Californians endure 7 days of wildfires

Fires — plural — were everywhere:

The Ranch Fire, sparked at 9:42 p.m. the night before, racing through 500 acres some 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The Canyon Fire, ignited at 4:50 a.m. in Malibu, forcing 1,500 people — even Hollywood’s elite — to evacuate.

The Harris Fire, begun at 9:23 a.m. southeast of San Diego, exploding to 500 acres in just over three hours.

The Witch Creek Fire, burning at 12:37 p.m. in a mountain town northeast of San Diego, consuming 3,000 acres in two hours.

‘You guys are going’
At the Weather Service office in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo, Gonsalves’ colleagues watched as satellite images showed plume after plume of smoke roaring over a swath of Southern California. Their computers are programmed to display wildfire hot spots as little red squares. Red squares seemed to cover the lower half of the state.

By evening, the forecasters had to shut off the air conditioning to stop smoke from seeping into the office. Back at home, on his day off, Gonsalves was thinking about what to pack — just in case his own family had to flee.

Sunday was an off-day for Zeulner, as well. He, too, had gone to church, near his home in San Luis Obispo, and was having lunch when he got word: “You guys are going.”

A battalion chief with the city fire department, Zeulner commands a 20-member strike team that operates five, Type 1 fire engines, ideal for defending homes and structures. The team, when called upon, can be dispatched anywhere.

They were summoned to the Ranch Fire, to help protect homes in the tiny citrus-growing village of Piru.

“Immediate need,” Zeulner had been told. In other words: Get there fast.

By 2 p.m., the caravan of engines was on the road, Zeulner monitoring AM radio for fire updates. The 33-year veteran was alarmed by what he heard. Winds were gusting from 60 to 80 mph; in some places, they exceeded 100 mph.

“That’s hurricane force,” thought Zeulner, who knew from experience that anything over 60 mph was unusual during Santa Ana season.

When the team arrived at the fire, they were told to bed down and be ready to work at dawn the next day. Zeulner set up camp in a park under the smoky sky, but rest was hard to come by.

His sleeping bag rocked back and forth throughout the night, the mighty winds tossing him about like a leaf.

MORE FROM CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES

California Wildfires Section Front

Charges mulled for fire-starting boy Calif. fires added to warming emissions Newsweek: Inside the minds of fire starters Newsweek: Calif. insurance firms twice burned HD views from California wildfires California wildfires: Your stories Newsweek: Katrina comparison avoided California Wildfires Section Front   Add California Wildfires headlines to your news reader: