Fires ravage homes, kill 15

Officials believe arsonists started some of the fires.
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- With wind-driven flames threatening the densely populated San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, firefighters dug in today for another brutal day of battling one of the most destructive and deadly wildfire seasons in state history.
At least 1,134 homes had been destroyed and 15 people killed by five separate blazes scattered around Southern California. Two more people were killed in Mexico.
Flames dotted a 100-mile line that extended from the Mexican border north to the suburbs of Los Angeles.
A handful of other fires that hadn't hit any homes also consumed tens of thousands of acres of brush and forest lands, bringing the total burned to more than 500,000 acres -- or about 800 square miles, roughly three-quarters the total area of Rhode Island.
"It's a worst-case scenario. You couldn't have written anything worse than this. You can dream up horror movies, and they wouldn't be this bad," said Gene Zimmerman, supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest, the area in which two of the most destructive fires began last week.
A blaze in San Bernardino County called the Old Fire, which began near the forest Saturday, has destroyed at least 450 homes and been blamed for the deaths of two people. It was 10 percent contained today.
Arsonists suspected
Several fires were believed to be started by arsonists. Authorities released a composite sketch Monday night of one man suspected of starting the Old Fire. Investigators were seeking two men in their early or mid-20s who were seen throwing flaming objects from a van along Highway 18.
A lost hunter's signal flare ignited the so-called Cedar Fire near the mountain town of Julian on Saturday. The state's largest blaze at 150,000 acres, the Cedar Fire killed 11 people, authorities said. The hunter may face charges.
Many of those who died in the wildfires ignored evacuation orders and were caught by flames because they waited until the last minute to flee, Sheriff Bill Kolender said.
"When you are asked to leave, do it immediately," he said. "Do not wait."
The Old Fire, which merged earlier in the week with another blaze, had jumped a highway and was moving as a single wall of flames toward the mountain resort town of Lake Arrowhead. The town, at an elevation of 5,100 feet, was left particularly vulnerable to flames by a beetle infestation that has devastated the surrounding trees.
"It is one of our major concerns at the moment," U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Carol Beckley said late Monday.
Officials were particularly concerned about crowning, in which flames leap from one treetop to another, leaving firefighters on the ground all but powerless to stop them.
"If that occurs we don't have the capability to put those fires out," Beckley said. "It will be a firestorm."
Mountain fire
One of the biggest fire fights today was unfolding in the Santa Susana Mountains that separate Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, where 1.3 million people live, from Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County.
That fire, which has destroyed 13 homes since it began Saturday, was burning dangerously close to a gated community of million-dollar mansions in Los Angeles' Chatsworth section. It was only 5 percent contained.
Conditions were equally grim in San Diego County, where ash from three large fires fell on the beaches like snow and drivers had turn on their headlights during the day.
San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman was worried that the fires would merge into one gigantic blaze, pushing already strained resources to the breaking point.
"It would be disingenuous to say we have control of these fires. Right now we are throwing everything we can at them," Dallas Jones, director of the state Office of Emergency Services, said of the San Diego blazes.
More than 10,000 firefighters were battling the flames, which by today had already cost the state more than $24 million.
"This will be the most expensive fire in California history, both in loss of property and the cost of fighting it," Jones said.
The 15 people killed were the most since the devastating Oakland Hills fire that killed 25 people and destroyed more than 3,000 homes in October 1991.
Deaths and damages
Scores of people were also injured by this week's fires, including eight people treated for burns and smoke inhalation at the University of California, San Diego, Medical Center, on Monday. Two were in serious to critical condition with burns over more than 55 percent of their bodies, spokeswoman Eileen Callahan said.
The fires also knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, closed highways and disrupted air travel.
More resources were on the way from Arizona and Nevada, which were answering pleas for help from Gov. Gray Davis.
Each state has volunteered the use of 50 firetrucks, most of which are being directed toward the San Diego fires, Davis said. Nevada was also sending three helicopters.
On Monday, President Bush granted Davis' request to declare the region a disaster area, opening the door to grants, loans and other aid to residents and businesses in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties.
"I believe at the local, state and federal levels they are doing their parts in this distress," Davis told The Associated Press.
Californians
As the flames continued to rage out of control, every Californian seemed to know someone -- or know someone who knew someone -- who was affected by the fires.
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, said his home was among hundreds damaged or destroyed in his mountain town.
Maurice Greene, a sprinter who won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics, had to evacuate his 9,000-square-foot home near Simi Valley on Monday.
"We have to put it in God's hands. That's all we can do," he said as he left.
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