posted 10-26-2003 02:01 PM                    

Some Images from outside my house right now.
It's beggining to snow ash!



The green arrow points to the strip mall where my theatre is located.

from KFMB TV 8

quote:

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WILDFIRES IN SAN DIEGO

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BREAKING NEWS

(10-26-2003) - URGENT: San Diego Fire Department asks all off-duty firefighters to report to firestation #28 with their gear.

Interstate 15 has been shut down in the Mirimar Road Area.
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WILDFIRES IN SAN DIEGO: FORCED EVACUATIONS IN VALLEY CENTER, SCRIPPS RANCH, TIERRASANTA; FATALITIES REPORTED

Firefighters are battling two fast-moving wildfires in San Diego County, one in Valley Center and one heading toward Scripps Ranch. Seven people have been killed and hundreds of homes and businesses have been evacuated.

The so-called Cedar Fire began overnight near Ramona and has since charred more than 10,000 acres and destroyed an undetermined number of structures.

"We have everything sent out that we can possibly send out," said San Diego Fire Department dispatcher Ron Cumbey. "And we are asking for all that we can get."

With Santa Ana winds fanning the flames, the fire swept through parts of Lakeside, jumped Highway 67 and in the past few hours, reached Scripps Ranch, according to Susan Please of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

Firefighters also battled another fast-moving blaze near Valley Center.

"That fire is moving so fast, we can't come up with an accurate acreage count," Please said.

According to Police, authorities have unconfirmed reports of multiple fatalities from both fires.

"We haven't been able to confirm any deaths," said Please. "As you can imagine, it's really crazy down here."

A wall of smoke greeted motorists heading south on Interstate 5 into San Diego.

Ash is falling all over the county, and smoke and haze is hanging over Mission Bay, Fiesta Island and Sea World. Similarly, the downtown area is also under a smoky haze.

Authorities reported two unconfirmed deaths in a vehicle at the scene of the Cedar Fire. They were told of the deaths by a retired fire captain, according to a California Highway Patrol spokesperson.

LOCAL 8 News has since reported that at least seven people have been confirmed dead in the Cedar and Valley Center fires.

At least seven homes have been destroyed in an upscale section of rural Ramona.

Stay tune to LOCAL 8 News for continuing coverage of the San Diego County wildfires.

© 2003 Midwest Television, Inc.

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quote:

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Two Killed While Trying to Flee California Wildfire

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.  — Two fierce firestorms that had already burned more than 300 homes appeared to merge Sunday into one long fire front, fueled further by powerful Santa Ana winds.

The widening fire has forced thousands of residents to flee the San Bernardino (search) area. And father south in San Diego County, another wildfire claimed the lives of two people who became trapped in a car as they tried to escape the flames.

Raging in the suburbs of San Bernardino, a city of 185,000 about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, the two fires combined to create a fire front 35 to 40 miles long, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Carol Beckley said.

At the western end, about 50 homes were in flames Sunday morning in a canyon at the edge of the suburb of Claremont, and authorities were going street to street there and in La Verne, urging people to evacuate immediately.

Several evacuation centers had opened in the area and thousands of people had left their homes, said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Edward Osorio.

"We're not sure exactly how many burned because we can't get up there," Osorio said. "Our priority of the moment right now is structure protection, not containment."

In all, the fires had blackened tens of thousands of acres. Fire incident commanders on Sunday also raised their estimate of homes burned in Saturday in the suburbs just north of San Bernardino from 200 to 300 but still couldn't get close enough for complete count, fire spokesman Greg Cleveland said.

Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino and Ventura counties late Saturday.

"We are taking every possible step to support the firefighting effort," Davis said. He said he called on President Bush to issue a disaster declaration to free up federal loan money for people who lost homes.

The winds had died down as the temperature dropped over night but they picked up again early Sunday, sending authorities rushing to evacuate hundreds more homes in the resort areas of Lake Arrowhead and Crestline, just north of San Bernardino.

Gabriel Garcia of the San Bernardino National Forest's fire suppression agency said firefighters he talked to Sunday morning were not optimistic they could save all the homes in the blaze's path.

"First thing they said is they're getting their butts kicked," Garcia said. "They're saving a lot but they can't save it all."

About 100 miles to the northwest, in Ventura County, other wildfires were raging early Sunday in the hills above Simi Valley's Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (search) and near Piru, where 300 homes were threatened for a time. The Simi Valley fire had burned 47,000 acres by daybreak, damaged 14 homes and was threatening as many as 2,000 structures. It had also shut down Highway 118, the main route connecting Ventura County to Los Angeles.

In San Diego County, three wildfires were burning, including one that had destroyed seven homes in a neighborhood of estates near Ramona, Sheriff's Department spokesman Chris Saunders said. The fire, which forced hundreds of people to evacuate, started when a lost hunter set off a signal fire to get attention, Saunders said. The man could face charges.

Two people believed to have been trying to escape the flames were found dead in a car, said Alice Contreras of the California Highway Patrol. Another fire in San Diego County destroyed about 20 homes near Valley Center and blackened about 1,000 acres Sunday.

The most devastating of the wildfires started Saturday in San Bernardino's Old Waterman Canyon, about 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Fierce Santa Ana winds propelled the flames across 12,000 acres within hours as erratic winds gusting to 40 mph pushed the blaze in constantly changing directions. By Sunday morning, officials estimate, 300 homes had burned.

The fire forced the evacuation of the San Manuel Indian Reservation's casino and the campus of California State University (search), San Bernardino, where flames damaged two temporary classrooms and a temporary fitness center. Patton State Hospital, which houses about 1,300 mental patients, also had to be evacuated.

Two firefighters suffered second degree burns, and at least three others suffered minor burns or smoke inhalation on Sunday.

More than 4,200 people had been ordered to leave their homes in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, although some refused, staying behind to spray water on their roofs with garden hoses as flames danced all around them.

Robert Wilkes turned his hose on burning palm trees in an effort to keep the flames from his home and his neighbor's until he finally had to leave.

"He saved our house," said neighbor Dwane Caddell. Much of the rest of Caddell's property was damaged, however. His swimming pool was black with debris and singed palm trees and shrubbery surrounded the house.

The San Bernardino County coroner's office blamed the deaths of two men on stress caused by the fire. James W. McDermith, 70, collapsed while evacuating his home, and Charles Cunningham, 93, collapsed as he stood in the street watching his house burn.

The fires closed highways, cut power to thousands and choked the region with heavy smoke and ash.

Evacuation centers were packed, including one near San Bernardino International Airport, where as many as 1,000 people gathered, including about 50 people in wheelchairs who were taken from a convalescent home.

Hundreds of people sat beside their cars in the parking lot, some watching the burning hills through binoculars.

One family gathered in a prayer circle. Dozens of caged dogs and cats evacuated by their owners lined the roads. Authorities said at least three people were arrested on suspicion of looting in the devastated area.

Sharon Robinson, 62, and her daughter Kim Robinson, 46, left with their clothes and other belongings in the back of their truck.

"We've lived in our home for 35 years," Sharon Robinson said. "Fire has always stopped in the foothills. I never thought it would reach our home."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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