250,000 flee San Diego fires - Weather - MSNBC.com
Nearly 250,000 flee wildfires in San Diego area
Firefighters warn they lack resources to save all homes; 1 person killed
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 26 minutes ago
SAN DIEGO - Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds consumed huge swaths of bone-dry Southern California on Monday, burning dozens of buildings and threatening hundreds more from Malibu to San Diego, including a jail, a hospital and nursing homes.
More than a dozen wildfires had engulfed the region, killing at least one person, injuring dozens more and forcing hundreds of thousands of evacuations. Overwhelmed firefighters said they lacked the resources to save many houses.
“We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them,” San Diego Fire Captain Lisa Blake said. “A lot of people are going to lose their homes today.”
Nearly 250,000 people were forced to flee in San Diego County alone, where hundreds of patients were being moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes, sheriff’s spokeswoman Susan Knauss said.
About a dozen blazes erupted over the weekend, feeding on drought-parched land from the high desert to the
Pacific Ocean. One person was killed and several injured in a fire near the Mexican border, and dozens of structures have burned across the region.
Warm temperatures and strong winds created “dramatically worse” conditions overnight as flames shot 200 feet high, said Bill Metcalf, chief of the North County Fire Protection District.
'A major emergency'
Late Sunday, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in seven Southern California counties.
"It’s a tragic time for California," Schwarzenegger said Monday as he started touring the devastation. “Our brave state, local and federal firefighters have been battling the blazes for the last 24 hours, and they’ve done an extraordinary job.”
In Orange County, a 1,049-inmate jail was being evacuated because of heavy smoke, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said. Inmates were being bused to another facility in Irvine.
All San Diego Police Department officers and off duty detectives were ordered to return to work to help with evacuations.
The fires have burned about 100,000 acres, or 156 square miles, in San Diego County, said county Supervisor Ron Roberts. Across the region, 40,000 acres, or 62 square miles, had burned by Sunday.
“This is a major emergency,” Roberts said.
Many injured
In many cases, crews couldn’t begin to fight the fires because they were too busy rescuing residents who refused to leave, fire officials said.
“They didn’t evacuate at all, or delayed until it was too late,” Metcalf said. “And those folks who are making those decisions are actually stripping fire resources.”
More than a dozen people were being treated at the U.C. San Diego Medical Center Regional Burn Center for burns and smoke inhalation, including four fighters — three in critical condition, officials said. Some of the injured were hikers, and others may be
illegal immigrants.
One blaze devoured more than 5,000 acres in northern San Diego County and forced the evacuation of the community of Ramona, which has a population of about 36,000. Several structures were burned on the edge of town and sheriff’s deputies called residents to alert them the fire was approaching the city, San Diego sheriff’s Lt. Phil Brust said.
“The winds are up, it’s very, very dangerous conditions,” San Diego County spokeswoman Lesley Kirk said. “Fires are popping up all over the place.”
There are many Muslim families North and East of us here, about 10 miles or so, that could use everyone dua's. May allah help everyone to be safe. Ameen.
Nearly 250,000 flee wildfires in San Diego area
