Wildfires Engulf Southern California
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SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds forced the evacuations of nearly 250,000 people today in San Diego County, including hundreds who were being moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes.
More than a dozen wildfires had engulfed Southern California, killing at least one person, injuring dozens more and threatening scores of structures.
In many cases, crews couldn’t begin to fight the fires because they were too busy rescuing residents who refused to leave, fire officials said.
“They didn’t evacuate at all, or delayed until it was too late,” a chief of the North County Fire Protection District, Bill Metcalf, said. “And those folks who are making those decisions are actually stripping fire resources.”
About a dozen blazes erupted over the weekend, fueled by strong Santa Ana winds and drought-parched land from the high desert to the Pacific Ocean. Things got worse today, when several new fires sprouted, adding to the 40,000 acres — or 62 square miles — that already have burned. The worst damage was in Malibu, where a church, homes, and a castle were charred.
Firefighters acknowledged they were overwhelmed.
“You do not expect something to stretch our resources to this magnitude,” a Los Angeles County fire inspector, Sam Padilla, said. “To try and staff something this big, you cannot predict it.”
Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency late yesterday in seven counties. One person died in a fire near San Diego, which burned more than 14,000 acres — or about 22 square miles — about 70 miles southeast of San Diego, just north of the Mexican border town of Tecate, a California Department of Forestry spokesman, Matt Streck, said.
Four firefighters and at least 10 other people were hospitalized, Mr. Streck said. Some of the injured were hikers, and others may be illegal immigrants.
Twenty-five structures in the suburbs around Santa Clarita were destroyed, a Los Angeles County deputy fire chief, Glenn Massey, said. That blaze had burned about 25,000 acres.
Another blaze devoured more than 5,000 acres in northern San Diego County and forced the evacuation of the community of Ramona, which has a population of about 36,000.
“The winds are up, it’s very, very dangerous conditions,” a San Diego County spokeswoman, Lesley Kirk, said. “Fires are popping up all over the place.”
Several new wildfires broke out in San Diego County early today, officials said, and at least seven blazes were active in the county. Ms. Kirk said fire crews were stretched thin and were anxiously awaiting reinforcements from other parts of the state.
A wildfire in Orange County that grew to 8,800 acres was believed to be arson. It was 30% contained.
In Malibu, about 700 firefighters worked to protect hundreds of homes in several upscale communities nestled in the hills. About 1,500 people were evacuated and the blaze destroyed a church and several homes, one of them the landmark Castle Kashan, a stately fortress-like home with turrets and arched windows. Chunks of brick fell from the exterior of the burning building overlooking the coast.
No residents or firefighters were injured, a Los Angeles County fire chief, P. Michael Freeman, said.
The castle belonged to Lilly Lawrence, the daughter of a former Iranian oil minister. She said she was able to gather a few things before the fire engulfed her home, including some jewelry and memorabilia that included Elvis Presley’s Army fatigues.
She didn’t seem too worried about losing most of her belongings in the fire.
“My parents taught me not to allow my possessions to posses me,” Ms. Lawrence told KABC-TV. “So, that’s the story. The house is a house.”
Winds carried embers across the Pacific Coast Highway, closing the popular road and setting fire to cars and trees in the parking lot of a shopping center where a supermarket, drug store, and other shops were damaged.
“This fire is 0% contained, which means we’re at the mercy of the wind,” an acting Malibu mayor, Pamela Conley Ulich, said.
In all, five homes and two commercial buildings had been confirmed lost throughout the Malibu area, Mr. Freeman said. Nine more homes were damaged, he said.
The fire is expected to burn for another two to three days, he said. Until the blaze is extinguished, “there will literally be thousands of homes that will be threatened at one time or another,” he said.
The fire may have been started by downed power lines, Captain Mike Brown said.
“This is a conflagration we knew was going to come at some point,” a Los Angeles County supervisor, Zev Yaroslavsky, said at a Malibu
press conference yesterday, noting Southern California’s ongoing dry spell. “We were cruising for a bruising. We are very, very lucky as we stand here tonight that the damage has been as limited as it has been.”