
Byline: Gary Richards, Dawn Chmielewski and Kate Folmar
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. _ Separate wildfires formed ferocious walls of flame all the way from San Diego to Los Angeles on Sunday. Fed by 70-mph Santa Ana winds in 100-degree weather, the flames threaten to turn the weekend's inferno into the state's most devastating fire since the Oakland Hills blaze more than a decade ago.
Nearly 10 separate fires spreading across hundreds of miles throughout Southern California have left 13 people dead, burned 650 homes and defeated 7,000 overmatched firefighters. By Sunday night, the fires had blackened 264,000 acres, hundreds of miles apart.
Rescue officials feared the death and damage tolls would grow, as crews reported zero containment on more than half of the fires raging through the region.
Flights into Southern California airports were canceled for much of Sunday. Monday night's National Football League game in San Diego was moved to Tempe, Ariz., as police turned Qualcomm Stadium into an evacuation center.
More than 50,000 residents have been ordered or urged to leave their homes, and thousands more have been told to pack and be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.
Scenes of the devastation were reminiscent of grainy film of cities that were fire-bombed during World War II: Neighborhoods consumed in flames. People grabbing their most important items and racing to safety. Weary firefighters moving from one crisis to another.
The state's largest fire, the so-called Cedar Fire in eastern San Diego County, caused at least nine deaths, including two who died inside their car as they apparently tried to escape the flames.
One victim was found dead in a trailer, one in a motor home and four in vehicles, county sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Knauss said. Three were killed while trying to escape on foot and two were dead on arrival at local hospitals.
"We were literally running through fire," said Lisza Pontes, 43, who escaped the fire with her family after roaring flames woke them at 3:45 a.m. As they drove off, they saw a neighbor's mobile home explode.
"I was grabbing wet towels. Fire was at our feet," Pontes said. "It was blazing over our heads and burning everywhere."
The 100,000-acre fire started Saturday near the mountain town of Julian when a lost hunter set off a signal fire. Authorities said the hunter was arrested and may face charges.
San Diego has not had a measurable rainfall in 174 days. The fires are raging up bone-dry canyons choked with brush, and exploding up into the dry leaves in eucalyptus groves. Burning balls of tumbleweed driven by high winds swept the fire across 10 lanes of I-15 in central San Diego County.
Around the congested suburbs of San Bernardino, a city of 185,000 about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, one flank of a 50,000-acre fire burned through four towns while the other flank destroyed more than 300 homes. The area is vulnerable because drought and an infestation of bark beetles have left behind millions of dead trees.
Dolores Ann Jimenez awakened at 2 a.m. Thursday to the sight of flames glowing like a pair of eyeballs through the bedroom window and the sound of a helicopter hovering overhead, ordering her to evacuate the Lytle Creek home she shared with Glen Huffman.
Jimenez had barely enough time to grab a handful of medications, her wheelchair, her oxygen tanks and her Jack Russell terrier _ with an electrical chord tied around his neck as a makeshift leash.
"We did not grab any clothes. We've got no valuables," said Jimenez, 57, who spent the first two nights sleeping in the bed of Huffman's pickup truck before they found refuge at a Red Cross shelter in nearby Fontana.
In the three days since Jimenez and Huffman left their pencil-dot of a town of about 250 residents in the foothills of the San Bernadino Mountains, they've heard rumors the fire has has taken the home they have shared for seven years. They have no idea what they'll do next.
"I'm way too old to start over" said Huffman, 67.
For the first time in a decade, California's considerable firefighting resources were tapped out, officials said late Sunday as they sought more than 6,000 firefighters, as well as equipment and specialists, from out of state. Firefighters were spread thinly around threatened communities, focusing on saving what homes they could. Winds prevented air tanker drops of retardant and use of backfires that are key tactics of fire containment.
In Irvine, 70 miles southwest of the fire in San Bernadino County, the sky was as overcast as a day of heavy fog in San Francisco. At 3 p.m., everyone on the freeway drove with their headlights on. The usually jammed roadways were almost free of cars.
Cars were covered with what looks like snow flakes, but was in fact soot and ash that made it difficult to breathe. One boy, 11-year-old Nathan Alder, rode a bicycle, wearing a surgicial mask.
Gov. Gray Davis, who visited the San Bernardino fire on Friday, returned Sunday to announce he was extending the state of emergency to Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
"This is a terrible situation," Davis said. "These are the worst fires that we've faced in California in 10 years." The Oakland Hills fire on Oct. 20, 1991 killed 25 people and destroyed 3,000 homes, incinerating the East Bay hills on a horrific afternoon.
Some of the evacuations ordered included Indian reservation casinos, California State University, San Bernardino, where fire burned two temporary classrooms and a temporary fitness center, and Patton State Hospital, home to 1,300 mental patients.
About 1,100 prison inmates also were evacuated, and at least 200 juvenile wards were evacuated Sunday from two probation camps in La Verne.
Weather forecasts are mixed. Some predict winds to ease today before picking up again on Wednesday in San Bernadino. In San Diego, hot, humid and windy conditions are expected to continue until Wednesday. That's when forecasters hope cool, moist ocean air will come to the aid of firefighters and homeowners.
But that will be too late for Jim Mumford, who learned he had lost his $1 million home outside San Diego. A neighbor who jumped into a swimming pool to save himself saw it go up in flames.
Mumford tried to fend off the flames himself before fleeing, but quickly realized that he was outmatched.
"A garden hose and a shovel," he said, "wasn't going to work."
The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times contributed to this report. Contact Gary Richards at grichards(at)mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5335.
10/26/03 21:03 Pacific Time
___
(c) 2003, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).
Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Death toll at 13 as wildfires rage in Southern California.
Byline: Gary Richards, Dawn Chmielewski and Kate Folmar
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. _ Separate wildfires formed ferocious walls of flame all the way from San Diego to Los Angeles on Sunday. Fed by 70-mph Santa Ana winds in 100-degree weather, the flames threaten to turn the weekend's inferno into the state's most devastating fire since the Oakland Hills blaze more than a decade ago.
Nearly 10 separate fires spreading across hundreds of miles throughout Southern California have left 13 people dead, burned 650 homes and defeated 7,000 overmatched firefighters. By Sunday night, the fires had blackened 264,000 acres, hundreds of miles apart.
Rescue officials feared the death and damage tolls would grow, as crews reported zero containment on more than half of the fires raging through the region.
Flights into Southern California airports were canceled for much of Sunday. Monday night's National Football League game in San Diego was moved to Tempe, Ariz., as police turned Qualcomm Stadium into an evacuation center.
More than 50,000 residents have been ordered or urged to leave their homes, and thousands more have been told to pack and be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.
Scenes of the devastation were reminiscent of grainy film of cities that were fire-bombed during World War II: Neighborhoods consumed in flames. People grabbing their most important items and racing to safety. Weary firefighters moving from one crisis to another.
The state's largest fire, the so-called Cedar Fire in eastern San Diego County, caused at least nine deaths, including two who died inside their car as they apparently tried to escape the flames.
One victim was found dead in a trailer, one in a motor home and four in vehicles, county sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Knauss said. Three were killed while trying to escape on foot and two were dead on arrival at local hospitals.
"We were literally running through fire," said Lisza Pontes, 43, who escaped the fire with her family after roaring flames woke them at 3:45 a.m. As they drove off, they saw a neighbor's mobile home explode.
"I was grabbing wet towels. Fire was at our feet," Pontes said. "It was blazing over our heads and burning everywhere."
The 100,000-acre fire started Saturday near the mountain town of Julian when a lost hunter set off a signal fire. Authorities said the hunter was arrested and may face charges.
San Diego has not had a measurable rainfall in 174 days. The fires are raging up bone-dry canyons choked with brush, and exploding up into the dry leaves in eucalyptus groves. Burning balls of tumbleweed driven by high winds swept the fire across 10 lanes of I-15 in central San Diego County.
Around the congested suburbs of San Bernardino, a city of 185,000 about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, one flank of a 50,000-acre fire burned through four towns while the other flank destroyed more than 300 homes. The area is vulnerable because drought and an infestation of bark beetles have left behind millions of dead trees.
Dolores Ann Jimenez awakened at 2 a.m. Thursday to the sight of flames glowing like a pair of eyeballs through the bedroom window and the sound of a helicopter hovering overhead, ordering her to evacuate the Lytle Creek home she shared with Glen Huffman.
Jimenez had barely enough time to grab a handful of medications, her wheelchair, her oxygen tanks and her Jack Russell terrier _ with an electrical chord tied around his neck as a makeshift leash.
"We did not grab any clothes. We've got no valuables," said Jimenez, 57, who spent the first two nights sleeping in the bed of Huffman's pickup truck before they found refuge at a Red Cross shelter in nearby Fontana.
In the three days since Jimenez and Huffman left their pencil-dot of a town of about 250 residents in the foothills of the San Bernadino Mountains, they've heard rumors the fire has has taken the home they have shared for seven years. They have no idea what they'll do next.
"I'm way too old to start over" said Huffman, 67.
For the first time in a decade, California's considerable firefighting resources were tapped out, officials said late Sunday as they sought more than 6,000 firefighters, as well as equipment and specialists, from out of state. Firefighters were spread thinly around threatened communities, focusing on saving what homes they could. Winds prevented air tanker drops of retardant and use of backfires that are key tactics of fire containment.
In Irvine, 70 miles southwest of the fire in San Bernadino County, the sky was as overcast as a day of heavy fog in San Francisco. At 3 p.m., everyone on the freeway drove with their headlights on. The usually jammed roadways were almost free of cars.
Cars were covered with what looks like snow flakes, but was in fact soot and ash that made it difficult to breathe. One boy, 11-year-old Nathan Alder, rode a bicycle, wearing a surgicial mask.
Gov. Gray Davis, who visited the San Bernardino fire on Friday, returned Sunday to announce he was extending the state of emergency to Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
"This is a terrible situation," Davis said. "These are the worst fires that we've faced in California in 10 years." The Oakland Hills fire on Oct. 20, 1991 killed 25 people and destroyed 3,000 homes, incinerating the East Bay hills on a horrific afternoon.
Some of the evacuations ordered included Indian reservation casinos, California State University, San Bernardino, where fire burned two temporary classrooms and a temporary fitness center, and Patton State Hospital, home to 1,300 mental patients.
About 1,100 prison inmates also were evacuated, and at least 200 juvenile wards were evacuated Sunday from two probation camps in La Verne.
Weather forecasts are mixed. Some predict winds to ease today before picking up again on Wednesday in San Bernadino. In San Diego, hot, humid and windy conditions are expected to continue until Wednesday. That's when forecasters hope cool, moist ocean air will come to the aid of firefighters and homeowners.
But that will be too late for Jim Mumford, who learned he had lost his $1 million home outside San Diego. A neighbor who jumped into a swimming pool to save himself saw it go up in flames.
Mumford tried to fend off the flames himself before fleeing, but quickly realized that he was outmatched.
"A garden hose and a shovel," he said, "wasn't going to work."
The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times contributed to this report. Contact Gary Richards at grichards(at)mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5335.
10/26/03 21:03 Pacific Time
___
(c) 2003, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).
Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Death toll at 13 as wildfires rage in Southern California.
Byline: Gary Richards, Dawn Chmielewski and Kate Folmar
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. _ Separate wildfires formed ferocious walls of flame all the way from San Diego to Los Angeles on Sunday. Fed by 70-mph Santa Ana winds in 100-degree weather, the flames threaten to turn the weekend's inferno into the state's most devastating fire since the Oakland Hills blaze more than a decade ago.
Nearly 10 separate fires spreading across hundreds of miles throughout Southern California have left 13 people dead, burned 650 homes and defeated 7,000 overmatched firefighters. By Sunday night, the fires had blackened 264,000 acres, hundreds of miles apart.
Rescue officials feared the death and damage tolls would grow, as crews reported zero containment on more than half of the fires raging through the region.
Flights into Southern California airports were canceled for much of Sunday. Monday night's National Football League game in San Diego was moved to Tempe, Ariz., as police turned Qualcomm Stadium into an evacuation center.
More than 50,000 residents have been ordered or urged to leave their homes, and thousands more have been told to pack and be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.
Scenes of the devastation were reminiscent of grainy film of cities that were fire-bombed during World War II: Neighborhoods consumed in flames. People grabbing their most important items and racing to safety. Weary firefighters moving from one crisis to another.
The state's largest fire, the so-called Cedar Fire in eastern San Diego County, caused at least nine deaths, including two who died inside their car as they apparently tried to escape the flames.
One victim was found dead in a trailer, one in a motor home and four in vehicles, county sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Knauss said. Three were killed while trying to escape on foot and two were dead on arrival at local hospitals.
"We were literally running through fire," said Lisza Pontes, 43, who escaped the fire with her family after roaring flames woke them at 3:45 a.m. As they drove off, they saw a neighbor's mobile home explode.
"I was grabbing wet towels. Fire was at our feet," Pontes said. "It was blazing over our heads and burning everywhere."
The 100,000-acre fire started Saturday near the mountain town of Julian when a lost hunter set off a signal fire. Authorities said the hunter was arrested and may face charges.
San Diego has not had a measurable rainfall in 174 days. The fires are raging up bone-dry canyons choked with brush, and exploding up into the dry leaves in eucalyptus groves. Burning balls of tumbleweed driven by high winds swept the fire across 10 lanes of I-15 in central San Diego County.
Around the congested suburbs of San Bernardino, a city of 185,000 about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, one flank of a 50,000-acre fire burned through four towns while the other flank destroyed more than 300 homes. The area is vulnerable because drought and an infestation of bark beetles have left behind millions of dead trees.
Dolores Ann Jimenez awakened at 2 a.m. Thursday to the sight of flames glowing like a pair of eyeballs through the bedroom window and the sound of a helicopter hovering overhead, ordering her to evacuate the Lytle Creek home she shared with Glen Huffman.
Jimenez had barely enough time to grab a handful of medications, her wheelchair, her oxygen tanks and her Jack Russell terrier _ with an electrical chord tied around his neck as a makeshift leash.
"We did not grab any clothes. We've got no valuables," said Jimenez, 57, who spent the first two nights sleeping in the bed of Huffman's pickup truck before they found refuge at a Red Cross shelter in nearby Fontana.
In the three days since Jimenez and Huffman left their pencil-dot of a town of about 250 residents in the foothills of the San Bernadino Mountains, they've heard rumors the fire has has taken the home they have shared for seven years. They have no idea what they'll do next.
"I'm way too old to start over" said Huffman, 67.
For the first time in a decade, California's considerable firefighting resources were tapped out, officials said late Sunday as they sought more than 6,000 firefighters, as well as equipment and specialists, from out of state. Firefighters were spread thinly around threatened communities, focusing on saving what homes they could. Winds prevented air tanker drops of retardant and use of backfires that are key tactics of fire containment.
In Irvine, 70 miles southwest of the fire in San Bernadino County, the sky was as overcast as a day of heavy fog in San Francisco. At 3 p.m., everyone on the freeway drove with their headlights on. The usually jammed roadways were almost free of cars.
Cars were covered with what looks like snow flakes, but was in fact soot and ash that made it difficult to breathe. One boy, 11-year-old Nathan Alder, rode a bicycle, wearing a surgicial mask.
Gov. Gray Davis, who visited the San Bernardino fire on Friday, returned Sunday to announce he was extending the state of emergency to Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
"This is a terrible situation," Davis said. "These are the worst fires that we've faced in California in 10 years." The Oakland Hills fire on Oct. 20, 1991 killed 25 people and destroyed 3,000 homes, incinerating the East Bay hills on a horrific afternoon.
Some of the evacuations ordered included Indian reservation casinos, California State University, San Bernardino, where fire burned two temporary classrooms and a temporary fitness center, and Patton State Hospital, home to 1,300 mental patients.
About 1,100 prison inmates also were evacuated, and at least 200 juvenile wards were evacuated Sunday from two probation camps in La Verne.
Weather forecasts are mixed. Some predict winds to ease today before picking up again on Wednesday in San Bernadino. In San Diego, hot, humid and windy conditions are expected to continue until Wednesday. That's when forecasters hope cool, moist ocean air will come to the aid of firefighters and homeowners.
But that will be too late for Jim Mumford, who learned he had lost his $1 million home outside San Diego. A neighbor who jumped into a swimming pool to save himself saw it go up in flames.
Mumford tried to fend off the flames himself before fleeing, but quickly realized that he was outmatched.
"A garden hose and a shovel," he said, "wasn't going to work."
The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times contributed to this report. Contact Gary Richards at grichards(at)mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5335.
10/26/03 21:03 Pacific Time
___
(c) 2003, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).
Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.