500,000 evacuated, 13,000 homes destroyed : California wildfires rage for third day
LOS ANGELES, Oct 23: More than 500,000 people have been evacuated and around 1,000 homes destroyed as ferocious wildfires raged unchecked for a third day across California on Tuesday. The wind-driven infernos have so far scorched at least 335,000 acres of tinder-try brush, threatening to overwhelm firefighters who are tackling one of the worst wildfire crises in California history.
One person has died and more than 20 people have been injured in fires that erupted on Sunday and spread quickly across the region, fanned by powerful winds gusting in from the desert.
President George W. Bush has declared an emergency in California and ordered federal aid to be directed to the fire-stricken region.
Many parts of the state, including Los Angeles, have experienced record low rainfalls and record-high temperatures this year, leaving vast swathes of rugged countryside bordering built-up residential areas at the mercy of fires.
“It’s a tragic time for California,” said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after touring charred remains of
buildings in the celebrity enclave of Malibu, west of Los Angeles on Monday.
By Tuesday there were at least 14 separate fires throughout southern California, spanning a region from north of Los Angeles to south of the Mexican border. Some of the fires were so vast that they could be seen from space and smoke was so thick in the area that weather radars mistook it for rain clouds.
Several thousand firefighters backed up by 316 fire engines, 19 air tankers, 15 bulldozers and eight helicopters battled fires throughout the night.
The Pentagon has sent six Air Force and National Guard water-dropping planes to help tackle the blaze while 1,500 National Guard troops are being deployed to help manage evacuations and assist firefighting efforts.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman said he hoped to get help from Northern California, Arizona and Nevada firefighters to help exhausted crews.
In San Diego, evacuees were sent to Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers American football team. By early Tuesday, 10,000 weary evacuees were huddled inside the stadium, according to reports.
One woman, Nancy Canfield, said she was relieved to have escaped with her family, including her grandchildren. “I’m just thankful we all got out, we’re all safe. I don’t care about anything else.” San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said emergency calls had been placed to 270,000 households asking people to evacuate.
“We do know that we have placed now over 270,000 calls and we evacuated over 300,000 people which is a very significant number,” he said.
“Our best estimates are putting the number of houses destroyed somewhere in the area of 1,000 but we are just unable to confirm any of these numbers,” Sanders told a press conference.
Sanders said the speedy evacuations of vast numbers of residents had helped keep casualties to a minimum.
“If there’s a statistic that so far stands out, it’s the fact that we have had minimal loss of life,” Sanders said.
“People are moving, people are getting the message and they are responding.
Having said that, the weather continues to be unpredictable.” The rugged terrain was hampering efforts to tackle fires in areas east of Los Angeles, according to fire crews.
“Truth is, some of [the homes] are not defensible. Period. Or savable,” Battalion Chief Jim Curaralo told KTLA-TV.
“There’s no point in risking life — firefighter or citizen — in a situation where you really don’t believe you can make a difference.” The fires are the worst to hit California since 2003, when 22 people were killed and 3,000 homes were destroyed.—AFP
