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California Residents Heed Earlier Fire Warnings

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By ELLIOT SPAGAT, The Associated Press

Published: October 25, 2007

SAN DIEGO - Steve Levstik and his wife got 15 minutes of warning before flames swept through their neighborhood. That was 15 minutes more than last time.

Levstik was thankful for the reverse 911 calls that San Diego County used to urge hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes ahead of wildfires propelled by strong wind. Officials there ordered 10 times more evacuations than they did in 2003, the last time fires of similar magnitude hit Southern California.

For the Levstiks, in the hard-hit community of Rancho Bernardo, it was still a close call: Flames blocked the main road out, forcing them to take another route as trees exploded into fireballs on both sides of the street.

'They are more determined that people leave,' said Levstik, 47. 'It was very intense. On the call, it was like, 'This area, go! This area, go!' In 2003 there was less guidance. It was like, 'Just pay attention to the news and if it looks bad, leave.''

Some Californians complained that authorities were at times overcautious, but fire officials had one key statistic to support their actions: Only one person was confirmed killed by flames that claimed about 674 square miles and 1,500 homes, and that person reportedly had refused orders to leave.

Winds dropped to 21 to 36 mph on Wednesday, considerably less than the fierce gusts of up to 100 mph that whipped fire zones earlier in the week.

Authorities said they had largely contained many of the fires north of San Diego, and all five fires in Los Angeles County were about 50 percent contained or more. None of the six major blazes in San Diego County was more than 15 percent contained, however, and those fires threatened more than 8,500 houses.

The top priority was a fire in San Bernardino County that threatened 6,000 homes and continued to rage out of control.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office listed six deaths connected to the blazes, including five who died after they fled but were not directly killed by the fire.

Terry Dooley, who was ordered out of his home with his wife and three sons Monday from San Diego's densely populated Rancho Bernardo area, said authorities learned important lessons from Hurricane Katrina and the 2003 California fires, which killed 22 people, destroyed 3,640 homes and blackened close to 1,200 square miles over two weeks. All but a handful of those deaths were directly related to the fires.

'They learned how to get things done more quickly,' Dooley said as he waited at a roadblock Wednesday to return home.

In 2003, only 50,000 people got evacuation orders in San Diego County. This week, an estimated 500,000 people received evacuation orders there.

Property damage has reached at least $1 billion in San Diego County alone, where at least 1,200 homes were destroyed and most of the more than half a million evacuations occurred. President Bush signed a major disaster declaration for California.

Thousands of families were left wondering whether their homes were still standing, but some were quickly able to get a good hint. Dooley knew his home was OK because his answering machine still worked.

'One happy consequence' of the 2003 fires is that people remember that fire can be very unpredictable, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

The only confirmed death from the flames was Thomas Varshock, 52, of Tecate, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said. Officials told him to flee, but he didn't.

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