‘We can’t stop it’

SAN DIEGO - Faced with unrelenting winds whipping wildfires into a frenzy across Southern California, firefighters conceded defeat on many fronts Tuesday to an unstoppable force that has chased an estimated 1 million people away.

Unless the shrieking Santa Ana winds subside, and that’s not expected for at least another day, fire crews say they can do little more than try to wait it out and react — tamping out spot fires and chasing ribbons of airborne embers to keep new fires from flaring.

“If it’s this big and blowing with as much wind as it’s got, it’ll go all the way to the ocean before it stops,” said San Diego Fire Capt. Kirk Humphries. “We can save some stuff but we can’t stop it.”

Tentacles of unpredictable, shifting flame have burned across nearly 600 square miles — an area larger than New York City — killing one person, destroying more than 1,300 homes and prompting the biggest evacuation in California history, from north of Los Angeles through San Diego to the Mexican border.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the flames were threatening 68,000 more homes.

“We have had an unfortunate situation that we’ve had three things come together: very dry areas, very hot weather and then a lot of wind,” Schwarzenegger said. “And so this makes the perfect storm for a fire.”

In Rancho Santa Fe, a suburb north of San Diego, houses burned just yards from where fire crews fought to contain flames engulfing other properties. In the mountain community of Lake Arrowhead, cabins and vacation homes went up in flames with no fire crews in sight.

“These winds are so strong, we’re not trying to fight this fire,” said firefighter Jim Gelrud, an engineer from Vista, Calif. “We’re just trying to save the buildings.”

16 firefighters injured
More than a dozen wildfires blowing across Southern California since Sunday have also injured more than 40 people, including 16 firefighters. The U.S. Forest Service earlier reported a fire death in Los Angeles County’s Santa Clarita area, but officials said Tuesday that information was erroneous.

Jose Alvarez, a San Diego County public information officer, told NBC News that five people had died from the fires in San Diego County, but only one person died trying to save a home. The other four died during or after being evacuated, he said.

The fires also forced the evacuation of more than 350,000 houses, most of them in San Diego County. With the area’s average household size of 2.6 people, that means the evacuation could encompass nearly 910,000 people.

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“It’s basically a mass migration here in San Diego County. The numbers we’re seeing are staggering,” said Luis Monteagudo, a spokesman for the county’s emergency effort.

President Bush, who plans to visit the region Thursday, declared a federal emergency for seven counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

"The president wants to travel to California to witness firsthand what the people there are going through with these wildfires," Perino said. "He wants to ensure that the state and local governments are getting what they need from the federal government, and he wants to make sure to deliver a message in person to the victims that he has them in his thoughts and prayers."

State insurance official estimates damage
The state's insurance commissioner estimated that the fires have likely caused several hundred million dollars worth of damage to home and business properties.

"In South Lake Tahoe, where we just finished working with the victims there over the last several months, you had 254 homes destroyed at a total cost of $150 million," California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said. "Here the damage is much more widespread, more than a thousand homes destroyed so far, plus, you know, scores of businesses."

"This is just a terrible disaster; it's going to be one of the worst ever," he said, adding the total destruction would easily be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The sweeping devastation was reminiscent of blazes that tore through Southern California four years ago, killing 22 and destroying 3,640 homes.

The ferocity of the Santa Ana winds in 2003 forced crews to discard their traditional strategy and focus on keeping up with the fire and putting out spot blazes that threatened homes.

Gusts surpass 100 mph
Fire crews were especially concerned about dense eucalyptus groves in Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe, fearing the highly flammable trees could turn neighborhoods prized for their secluded serenity into tinderboxes.

The usual tactic is to surround a fire on two sides and try to choke it off. But with fires whipped by gusts that have surpassed 100 mph, that strategy doesn’t work because embers can be swept miles ahead of the fire’s front line. In those cases, crews must keep 10 to 30 feet back from the flames or risk their own lives, Los Angeles County firefighter Daryl Parish said.

Added Rocklin Fire Department Capt. Martin Holm: “We do what we can. A life’s a lot more important than a house.”

The American Red Cross has set up a service for evacuees to register their status and for loved ones to search for evacuees. Either call 1-800-REDCROSS or go to disastersafe.redcross.org. Click here for more information on how you can help.

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