Truemors
At least 14 killed in California wildfires 
At least 14 killed in California wildfires
Flames destroy 550 homes, threaten thousands more
Monday, October 27, 2003 Posted: 0512 GMT
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Monday, October 27, 2003 Posted: 12:12 AM EST (0512 GMT)
Ventura County firefighters watch a twister of flame rise from a back fire in Simi Valley, California.
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I looked outside my house and I thought I was in the middle of hell.
-- Joe Wronowicz, Rancho Cucamonga resident
VIDEO
CNN's Frank Buckley reports on the rising death toll in fire-ravaged areas of California.
Two wildfires combine to threaten hundreds of homes.
A whirlwind is created by the 'devil winds' outside of Los Angeles.
RELATED
Gallery:
Wildfires continue raging Sunday
Interactive:
Detection, prevention and suppression
NAMING WILDFIRES
First
responders to a wildfire can name it whatever they want. There are no
rules, but firefighters usually name a fire after a meadow, creek, city
or type of plant they see.
Source: National Interagency Fire Center
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Fire
Disasters (General)
Los Angeles (California)
California
LA VERNE, California (CNN) -- Wind-whipped
wildfires have tormented Southern California from San Diego to suburban
Los Angeles, causing 14 deaths, and destroying more than 550 homes and
threatening thousands more.
Eleven people were reported dead Sunday in a 100,000-acre fire in
eastern San Diego County and more deaths were being investigated,
Sheriff Bill Kolender said.
Two people died inside their car and three on foot while apparently trying to escape, The Associated Press reported.
The so-called Cedar fire started Saturday when a hunter lost in the
mountains near Julian lit a signal fire, the AP reported authorities as
saying. Two other fires in southern and northern areas of the county
have torched nearly 20,000 acres.
San Diego's fire chief said at least 25,000 acres had been destroyed
within the city limits. In the Scripps Ranch area alone, 150 homes have
been lost, he said.
"Our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes," San Diego
Mayor Dick Murphy told reporters Sunday evening. "This fire is so
overwhelming, so devastating."
Murphy, who surveyed the fire-damaged area by helicopter Sunday,
asked residents to reduce their water use to provide more for
firefighters. Schools will be closed Monday and "only the most
essential services" will be operating.
He said the city had asked the National Football League to cancel
the Chargers game Monday night against the Miami Dolphins. The NFL
decided late Sunday that the game would be moved to Tempe, Arizona.
Fast-moving fires have been raging in Southern California since
Tuesday, fanned by low humidity and hot Santa Ana winds blowing 30-35
mph and gusting much higher, keeping the fires erratic and
unpredictable, and hampering efforts to contain them.
Up the coast, fires in the mountains and canyons beyond the eastern
suburbs of Los Angeles sometimes hopped fire lines and highways,
thwarting firefighters and lighting up homes.
Two fires in San Bernardino County once separated by at least 10
miles merged at the intersection of interstates 215 and 15, the main
freeway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nevada.
The combined "Grand Prix" and "Old" fires created a blaze of about
72,000 acres in the San Bernardino and Angeles national forests and
have so far destroyed more than 375 homes.
As many as 12,000 homes in the region were under "some form of
evacuation," with residents either having already left or preparing to
do so, Forest Service information officer Martin Esparza said.
Two elderly men died Saturday in San Bernardino, apparently from
fire-induced stress. A 93-year-old man collapsed and died while
watching his home burn, according to the San Bernardino coroner. A
70-year-old man died from a heart attack while evacuating his house,
the coroner said.
Officials also reported a third stress-related death in the San Bernardino area.
The Grand Prix fire started Tuesday and the Old fire Saturday. Officials believe both were deliberately set.
Still farther west, more then 2,000 homes in Simi Valley were in
danger from a 80,000-acre fire dubbed the Simi Incident, which sparked
Friday when a smaller fire jumped State Route 126 and sped west.
According to the AP, firefighters were working to save the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in the city.
Ventura County fire officials confirmed the loss of 12 homes and
said the Union Pacific Railroad had closed all rail lines into Simi
Valley.
One of the other fires in the San Diego area came within a
quarter-mile Sunday of the Federal Aviation Administration's radar
facility at Miramar Naval Air Station.
When air traffic controllers transferred their responsibilities to a
facility in Palmdale, the switch delayed air travel for several hours
at several Southern California airports, including Los Angeles
International and San Diego International.
Firefighters took advantage of any lull in the winds, however brief,
to put helicopters and fixed-wing tanker aircraft into the air to dump
water and retardant on the fires.
Hundreds of residents of the heavily populated suburbs waited in
their cars, on the streets or at shelters for word on the fate of their
homes.
Among those sitting in their vehicles watching the burning skyline
Sunday were Sharon Robinson, 62, and her daughter Kim Robinson, 46, who
fled their home after throwing whatever clothes and other belongings
they could into the back of their truck, according to an AP report
"We've lived in our home for 35 years," Sharon Robinson told the AP.
"Fire has always stopped in the foothills. I never thought it would
reach our home."
"I looked outside my house and I thought I was in the middle of
hell, it was redness everywhere, unbelievable," said Rancho Cucamonga
resident Joe Wronowicz, who along with his family put off evacuating
and put their faith in firefighters to protect their neighborhood.
California Gov. Gray Davis asked President Bush to declare the four
counties affected by the fires disaster areas, paving the way for
financial aid.
"My heart goes out [to] them," Davis said at a news conference in
San Bernardino, describing those who have lost or been forced to
abandon their homes.
"This is a terrible situation. They are the worst fires in California in 10 years," Davis said.
The governor said he has authorized more than 650 fire engines to help the effort.
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