fire had burned just feet away, his house had survived.
"With a natural fire, at least you can say it was an accident, but this was not an accident," he said.
--Hector Becerra
Escondido:
The two persons found dead in the rubble of their Escondido home have been identified as Victoria Katherine Fox, 55, and her husband, John Christopher Bain, 58. Identification was made through dental records, officials said.
-- Tony Perry
U.S.-Mexico border: The four charred bodies of suspected illegal immigrants who are believed to have died in the Harris fire were discovered at the bottom of a canyon north of the border town of Tecate, Border Patrol officials said. The location was near an area where four illegal immigrants were rescued Sunday afternoon.
The Harris fire swept through the rugged area east of San Diego that is crisscrossed by hundreds of migrant trails.
Agents on routine patrols Thursday spotted one body 100 yards deep inside a canyon. The other bodies were located nearby. "It's very tragic," said Gloria Chavez, an assistant chief patrol agent based in San Diego.
Even in the best of weather conditions, the steep canyons and mountains make for treacherous treks. Since 2001, at least 30 immigrants have died trying to cross in the area.
About one dozen suspected illegal immigrants burned in the Harris fire are being treated at the UC San Diego Regional Burn Unit. Several remain in critical condition, said Alberto Lozano, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in San Diego.
Some of the immigrants, he said, come from the Mexican states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Michoacan and Jalisco.
-- Richard Marosi
San Diego:
Everyone in San Diego was allowed to return home today.
"Everything in the city has been reoccupied as of this afternoon," said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for San Diego Fire and Rescue. "Everything."
People are "back in their homes," Luque said. "The ones that have homes to go back into."
-- Tami Abdollah
Trabuco Canyon:
Cook's Corner, a biker haunt for 81 years, has become a de facto headquarters for firefighters fighting the Santiago flames since Monday.
On Tuesday, when the Santa Ana winds barreled into the Canyon and the flames came to about half a mile from Cook's Corner, manager Rhonda Palmerri, 37, recalls being told that they would have to evacuate immediately. They had begun pulling pictures and memorabilia together when the winds suddenly shifted and firefighters said they would no longer have to flee. "The firefighters promised that this place is not going anywhere," said Palmerri, who was wearing a pink bandanna and other biker regalia. "I love these guys."
In response to the arson named as the cause, Palmerri says, "It's sickening to me. Now we need to make sure we're safe and make sure we find the idiot who did this."
In their downtime, the firefighers are enjoying an outdoor barbecue and foods slathered in chili. Los Angeles County firefighter Anthony Jefferson, who arrived from the Malibu fires Tuesday evening, said as he finished off a barbecued hamburger and hot dog drowning in chili, "It's fantastic. It's the best camp food I've ever had."
--Hector Becerra
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