Oct 14, 2008 3:15 pm US/Eastern
Firefighters Battle Stubborn Flames Near LA Homes
LOS ANGELES (CBS News) ―
It's a terrible October ritual in southern California: Fierce Santa Ana winds pushing walls of flames right up to homes, threatening entire neighborhoods and forcing thousands to flee.
Two people died Monday as major wildfires charred nearly 13,000 acres in suburban Los Angeles and northern San Diego County in three days, with the fiercest blazes burning in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley. Dozens of homes were destroyed, and thousands of people were forced to evacuate.
Officials say a new wildfire broke out overnight in San Diego County near the U.S.-Mexico border, and homes are being evacuated in the town of Campo.
Sheriff's Lt. Anthony Ray said the blaze broke out at about 2:45 a.m. Tuesday about 60 miles east of San Diego and by 4 a.m. it had consumed 150 acres on both sides of Highway 94.
More than 2,000 firefighters and a fleet of water- and retardant-dropping aircraft battled the 5,300-acre Marek Fire at the northeast end of the San Fernando Valley and the 5,000-acre Sesnon Fire in the Porter Ranch area at the west end. Combined, more than 15 square miles had burned.
Another 3,000 acres were scorched by Tuesday morning in Camp Pendleton, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,400 homes at the huge San Diego County Marine base and in nearby Oceanside, according to the base's Web site. The fast-growing blaze had yet to burn any structures on the base.
Firefighters had little to no containment of any of the fires early Tuesday.
Two major freeways in the San Fernando Valley - the Foothill Freeway and the Ronald Reagan Freeway - were opened for Tuesday's morning commute after being closed for hours because of the wildfires. However, authorities closed down the Ronald Reagan Freeway again in both directions this morning as smoke and flames approached the highway.
Meanwhile, another new wildfire is burning in San Bernardino. Authorities say several hundred homes are threatened and Interstate 215 remains closed.
San Bernardino Fire spokesman Steve Tracy says the fire broke out Tuesday morning in the city's Little Mountain area just east of I-215 and north of I-210.
Classes are canceled at Cal State San Bernardino and evacuated residents are being sent there.
Another fire along the 215 on Monday burned two buildings; a homeless man was arrested for starting that blaze with cigarette butts.
Now, another surge of Santa Ana winds - perhaps more powerful than those that arrived a day earlier - are expected early Tuesday.
And with winds this strong, officials say that avoiding disaster involves not just skill but luck.
L.A. County Fire Dept. Chief David Carolan told CBS News, "It's very serious. This has potential to be a major disaster."
A State of Emergency Declared
CBS News Radio's Melissa McCarty, reporting from Porter Ranch, described seeing wind carry glowing embers across roads to set houses ablaze at random.
"It just takes one moment for the rooftop or something to ignite, and that's what we've been seeing all over Porter Ranch, is the fire will hop streets because of the wind and the embers. You just don't know randomly where it's going to strike," said McCarty.
The quick work by firefighters may have spared multi-million dollar homes in the community of Newport Beach.
Winds had been briefly calm on Monday night but were expected to pick up early Tuesday, with gusts of up to 80 mph in higher elevations, said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Paul Hartwell.
"The fire wants to make its way to the coast, and we're going to do our level best to stop it," said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. "Two-thirds of our department is on the line."
Authorities confirmed more than three dozen mobile homes burned in the Marek Fire, and 19 structures - some of them homes - were destroyed by the Sesnon Fire. Commercial sites burned in both fires.
The Sesnon fire was advancing on L.A.'s dense northwest suburbs, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate, reported CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.
Fire officials alerted other communities to the west in the Ventura County city of Simi Valley and south to Malibu, 20 miles away, as an ominous plume streamed over neighborhoods and far out to sea.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and urged residents to be prepared for anything.
"Winds are causing fire conditions to change by the hour, which is why it is so important that residents in the areas surrounding these wildfires heed warnings from public safety officials to evacuate," Schwarzenegger said.
Firefighters on Monday were struggling with the resurgent, day-old Marek Fire when a new blaze erupted at midmorning a few miles to the west on Oat Mountain above Porter Ranch. It quickly grew as winds blew from the northeast at 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 70 mph, spitting embers among homes.
Residents were not allowed to drive into one of Porter Ranch's gated communities, so they parked their cars, ran to their homes and carried out whatever they could in pillow cases, in their arms, sacks and suitcases. Some ran out clutching paintings.
In nearby Twin Lakes, a neighborhood of narrow streets perched above the 118 Freeway, the fire raced through the community of about 95 homes, destroying at least four.
"In some situations you may not be able to even outrun this fire," said P. Michael Freeman, Los Angeles County's fire chief.
A fatality was discovered Monday at the Marek Fire, an area where neighborhoods abut rugged canyonlands below the mountainous Angeles National Forest. Assistant Coroner Chief Ed Winter said a homeless man and his dog burned to death Monday when flames consumed a makeshift wood-and-cardboard shelter.
Officials said it would take some time to identify the victim.
Another man was killed in a fiery rear-end collision on the 118 Freeway. California Highway Patrol Officer Leland Tang said traffic stopped because firefighters were going by as fire neared the route. Four vehicles were involved. At some point, motorists stopped on the freeway because of the flames and CHP officers turned them around to use an on-ramp as an exit, said CHP Capt. J.D. Goodwin.
An estimated 1,200 people were evacuated due to the Marek Fire, which was just 5 percent contained. Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Savage said 37 or 38 mobile homes were destroyed by that blaze. Various industrial sites also burned.
"We could have had an army there and it would not have stopped it," Battalion Chief Mario Rueda said. "Wind is king here, it's dictating everything we are doing."
Zarifeh Nadershahi, among the residents resting Monday night in an evacuation center near Porter Ranch, said she left her home after seeing flames surround parts of her neighborhood. She grabbed the first items she could and fled, clutching some important papers and home videos of her children.
The wind is now her biggest concern.
"When the wind comes in Porter Ranch, it shakes the whole house," she said. "The winds here are very strong."
The dry and warm Santa Ana winds typically blow into Southern California between October and February, priming vegetation for fires by slashing moisture levels. Last October, fires fanned by Santa Anas destroyed 2,196 homes and burned a combined 800 square miles in Southern California.
The Marek Fire began early Sunday during the first significant Santa Ana condition of the season, and about 1,000 firefighters from city, county, state and federal agencies were deployed. The cause was under investigation.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
