Roaring forest fires raged out of control across southern California Monday as fire crews warned that there would be no let-up in the devastation until the "devil winds" that are fanning the massive walls of flame die down.
Though the winds weakened somewhat during the day, the afternoon saw none of the humidity that firefighters and residents were praying for. The ten major fires have caused the deaths of at least 16 people, burnt at least 800 homes and scorched some 1,300km2.
Burning from Tijuana, across the Mexican border, to more than 100km north of Los Angeles, they are the worst conflagrations California has seen for 50 years. Mexican authorities said that two had died in northern Baja California.
PHOTO: AFP
Across the border some 40,000 people were forced to flee from the congested suburban communities sprawling through the southern California hills. Officials said that 30,000 homes are now threatened by the flames. The fires also burnt three major power lines, cutting electricity to 85,000 people.
In Los Angeles, Fire Chief Bill Bamattre encouraged city residents to prepare emergency packs of important documents and health supplies. City health officials warned that children, the elderly and people with heart and lung conditions should spend as little time outside as possible. San Diego's mayor called the air quality there "horrible."
Satellite imagery showed much of the region covered with huge palls of smoke, while TV images showed gigantic walls of flames turning the night orange as they marched relentlessly through hills and towns. Health officials throughout the region urged people to curtail their outdoor activities so as not to breath the acrid air.
At least two of the fires were set by arsonists, fire officials said. Another was believed to have been started by a lost hunter who lit a fire to attract attention.
President George W. Bush declared an official state of emergency and promised federal aid to victims of the inferno.
"The federal government will provide all resources necessary, at the request of the state, to work and fight these fires," Bush said in a press conference in Washington. "We want to help put them out. This is a devastating fire, and it's a dangerous fire."
The flames are being fuelled by tinder-dry brushlands and forests, many of which have been decimated by years of drought and a bark beetle infestation that has left them filled with dead wood.
In addition, the seasonal Santa Ana winds that blow hot bone-dry air from the eastern deserts fanned the flames without respite, enabling the fires to jump highways, fire-lines and back burns set by more than 5,000 firefighters.
"It goes wherever it wants to go and consumes whatever it wants," Captain Doug Johnston of the Kern County Fire Department said of the fire in San Bernardino County, one of the largest. "It's humbling. There's only so much you can do with a wind-driven fire like this."
Tricia Abbas, a spokeswoman for San Bernardino National Forest, called it a nightmare.
"This is everything we didn't want here: Santa Ana winds, dead forest, high temperatures," she said.
Governor Gray Davis declared a state of emergency in five counties and called for federal aid. He also plans to call on neighboring states to assist.
Air traffic across North America was disrupted following the evacuation of the centre that handles air traffic below about 4,000m from Los Angeles to Mexico.
The fires come at the peak of what until now had been a relatively mild fire season. Most of the deaths occurred around San Diego and the surrounding communities, where the lightning-fast spread of the Cedar and Paradise fires caught many unprepared.
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