http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10471731
Five dead in California fires, mass evacuation
Updated 3:05PM Wednesday October 24, 2007
By Dana Ford
California fires have forced more than 500,000 from their homes.
Reuters
SAN DIEGO - Towering wildfires burned out of control across Southern
California for a third day as 500,000 people fled the San Diego area,
and firefighters made a desperate stand to save a mountain town ringed
by flames.
More than a dozen fires blazed from the horse country north of Los
Angeles to the Mexican border 240km to the south, torching 1500 houses
and other buildings, blotting out the sun with smoke and raining ash
on the streets.
Most of the destroyed homes were in the San Diego area, where three
major wildfires burned unchecked and half a million people were
ordered to leave in what may be the largest US evacuation since
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.
At least five deaths were reported, three of them elderly evacuees
from the San Diego area, and more than three dozen others had been
injured, including 18 firefighters.
As the firestorms raged into the evening, Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger asked President George W Bush to upgrade California's
wildfires to a "major disaster," which would trigger federal help.
Bush already issued a declaration of emergency early Tuesday. But
Schwarzenegger told him in a new letter that "this disaster is of such
severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the
capability of the state and local governments."
Schwarzenegger said 68,000 homes, from cabins to luxury villas, were
threatened statewide and 6000 men and women were working the fire
lines. More than 120,000ha have been blackened and the state
government put economic losses in the hundreds of millions.
"We have had three things come together - very dry areas, very hot
weather and a lot of wind. This makes the perfect storm for fire,"
Schwarzenegger said at Lake Arrowhead, where blazes threatened two
nearby mountain communities.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders put the number of evacuees at half a
million.
Bush planned to visit the fire-stricken area on Thursday.
Running Springs, a town of about 5000 people nestled in the San
Bernardino Mountains, was surrounded by fire by Tuesday afternoon as
crews made a furious effort to save homes.
Firefighters in the Mexican border city of Tecate tried to control
fires that sent up black smoke and covered houses and cars with gray
ash. Fires also burned on the outskirts of the Mexican city of
Tijuana, 32km from San Diego.
California power authorities issued a transmission emergency because
downed power lines had left San Diego with only 60 per cent of its
usual supply of electricity.
The hot Santa Ana winds, which have fanned the flames as they blow in
to Southern California from the desert, continued to gust up to 105km/
h and high wind warnings remained in effect for most of the region
until Wednesday afternoon.
Officials were hoping that easing winds and an accompanying rise in
humidity would help them gain the upper hand against the wildfires.
San Diego officials said people were evacuating quickly. In the
region's last major fire in 2003, 15 people died and 5000 buildings
were destroyed. But Erica Schmidt said friends in San Diego county
ignored evacuation orders to to safeguard their own homes.
"It bothers me to know my friends are still up there because they
can't get out," Schmidt said.
Some 8000 people, including senior citizens from nursing homes, went
to the Qualcomm stadium, where the San Diego Chargers football team
plays, or to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, famed for its horse racing
track. Thousands of horses and family pets were also accommodated.
People taking shelter at Qualcomm called it well organised and clean,
in contrast to the chaos at New Orleans' Superdome, which was used as
a refuge after 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
On Tuesday afternoon, some San Diego evacuees were allowed to return
to their communities.
- REUTERS
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HOOROO
UNCLE WALLY
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