Good night

We're signing off from this blog for the evening. Updates on the fires will continue on the homepage throughout the night, and we will be back in this space Sunday morning. Thanks for reading.

Man accused of impersonating firefighter

San Diego:

Fire investigators Saturday appealed to the public for information about a 44-year-old Los Angeles man arrested Wednesday for allegedly impersonating a firefighter at the Rice fire in Fallbrook.

William Reed Brock, on probation for a drug offense, was arrested while driving a Ford pickup with personalized firefighter license plates and a bed full of fire equipment and clothing.

Investigators said that "if you have seen Brock at any wildfires, or in fire camps or at fire stations," you should contact sheriff's detective Clayton Lisk at (760) 451-3110 or Cal-Fire investigator Gary Eidsmore, (800) 468-4408 or the Cal-Fire Arson Tip Line, (800) 468-4408.

Brock allegedly told deputies he was a member of the Morongo Fire Department, but that information proved false. He is not considered a suspect in any of the fires, Lisk said.

Brock is 6-foot, 160 pounds, balding with blond hair and a ponytail.

-- Tony Perry

'Outstanding' weather aids firefighters

Orange County:

Firefighters made steady progress today battling the Santiago fire, but the 27,521-acre blaze is still threatening homes, and Orange County's rustic canyon communities remain under mandatory evacuation.

"The weather today has been outstanding," said Dennis Cross, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority. "High humidity and very little wind is allowing aircraft to really target and hit a lot of hot spots. Structure protection is in place, and we're getting a lot of line constructed."

Nearly 2,000 firefighters are battling the fire, and they were supported in the air by four planes and 16 helicopters.

Assessment teams visiting remote burned areas discovered two more destroyed homes, bringing the fire's toll to at least 16.

A $285,000 reward is being offered to anyone offering information that leads to a conviction.

-- Seema Mehta

Governor soothes relations with Orange County

Schwarzenegger, in an appearance this morning at a fire command center in Irvine Regional Park, acknowledged that improvements can be made in coordinating fire fighting efforts between state and local officials. He said problems that arose over the use of fire fighting aircraft in Orange County earlier this week will be fixed to fight fires in the future.

The governor seemed to be alluding to the hurt feelings of some Orange County fire officials who believe the county was overlooked in the early days of the Santiago Fire by Cal Fire officials who had deployed aircraft to San Diego County.

In concluding remarks made during a light drizzle, Schwarzenegger vowed to make sure that “Los Angeles doesn't get all the rain and no rain is allocated to Orange County.”

--H.G. Reza

Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Salvaging memories

Kora Minor, left, consoles neighbor Andrea Beckwith after she found a family memento in the debris of her burned-out home in the Del Dios area of Escondido in San Diego County.

(Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Nature's way

Two animals at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego County died as the Witch Creek fire imperiled the park in the San Pasqual Valley.

But six more were born: three gazelles, a fringe-eared oryx, a Ugandan kob (an antelope) and a dik-dik (an antelope native to eastern Africa).

-- Tony Perry

NFL union says it's OK to play in San Diego on Sunday

National Football League Players Assn. spokesman Carl Francis said today that union leadership was confident that Sunday's game between the San Diego Chargers and Houston Texans could be played at Qualcomm Stadium without endangering player health or safety.

"We've been in communication with the NFL, and we feel very confident with the information that the San Diego mayor and others have given to the league," Francis said. "We are confident that the game can be played in San Diego on Sunday. We're just following the health guidelines and safety plans in place. We're working closely with the NFL.”

Although the NFL will play its game Sunday, most of the county's organized outdoor athletic activity ground to a halt earlier in the week. The San Diego Unified School District canceled all athletic activity during the weekend. San Diego State University postponed several athletic events, including a Saturday football game against Brigham Young University at Qualcomm. That game has been rescheduled at the stadium for Dec. 1.

San Diego State also postponed men's and women's soccer matches, a cross-country meet and swimming, diving and volleyball competitions. The university plans to reschedule the events or move them to alternative locations.

-- Greg Johnson and Tony Perry

Six suspected looters arrested in San Diego

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of looting in the wake of the fires, said Lt. Phil Brust of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. There were 128 reports of looting in the last week, and the department took 34 crime reports, he said.

"Now we're back to working regular stuff here -- we're back to regular law enforcement services for the most part," Brust said. He said he did not have details on the arrests.

"We've repopulated most of the county," Brust said.

-- Tami Abdollah

Waiting it out at 'Camp Silverado'

Orange County:

Evacuated from their rustic Orange County canyons for nearly a week, scores of residents are gathering in the parking lot of a nearby Albertsons market that they have dubbed "Camp Silverado."

Children are handing out homemade Halloween cupcakes; volunteers are tending pets, including roosters and iguanas, in a makeshift animal shelter; and fire authorities are providing regular updates about the blaze's direction as the evacuees wait to find out whether their homes are among the 14 destroyed.

"I'm feeling optimistic, but I'm dead tired and I'm pretty stressed out," said Sherry Meddick, a Silverado Canyon resident, as she tended the pets. "Keeping the animals keeps my mind off the situation, and people need the help.... It's pretty hard to take your iguana, 15 rabbits, 10 chickens and pot-bellied pig to Motel 6. They might not leave the lights on."

-- David Haldane

Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

San Diego evacuee list down to 19,000

By early afternoon 19,000 residents of San Diego County remained under evacuation orders, down from a peak of 640,000 at midweek, officials said.

-- Tony Perry