Thousands more residents were ordered to evacuate their homes
Tuesday, bringing the number of people chased away by the wind-whipped
flames that have engulfed Southern California to at least 300,000.
By day three, the dozen wildfires had burned 1,200 homes and
businesses and set 245,957 acres — 384 square miles — ablaze, and the
destruction may only be the start for the region. Tuesday's forecast
called for hotter temperatures and more explosive Santa Ana gusts.
 The blazes bedeviled firefighters as walls of flame whipped from
mountain passes to the edges of the state's celebrated coastline,
spreading so quickly that even hotels serving as temporary shelters for
evacuees had to be evacuated.
Marilee Bishop of Running Springs and her 10 year-old-daughter Erica
rubbed their red eyes Tuesday morning as they woke up in a Wal-Mart
parking lot where they spent the night after being forced to leave
their home.
"No one ever expects something like this to happen to them," said Bishop, as thick smoke rose in the skies behind her.
As the fires spread, most out of control, smaller blazes were
merging into larger, more fearsome ones. Evacuations were being
announced in one community after another as firefighters found
themselves overwhelmed by gale-force Santa Ana winds, some gusting to
70 mph.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders pleaded with residents to stay off
cell phones so that emergency crews could do their work. At least
274,000 homes — about 300,000 people — were asked to clear out in San
Diego County alone, he said. Officials cautioned that more evacuations
could be necessary, as the fires carved a path Tuesday toward populated
areas.
"Please stay at home today if you can," he said. "Stay off the
freeways. Allow our emergency vehicles and people needing to evacuate
to move around freely."
President Bush declared a federal emergency for seven counties, a
move that will speed disaster-relief efforts. He also sent federal
disaster officials to California. He did not plan to visit the area
himself, fearing his visit would detract from firefighting efforts.
"All of us across this nation are concerned for the families who
have lost their homes and the many families who have been evacuated
from their homes," Bush said Tuesday. "We send the help of the federal
government."
Fire crews and fleeing residents described desperate conditions that
were sure to get worse. Temperatures across Southern California were
about 10 degrees above average and were expected to approach 100
degrees Tuesday in Orange and San Diego counties.
Deputies arrested two men for looting in the community of Ramona,
and there were a handful of other looting cases reported, said San
Diego Sheriff's Lt. Mike McClain.
The fires were exploding and shooting embers in all directions,
preventing crews from forming traditional fire lines and severely
limiting aerial bombardment, officials said.
"Lifesaving is our priority. Getting people out from in front of the
fire — those have been our priorities," said Capt. Don Camp, a
spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Thousands of residents sought shelter at fairgrounds, schools and
community centers. The largest gathering was at Qualcomm Stadium in San
Diego, where up to 10,000 evacuees anxiously watched the stadium's
television sets, hoping for a glimpse of their neighborhood on the
local news. Sanders pleaded for donations of blankets, cots, pillows
and food for the people staying there, and officials said more people
were expected to arrive Tuesday.
San Diego County was ablaze from its rural north to its border
region with Mexico, where the wildfires that started Sunday claimed
their only fatality to date: Thomas Varshock, 52, of Tecate, a town on
the U.S. side of the border southeast of San Diego. His body was found
Sunday afternoon, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said.
Forty-two people were injured, 16 of them firefighters.
In San Diego County, public schools were closed, as were campuses at
the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University.
The scope of the infernos was immense and was reminiscent of
the blazes that tore through Southern California four years ago this
month, killing 22 and destroying 3,640 homes.
The fires have been made worse by fierce Santa Ana winds. The
winds — which sweep through Southern California's canyons in fall and
winter — are stronger than normal, turning already parched scrubland
into tinder. They generated walls of flame that bore down on housing
developments in a wide swath.
East of Los Angeles, a two-front fire destroyed at least 160
homes in the Lake Arrowhead area, the same mountain resort community
where hundreds of homes were lost four years earlier.
One of the blazes, near Green Valley Lake, was so intense that
firefighters were forced to pull back. It jumped Highway 18 and was
headed toward the community of Running Springs, said Steve Lowe, a fire
information officer with the San Bernardino National Forest.
Touring an evacuee camp at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged to do everything in his power to assist
the firefighting effort and help those who have lost their homes.
"I will be relentless all the way through this," Schwarzenegger said.
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