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'We Can't Stop' Spreading Fires, Officials Say

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By GILLIAN FLACCUS, The Associated Press

Published: October 24, 2007

SAN DIEGO - Faced with unrelenting winds whipping wildfires into a frenzy across Southern California, firefighters conceded defeat on many fronts Tuesday to an unstoppable force that has chased an estimated 500,000 people away.

Unless the shrieking Santa Ana winds subside, and that's not expected for at least another day, fire crews say they can do little more than try to wait it out and react - tamping out spot fires and chasing ribbons of airborne embers to keep new fires from flaring.

'If it's this big and blowing with as much wind as it's got, it'll go all the way to the ocean before it stops,' said San Diego Fire Capt. Kirk Humphries. 'We can save some stuff, but we can't stop it.'

Tentacles of unpredictable, shifting flame have burned across nearly 600 square miles, killing one person, destroying more than 1,600 homes and prompting the biggest evacuation in California history, from north of Los Angeles, through San Diego to the Mexican border.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the flames were threatening 68,000 more homes.

'We have had an unfortunate situation that we've had three things come together: very dry areas, very hot weather and then a lot of wind,' Schwarzenegger said. 'And so this makes the perfect storm for a fire.'

In Rancho Santa Fe, a suburb north of San Diego, houses burned just yards from where fire crews fought to contain flames engulfing other properties. In the mountain community of Lake Arrowhead, cabins and vacation homes went up in flames with no fire crews in sight.

'These winds are so strong, we're not trying to fight this fire,' said firefighter Jim Gelrud, an engineer from Vista, Calif. 'We're just trying to save the buildings.'

More than a dozen wildfires blowing across Southern California since Sunday have injured more than 45 people, including 21 firefighters. The U.S. Forest Service earlier reported a fire death in Los Angeles County's Santa Clarita area, but officials said Tuesday that information was erroneous.

The fires also forced the evacuation of more than 350,000 houses, most of them in San Diego County. That means the evacuation could encompass nearly 500,000 people.

'It's basically a mass migration here in San Diego County. The numbers we're seeing are staggering,' said Luis Monteagudo, a spokesman for the county's emergency effort.

'The Rumors Are Horrible'

Residents across the state who were forced to leave their homes struggled to sift through the rumors as they took shelter.

David Yurkovic, 43, was in the shelter in San Bernardino with his five children and his pregnant wife, Roberta.

'She's due in two months. She doesn't feel so good,' David Yurkovic said. 'I don't know if my house is OK. I have no idea. The worst part here is the rumors. The rumors are horrible. You hear that one whole town has burned to a crisp.'

Qualcomm Stadium has been sheltering 20,000 evacuees. San Diego mayoral spokesman Fred Sainz said the football stadium has become a small city, with meals, medical services, masseurs, musicians, a commissary and even fenced areas for cats and dogs.

President Bush, who plans to visit the region Thursday, declared a federal emergency for seven counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts.

The sweeping devastation was reminiscent of blazes that tore through Southern California four years ago, killing 22 and destroying 3,640 homes.

Pat Helsing, 59, evacuated her home in the Scripps Ranch area, much as she had done four years earlier.

'It seems scarier this time,' she said. 'The fire is everywhere in San Diego now. You don't know where you can go to escape it.'

Firefighters 'Do What We Can'

The usual tactic is to block a fire on two sides and try to choke it off, but with fires whipped by gusts that have surpassed 100 mph, that strategy doesn't work because embers can be swept miles ahead of the fire's front line. In those cases, crews must keep 10 to 30 feet back from the flames or risk their own lives, Los Angeles County firefighter Daryl Parish said.

Added Rocklin Fire Department Capt. Martin Holm: 'We do what we can. A life's a lot more important than a house.'

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 homes at the top of the ridge.

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, 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.

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

Information from The New York Times was used in this report.

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