California wildfires force more residents to flee

Walls of wind-whipped flames consumed hundreds of homes across tinder-dry Southern California on Tuesday, raising the number of people forced to flee the flames into the hundreds of thousands.\nThe blazes bedeviled firefighters as fires roared from mountain passes to the edges of the state’s celebrated coastline, spreading so quickly that even hotels serving as temporary shelters for evacuees had to be evacuated. Two people have been killed.\nBy day three, the dozen wildfires had burned more than 1,300 homes and businesses, and the destruction may only be the start for the region. With temperatures rising and wind gusts remaining fierce, the flames were proving nearly impossible to fight.\nMarilee Bishop of Running Springs and her 10 year-old-daughter, Erica, rubbed their red eyes Tuesday morning as they woke up in a Wal-Mart parking lot where they spent the night after being forced to leave their home.\n“No one ever expects something like this to happen to them,” said Bishop, as thick smoke rose in the skies behind her.\nSince they began Sunday, the fires have burned at least 373,000 acres, or 583 square miles – an area larger than New York City. Fully a quarter of the California coast was ablaze. Flames climbed halfway toward the Nevada line, chewing through chunks of seven counties and devastating numerous communities.\nAt least 346,000 homes were ordered to evacuate in San Diego County alone, sheriff’s officials said. But the total number could be much higher, and state officials were still struggling to estimate how many people had fled.\nAs the fires spread, most out of control, smaller blazes were merging into larger, more fearsome ones. Evacuations were being announced in one community after another as firefighters found themselves overwhelmed by gale-force Santa Ana winds, some gusting to 70 mph.\nAuthorities hadn’t even begun to estimate the dollar value of the damage in some of the hardest-hit areas. A fire that struck Ramona, a city outside San Diego, had destroyed 650 structures. A blaze near Fallbrook, on the eastern edge of Camp Pendleton, wiped out another 500, or three buildings for every one firefighter allocated to it. And 200 more buildings burned in a fire just south of Potrero, across from the Mexican city of Tecate.\nPresident Bush declared a federal emergency for seven counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts. But White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was “very premature” to talk about a presidential stop in the region.\n“All of us across this nation are concerned for the families who have lost their homes and the many families who have been evacuated from their homes,” Bush said Tuesday. “We send the help of the federal government.”