Watching the news coverage of this is bringing back all sorts of very bad memories of the Oakland hills fire. We witnessed that fire through the livingroom windows of the condo we were living in at the time. My heart goes out to everyone in the San Bernardino area. This one looks like it is well on the way to being just as destructive.
The 1991 Oakland fire killed 25 people including a police officer and a fire fighter, injured 150 others, destroyed nearly 2,449 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units, and burned over 1,600 acres.
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA7IYD99MD.html
More Than 250 Homes Burn as Wildfires Ravage Southern California
By Laura Wides Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 26, 2003
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - Powerful Santa Ana winds kicked up before dawn Sunday, driving two ferocious firestorms that had already burned more than 200 homes across more lawns and rooftops.
In a canyon at the edge of Claremont, about 50 homes were in flames as the winds swept a more than 34,000-acre wildfire to the west.
"We're not sure exactly how many burned because we can't get up there," said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Edward Osorio. "Our priority of the moment right now is structure protection, not containment."
Closer to San Bernardino, a wildfire that burned at least 200 homes Saturday and was blamed for the stress-related deaths of two residents was threatening at least 1,000 homes. The smoke and flames forced the evacuation of a university campus, Indian casino and state mental hospital, and firefighters couldn't say when it might be contained.
The larger fire, near Claremont, had started in the Rancho Cucamonga area Tuesday and had destroyed 16 homes in San Bernardino County before spreading into Los Angeles County. Osorio said Sunday that authorities were going through the cities of La Verne and Claremont, urging people to evacuate immediately.
At at least one point, the two wildfires were only about a mile apart Sunday, and Ranger Gabriel Garcia of the San Bernardino National Forest's fire suppression agency said he expected they would eventually merge.
Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino and Ventura counties late Saturday.
"We are taking every possible step to support the firefighting effort," Davis said. He said he called on President Bush to issue a disaster declaration to free up federal loan money for people who lost homes.
The winds had died down as the temperature dropped over night but they picked up again early Sunday, sending authorities rushing to evacuate hundreds more homes in the resort areas of Lake Arrowhead and Crestline, just north of San Bernardino.
Garcia said firefighters he talked to Sunday morning were not optimistic they could save all the homes in the blaze's path.
"First thing they said is they're getting their butts kicked," Garcia said. "They're saving a lot but they can't save it all."
The devastating fire that burned more than 200 homes in and around San Bernardino, one of several burning in the dry Southern California brush, erupted about 9 a.m. Saturday 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Fierce Santa Ana winds propelled the flames across 10,000 acres within hours, spreading to a 12-mile front. Erratic winds gusting to 40 mph pushed the blaze in constantly changing directions.
About 100 miles to the northwest, in Ventura County, other wildfires were raging early Sunday in the hills above Simi Valley's Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and near Piru, where 300 homes were threatened for a time. The Simi Valley fire had burned 47,000 acres by daybreak, damaged 14 homes and was threatening as many as 2,000 structures. It had also shut down Highway 118, the main route connecting Ventura County to Los Angeles.
The fires created eerie scenes before dawn, with jagged streaks of orange illuminating the darkened skies so much that white smoke and ash could be seen swirling above the blackened hillsides.
By far the most devastating of the blazes started in San Bernardino's Old Waterman Canyon.
It forced the evacuation of the San Manuel Indian Reservation's casino and the campus of California State University, San Bernardino, where flames damaged two temporary classrooms and a temporary fitness center. Patton State Hospital, which houses about 1,300 mental patients, also had to be evacuated.
Two firefighters suffered second degree burns, and at least three others suffered minor burns or smoke inhalation on Sunday.
More than 4,200 people had been ordered by Saturday night to leave their homes in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, although some refused, staying behind to spray water on their roofs with garden hoses as flames danced all around them.
Robert Wilkes turned his hose on burning palm trees in an effort to keep the flames from his home and his neighbor's until he finally had to leave.
"He saved our house," said neighbor Dwane Caddell. Much of the rest of Caddell's property was damaged, however. His swimming pool was black with debris and singed palm trees and shrubbery surrounded the house.
The San Bernardino County coroner's office blamed the deaths of two men on stress caused by the fire. James W. McDermith, 70, collapsed while evacuating his home, and Charles Cunningham, 93, collapsed as he stood in the street watching his house burn.
The fires closed highways, cut power to thousands and choked the region with heavy smoke and ash.
Evacuation centers were packed, including one near San Bernardino International Airport, where as many as 1,000 people gathered, including about 50 people in wheelchairs who were taken from a convalescent home.
Hundreds of people sat beside their cars in the parking lot, some watching the burning hills through binoculars.
One family gathered in a prayer circle. Dozens of caged dogs and cats evacuated by their owners lined the roads. Authorities said at least three people were arrested on suspicion of looting in the devastated area.
Sharon Robinson, 62, and her daughter Kim Robinson, 46, left with their clothes and other belongings in the back of their truck.
"We've lived in our home for 35 years," Sharon Robinson said. "Fire has always stopped in the foothills. I never thought it would reach our home."
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Associated Press writer Alexandria Sage contributed to this story.
AP-ES-10-26-03 0948EST
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