‘We can’t stop it’

Choosing battles
Any flame longer than 8 feet is considered unstoppable, and even water and fire retardant will evaporate before they reach the ground, said Gordon Schmidt, a retired U.S. Forest Service deputy director of fire management.

“In these situations, the strategy generally is to fall back,” he said. “You pick and choose your priorities in terms of what you can protect. Instead of trying to stop the fire, you try to prevent it from burning resources.”

In the suburbs north of San Diego, firefighters did just that as fingers of flame pulsed across a 10-lane freeway and raced up a hill on the opposite side in just seconds. The fire engulfed white-washed homes at the top of the ridge.

Groves of eucalyptus trees exploded in the heat in one ritzy cul-de-sac in Rancho Santa Fe, sending off a scattered popping that sounded like machine gun fire.

Firefighters parked their rigs in the driveways of the most threatened homes and hosed down fences and open space around homes as a blood-red sun set over a sky choked with smoke and falling ash.

Fast-moving blazes
Firefighters battling two fast-moving blazes in Lake Arrowhead, in the San Bernardino Mountains about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, were also taxed by steep terrain, winding roads and a forest packed with dead or dying trees.

More than 200 homes burned in Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs, fire officials said.

At least three times in the past two days, fire crews have been forced to “pull off, and wait for things to calm down” because of danger, said San Bernardino National Forest Ranger Kurt Winchester.

“In a lot of places, you just have to back off and let the fire go,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do.”

The one person confirmed dead was identified as Thomas Varshock of Tecate, a town on the U.S. side of the border southeast of San Diego. He died over the weekend after he ignored warnings to evacuate and authorities left to take care of other evacuations, the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office said.

In Rancho Santa Fe, neighbors tried to protect a friend’s home with a garden hose Monday night as flames raced up a ridge directly behind the house. Yards away, an engine crew kept watch as another home, already fully engulfed, burned to the ground.

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“We told the firemen about (this house) and we put out a few hot spots,” said friend Gary Rich. “They told us once they put out that house, they’d come over here.”

But, Rich said, encroaching flames were making him nervous and he might leave before then.

Firefighters in harm’s way
Fighting a gusty blaze also puts the firefighters in harm’s way. At least twice in the last two days, firefighters have had to unfurl their emergency fire shelters — small fire-resistant tents to shield them when they can’t escape a fire.

Weather conditions only grew worse, with temperatures across Southern California about 10 degrees above average. Temperatures were in the 90s by mid-afternoon and wind gusts up to 60 mph were expected in mountains and canyons.

Chris Carlson / AP The Witch wildfire burns a home in San Diego County near the city of Poway, Calif., on Tuesday.

In the San Diego suburb of Del Dios, fire destroyed one home but seemed to touch other items at random. Two lawn chairs and an umbrella were left in a burned, melted heap on the patio. But behind the house, near a murky brown swimming pool, two chaise lounges and a four-foot-tall decorative fountain survived unscathed.

J.C. Playford, an evacuee from the nearby community of Ramona, surveyed the damage and wondered whether his own home was still standing.

“I’ve got two reports, one person told me it’s gone, and one person said it’s still there,” he said, “So I have no idea.”

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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