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California wildfires dying down, but hardships remain

With some of the worst wildfires dying down, many Southern Californians lucky enough to find their homes still standing could nevertheless face hardships for weeks to come, including polluted air, no electricity and no drinking water.

Power lines are down in many burned-over areas, and the smoke and ash could irritate people's lungs for as long as the blazes keep burning.

Randy and Aimee Powers returned to this mountain community in San Diego County on Friday to find their home without electricity or water, after fire trucks drained the town's reservoir.

"It's better to be at home. We're going to stick it out and do whatever we have to do up here to survive. We'll make it through," Randy Powers said.

Residents of 10,000 Ramona homes who called the water department when they found their water turned off were greeted by a recorded phone message that said: "We are in extreme water crisis situation. No water use is allowed."

Thousands of people continued returning to their neighborhoods as shelters across Southern California began shutting down. The largest, Qualcomm Stadium, which had housed 10,000 refugees at the height of the disaster, was being emptied out and readied for today's NFL football game between the San Diego Chargers and Houston Texans.

While the danger had eased considerably since the weekend, numerous fires were still burning out of control, and one in Orange County, near Los Angeles, triggered renewed efforts to evacuate residents on Friday.

In San Diego County, the area hardest hit, only one of five major fires was more than 50 percent contained. In the Lake Arrowhead mountain resort area of San Bernardino County, one of two fires that have destroyed more than 300 homes was 75 percent contained, while the other was only 20 percent contained. A blaze in Orange County that blackened 11,000 hectares and destroyed 14 homes near Irvine was 35 percent contained, but it was sending up a massive plume of smoke at late afternoon.

The activity of the blaze led officials to try to enforce an existing mandatory evacuation order that was ignored by some residents of isolated Silverado Canyon, said Lynnette Round, an Orange County Fire Authority spokeswoman.

Authorities believe the blaze was deliberately set and asked for help finding a white truck seen in the area where the fire started.

In all, more than a dozen fires had raced across more than 202,000 hectares by Friday.

At least three people and possibly seven have been killed by flames. Seven others died of various causes after having been evacuated.

About 1,700 homes have been destroyed, and damage has been put at more than US$1 billion in San Diego County alone.

Across Southern California, 71 firefighters and about 30 civilians have been injured.
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