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Calif. Fires Kill 15, Destroy 1,000 Homes

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 06:00 CST

With wind-driven flames threatening the densely populated San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, firefighters dug in Tuesday for another brutal day of battling what was developing into the most destructive - and one of the deadliest - wildfire seasons in state history.

At least 1,134 homes had been destroyed and 15 people killed as of Tuesday by five separate blazes scattered around Southern California. Two more people were killed in Mexico.

The flames dotted an area that extended on a 100-mile line from the Mexican border north to the suburbs of Los Angeles.

A handful of other fires that hadn't hit any homes also consumed tens of thousands of acres of brush and forest lands, bringing the total burned to more than 500,000 acres - or about 780 square miles, roughly three-quarters the total area of Rhode Island.

"It's a worst-case scenario. You couldn't have written anything worse than this. You can dream up horror movies, and they wouldn't be this bad," said Gene Zimmerman, supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest, the area in which two of the most destructive fires began last week.

A blaze in San Bernardino County called the Old Fire, which began near the forest on Saturday, has destroyed at least 450 homes and been blamed for the deaths of two people. It was 10 percent contained Tuesday. The Grand Prix Fire, which was 25 percent contained, has destroyed at least 77 homes since it ignited near the forest on Oct. 21.

One of the biggest fire fights on Tuesday was unfolding in the Santa Susana Mountains that separate Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, where 1.3 million people live, from Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County.

The Simi Valley fire, which has destroyed 13 homes since it began Saturday, was burning dangerously close to a gated community of million-dollar mansions in Los Angeles' Chatsworth section. It was only 5 percent contained.

Meanwhile, 90 miles away in San Bernardino County, the Old Fire and Grand Prix Fire, which merged earlier in the week, had jumped a highway and was moving as one contiguous wall of flames toward the mountain resort town of Lake Arrowhead. The town, which sits at an elevation of 5,100 feet, was left particularly vulnerable to flames by a beetle infestation that has devastated the surrounding trees.

"It is one of our major concerns at the moment," U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Carol Beckley said late Monday.

Officials were particularly concerned about "crowning," in which flames leap from one treetop to another, leaving firefighters on the ground all but powerless to stop them.

"If that occurs we don't have the capability to put those fires out," Beckley said. "It will be a firestorm."

Conditions were equally grim in San Diego County, where ash from three large fires fell on the beaches like snow and drivers had turn on their headlights during the day.

San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman was worried that the fires would merge into one gigantic blaze, pushing already strained resources to the breaking point.

"It would be disingenuous to say we have control of these fires. Right now we are throwing everything we can at them," Dallas Jones, director of the state Office of Emergency Services, said of the San Diego blazes.

"This will be the most expensive fire in California history, both in loss of property and the cost of fighting it," Jones said.

More than 10,000 firefighters were battling the flames, which by Tuesday had already cost the state more than $24 million.

The 15 people killed were the most since the devastating Oakland Hills fire that killed 25 people and destroyed more than 3,000 homes in October 1991.

Scores of people were also injured by this week's fires, including eight people treated for burns and smoke inhalation at the University of California, San Diego, Medical Center, on Monday. Two were in serious to critical condition with burns over more than 55 percent of their bodies, spokeswoman Eileen Callahan said.

The fires also knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, closed highways and disrupted air travel.

More resources were on the way from Arizona and Nevada, which were answering pleas for help from Gov. Gray Davis.

Each state has volunteered the use of 50 fire trucks, most of which are being directed toward the San Diego fires, Davis said. Nevada was also sending three helicopters.

On Monday, President Bush granted Davis' request to declare the region a disaster area, opening the door to grants, loans and other aid to residents and businesses in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties.

"I believe at the local, state and federal levels they are doing their parts in this distress," Davis told The Associated Press.

The Democratic governor, who will leave office next month after being recalled, dismissed criticism from some Republican lawmakers that he could have asked for help sooner.

"It's not time for second guessing, but to pull their loads to get these fires out and checks in the hands of people who lost their homes," Davis said.

As the flames continued to rage out of control, every Californian seemed to know someone - or know someone who knew someone - who was affected by the fires.

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, said his home was among hundreds damaged or destroyed in his mountain town.

Maurice Greene, a sprinter who won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics, had to evacuate his 9,000-square-foot home near Simi Valley on Monday.

"We have to put it in God's hands. That's all we can do," he said as he left.

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