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LOS ANGELES-Powerful gusts stoked three major wildfires in Southern California early Tuesday that have charred nearly 12,000 acres, destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate neighborhoods in suburban Los Angeles and northern San Diego County.Two people died Monday as flames raged in the northeastern and western San Fernando Valley, including one motorist killed in a rear-end freeway collision after a looming fire stopped traffic.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 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.Winds were blowing at 50 mph in parts of the valley by 1 a.m. Tuesday, with gusts of up to 80 mph possible in higher elevations, county fire officials said.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 bases'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."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."The California Highway Patrol expected badly snarled traffic Tuesday morning as sections of the 210 Foothill and 118 Ronald Reagan Freeways were likely to remain closed for another morning rush hour.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.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.To read more go to:
Click here to read about a blaze burning in San Francisco Bay.
Click here to read about a blaze burning in San Francisco Bay.
As in the days of Noah...
