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LOS ANGELES: More than 250,000 people fled their
homes as out-of-control wildfires raged across
California on Monday, prompting
authorities to draft in the US military to support weary
firefighters.
At least 13 fires were blazing
throughout southern California with thousands of firefighters
struggling to contain flames that have reduced more than 600 homes
and 100 businesses to charred rubble, officials and reports said.
One person has been killed, more
than 20 people injured and around 260,000 acres (1,000 square
kilometers) have been destroyed in the fires, which are some of the
worst in the state’s history.
California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who has declared states of emergency across several
counties, described the crisis as a “tragedy” and said President
George W. Bush had offered federal government support.
“It’s a tragic time for
California,” Schwarzenegger said after touring charred remains of
buildings in the celebrity enclave of Malibu.
Later Monday Schwarzenegger’s
office said 1,500 National Guard soldiers had been deployed to help
firefighters. The governor had also requested assistance from the
Pentagon, being granted the use of airborne fire-fighting craft.
By late Monday, a vast battalion
of several thousand personnel backed up by 316 fire engines, 19
airtankers, 15 bulldozers and eight helicopters was engaged in
combat with the myriad infernos.
Fire authorities admitted they
were struggling to control the fires and are grimly expecting the
situation to worsen as powerful, hot desert winds gust across the
region this week.
“These fires that are sweeping
through Southern California are a perfect storm,” said Los Angeles
County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
“The fire department and law
enforcement personnel have been stressed almost beyond the point of
reason because there are so many fires going.
“The winds are erratic and
unpredictable. There is no telling where the fires will move and
when.”
San Diego County Sheriffs
revealed that a total of 194,673 households had been evacuated in
rural areas across the region.
Among the evacuees were prison
inmates and hospital patients, while several schools were also
closed.
Some evacuees were sent to
Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers’ American
football team. One woman, Nancy Canfield, said she was relieved to
have escaped with her family, which included her baby grandchildren.
When she left her home the air
quality was “horrible,” she told the San Diego Union Tribune.
“By the time we got from the house to the car, the babies’ faces
were covered in soot,” she said. “I’m just thankful we all got
out, we’re all safe. I don’t care about anything else.”
San Diego Fire Rescue spokesman
Maurice Luque said the wildfires were more serious than the blazes,
which ravaged California in 2003, leaving 22 people dead and
destroying 3,000 homes.
“We believe this is worse than
2003,” Luque told AFP. “The winds have been just incessant,
continuous. The focal point is constantly changing, which makes them
extremely difficult to tackle.”
In Malibu, residents were
struggling to come to terms with damage inflicted by the blaze.
Thousands of buildings have been
evacuated, including the homes of Titanic director James Cameron and
Grease movie star Olivia Newton-John.
TMZ.com reported that the
exclusive Promises rehabilitation center, which has hosted stars
Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, was being evacuated.
The causes of the different fires
raging throughout the state varied, with a fallen power line
believed to be the cause of the blaze in Malibu and arson blamed for
a fire in Orange County that torched 15,000 acres.
One person was killed and four
firefighters were seriously injured while trying to protect a home
from fire in Potrero, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of San Diego,
the fire department said. Seventeen people were injured.
Early Monday the fire had ripped
through 20,000 acres of brush and was threatening 1,500 structures
as it raced to the Mexico border, a spokeswoman from the California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told AFP.
Many parts of California,
including Los Angeles, have experienced record low rainfalls this
year, leaving hundreds of thousands of acres of countryside at the
mercy of wildfires.
--AFP
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