Residents flee wrath of deadly, spreading wildfires

Authorities believe two of the fires have human causes.
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Wildfires fed by hot Santa Ana winds flared into gigantic waves of flame that devoured entire neighborhoods, choked skies over Southern California with ash and killed 13 people in the state's deadliest wildfire tragedy in more than a decade.
The blazes triggered a harrowing flight to safety Sunday for hundreds of residents, who had little time to collect cherished possessions before escaping.
"I was grabbing wet towels. Fire was at our feet. It was blazing over our heads and burning everywhere," said Lisza Pontes, 43, recounting her Sunday morning escape from a fire in San Diego County.
She and her family, awakened at 3:45 a.m., made a mad dash from their home to their car and, as they drove away, saw a neighbor's mobile home explode in flames.
From the Mexican border to the suburbs north of Los Angeles, much of the region was swiftly transformed into a charred wasteland. More than 800 homes have been destroyed. The death toll is the worst since the 1991 fire in the Oakland hills of Alameda County that killed 25 and destroyed more than 3,200 homes and apartments.
Million-dollar homes evaporated almost as fast as canyon brush in San Diego's affluent Scripps Ranch area, where charred eucalyptus trees blocked the roads.
About 30,000 homes remained in danger from the fires, which had consumed more than 300,000 acres -- the equivalent of 470 square miles. In many parts of the region, the fires kept growing despite the frantic efforts of more than 7,000 firefighters.
A state of emergency was declared in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties as the fires closed major highways and roads, and disrupted air travel nationwide.
All of the fatalities happened since Saturday. Nine people were killed by the so-called Cedar Fire in San Diego County, the state's largest blaze at approximately 100,000 acres. About 260 homes, ranging from modest to expensive, were destroyed.
The victims included two people who died inside their car as they apparently tried to escape the flames, which some witnesses said moved so fast they didn't get any warning.
Among others killed were one person whose body was found in a motor home, and three in other vehicles, said Susan Knauss, San Diego County sheriff's spokeswoman. Three were killed while trying to escape on foot, and two were dead on arrival at local hospitals.
Cause of blaze
The fire was ignited Saturday near the mountain town of Julian when a lost hunter set off a signal fire, authorities said. The hunter was detained and may face charges.
Another fire near San Diego that started Sunday killed two people and destroyed 57 homes while burning about 15,000 acres, authorities said. It also prompted evacuations in northeastern Escondido.
Around the congested suburbs of San Bernardino, a city of about 200,000 some 50 miles east of Los Angeles, one flank of a nearly 80,000-acre fire burned through four towns while the other flank destroyed more than 450 homes.
Two men collapsed and died, one as he was evacuating his canyon home and the other as he watched his house burn, the county coroner said.
Authorities announced they were seeking two men for investigation of arson and possibly murder in the fire, which ravaged foothill neighborhoods of San Bernardino and threatened mountain homes. One man was seen Saturday morning throwing something into roadside brush that caught fire, then he and a companion fled in a van, officials said.
The 30-mile fire in the San Bernardino area was formed when two smaller fires merged, covering the region with thick smoke and ash.
About 24,000 homes were under threat from the fires today, authorities said.
Other fires on the outskirts of Los Angeles County merged to create a 80,000-acre fire burning near suburbs late Sunday northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County. It was threatening approximately 2,000 homes and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Firefighters' efforts
Firefighters, including 25 strike teams and 125 engines, tried to make a stand at Crestline in the San Bernardino National Forest, according to fire information officer Stanton Florea of the U.S. Forest Service. About 25 homes burned in the area.
Firefighters were spread thinly around threatened communities, focusing on saving what homes they could. Winds prevented the air tanker drops of retardant and use of backfires that are key tactics of fire containment.
The area is vulnerable because drought and an infestation of bark beetles have left millions of dead trees.
"If the fire starts to crown, racing from one tree to the next, it will be an extreme situation," Florea said.
Brandy DeBatte, 21, stayed at her Crestline home until the electricity went out and the smoke started to thicken.
"I got our animals. I got insurance papers. I didn't want to be up there if the town was going to burn down," she said.
Hours later, she was having second thoughts as she realized how much she had left behind: "I should have gotten more out, and I didn't."
Three looters who tried to take advantage of the San Bernardino evacuations were arrested, police said.
State of emergency
Gov. Gray Davis, who visited the San Bernardino fire Friday, returned Sunday to announce he was extending the state of emergency to Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
"These are the worst fires that we've faced in California in 10 years," Davis said.
Davis' administration also gave an emergency briefing to Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Some of the evacuations ordered included Indian reservation casinos; California State University; San Bernardino, where fire burned two temporary classrooms and a temporary fitness center; and a state mental hospital.
About 1,100 prison inmates also were evacuated, and at least 200 juvenile wards were evacuated Sunday from two probation camps, said Ken Kondo, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Probation Department.
About 1,000 people packed the San Bernardino International Airport center, including 50 elderly residents of a convalescent home.
At the Alexander Hughes Community Center in Claremont, where more than 50 homes were destroyed, evacuees searched for friends and neighbors.
A note on a bulletin board outside the center read: "Dear Kim and Joanne. I came for you here and want to offer you my extra bedroom and as much hospitality as you need. Love, Gina."
The National Football League moved tonight's football game between the Chargers and Miami Dolphins from Qualcomm Stadium, which is being used as an evacuation center, to Tempe, Ariz.
The winds were expected to subside today before picking up later in the week in the San Bernardino area, said meteorologist Robert Balfour of the National Weather Service.
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