Fire Watch 2007: Full coverage
An Airstream trailer is dwarfed last Sunday by approaching flames in Carbon Canyon in Malibu. Several structures were burned that day by the fast-moving blaze, dubbed the Canyon fire.
(Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times)
Continuing coverage of Southern California wildfires
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A group of San Diego County homeowners who rebuilt knew they had a mission when disaster struck again in October.
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At least 35 homes have been burned and about 200 more are threatened in Malibu as a wind-driven fire raced through 1,500 acres this morning, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes.
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Some who lost homes in the blaze say the money may determine if they’ll rebuild.
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No evidence exists of intent by the 10-year-old, L.A. County prosecutors say. Twenty-one homes were destroyed and 38,000 acres burned.
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SAN DIEGO -- A woman burned near Tecate by the Harris fire died Tuesday at UC San Diego Medical Center, officials said.
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Volunteers, some who also had crossed illegally from Mexico years ago, set out to find a migrant who vanished during the Harris fire in San Diego.
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Scientists fear blazes will contribute to winter landslides, water contamination and further loss of imperiled animal populations.
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Firefighters, hoping to contain the stubborn Santiago and Poomacha blazes by Sunday night, now expect containment sometime this week.
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They are responsible for some of the region’s worst blazes. Utilities can make repairs, but the costs are steep.
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The capricious fire hits some, spares others and plants seeds of unity.
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In anticipation of Santa Ana winds returning, departments across the Southland are implementing some of the lessons learned during last week’s destructive blazes.
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Fire ripped through the Orange County community, but the spirits of a hardy core of volunteer firefighters and neighbors survived.
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People who know him say the boy is distraught that he started the Buckweed fire, which destroyed 21 homes.
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Crews work to fully contain the blaze, while gearing up for returning Santa Ana winds.
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California State Parks announced that it will start taking reservations for campsites in most parks in the burn areas of Southern California.
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The Buckweed fire in the Agua Dulce and Santa Clarita areas was ignited by a youth playing with matches, sheriff’s officials say.
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Ninety percent of one reservation goes up in smoke. Leaders say better coordination with the state in the future is necessary.
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The plea uses lines from a recent radio address by an assemblywoman.
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Arson investigators did not identify the boy or provide details about where he allegedly started the 38,000-acre Santa Clarita-area blaze.
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His leadership during the recent blazes is widely praised. Some liken him to Giuliani after the Sept. 11 attacks.
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Five men from a remote San Bernardino enclave hold off the Slide fire with shovels and hoses until firefighters arrive.
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To break the cycle of build and burn, those who create and approve subdivisions in Southern California must take site and climate into consideration.
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At services in Del Mar and Malibu, parishioners say their devotion will see them through a dark period and resolve to rebound.
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Fires add to strain on military personnel caught between the commitment to serve their country and the need to be with loved ones in time of need.
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Refusing to leave his retreat, rabbi devotes himself to serving crews battling the Slide blaze.
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Two of last week’s blazes were deliberately set. History shows that catching a fire-starter requires diligent investigation -- and some unexpected breaks.
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‘We don’t just say, “Your house burned down; you’re on your own.” We take them there,’ an O.C. fire captain says. Chaplains also come along.
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Some Southland residents turn to worship and cleanup, as authorities say they are gaining the upper hand on remaining fires.
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Substandard staffing, grounded aircraft and fewer reserve crews delayed efforts to quash the Santiago blaze.
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A Florida couple marry at the Wild Animal Park, which had been closed because of the fires. Their backup plan was a real Zoo.
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A store parking lot in Orange is turned into a haven for Santiago fire evacuees.
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Seeing U.S. agents and being asked for ID at rescue centers spark concern among illegal immigrants, making them wary of seeking help.
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Distant smoke became up-close terror as the Witch fire descended during a terrifying 24-hour period. There wasn’t time to make hard decisions.
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Despite, or perhaps because of, Southern California’s wildfires, an L.A. department recruitment seminar draws plenty of applicants.
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Although smoky skies have prompted health warnings, many in Southern California venture outside after days of being cooped up.
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The Silverado Canyon fire is ‘extremely active,’ an official says. Many are evacuated for the second time in a week.
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Blaze reaches the community and comes to within a mile of homes, but authorities are optimistic about keeping it at bay. Officials say a white pickup truck might be linked to an arsonist.
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Cool, moist air — drizzle in some places — lets firefighters make big gains, but Santa Anas could return.
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Agency employees, not reporters, asked questions at the event. Homeland Security calls the lapse ‘offensive and inexcusable.’
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The Orange County blaze continues to threaten 750 homes in Silverado Canyon, while the fire near Running Springs in San Bernardino County is just 15% contained.
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DULZURA, Calif. — They were on their way back to Jamul, weary from dousing a flare-up along winding California 94.
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The last of the fire evacuees leave the stadium today. The team will play its scheduled game against the Houston Texans.
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An insurance adjuster deals with details and emotions as he helps fire victims begin the claims process.
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One family manages to save their pets plus those of their neighbors.
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When Southland clients’ multimillion-dollar homes were threatened, insurer AIG dispatched crews with fire retardant.
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The volunteer firefighters in a remote Orange County canyon -- and their 1947 pumper, Gertrude -- brace for the Santiago fire.
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That foul air covering most of Southern California could be as damaging to your car as to your lungs.
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A border checkpoint is temporarily unguarded but hundreds are smoked out of ravines and several are burned.
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A ragtag army, most of which was untrained, came together to fight the Poomacha fire on reservation land.
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Group works together using 600 feet of fire hose one of them bought to protect half a dozen houses in the High Valley area.
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Administrators complain that the department of fire protection took too long to authorize use of water-dropping aircraft.
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Three years ago, more than 61% of voters favored raising the room tariff to pay for fire services. But approval required a two-thirds majority.
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6 more bodies are found; fierce blazes rage in wilderness areas
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Forest Service’s nimble trucks can reach hillside neighborhoods, an ability that’s been crucial to the efforts in the San Bernardino Mountains.
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Rancho Bernardo resident -- and his new home -- survived the fire after he defied mandatory evacuation orders.
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The public’s help is sought, and the reward now stands at $150,000. Tips have poured in but have led to no suspects.
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Most evacuations of senior facilities amid the San Diego County fires went as planned, health officials say.
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Fire statistics, raw emotions, stories of heroism and despair. It’s all too familiar to Southern Californians.
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ESCONDIDO -- The howling Santa Ana winds may have saved Roger Bielasz’s life even as they threatened to end it.
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Flames from the Santiago fire are threatening 750 homes; officials say the area’s fate depends on which way the wind blows.
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But whether Chargers will play at Qualcomm as scheduled on Sunday remains undetermined. Sanders says the decision is up to team and NFL.
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Haunted by a legacy of mismanagement over Hurricane Katrina, the president seeks to convey an image care and command.
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The Global Hawk will relay infrared images to civilian authorities in the unmanned drone’s first domestic surveillance mission.
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Poor air quality forces extracurricular activities throughout Southland to be curtailed.
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Firefighters report significant containment of several fires. Several arson probes are launched.
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Schwarzenegger is at ease in a role that puts him in the limelight and calls for decisive action.
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Police in San Bernardino shoot an Arizona man who fled after being spotted near the Cal State campus. In a separate incident, a Hesperia man is in custody.
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The Big Bear Hot Shots fight fires by hand. Among them, the bulldozer driver commands a special respect.
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Firefighters in San Diego County sensed from the start that they were outmatched this time. Maddeningly intense blazes met explosive suburban growth.
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Despite early estimates, it’s likely that substantially fewer than first estimated fled flames.
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Only 19 of 150 promised new firetrucks have been ordered, and new home-building rules won’t take effect until January.
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Canyon Country students say they feared for their school, friends as Buckweed fire raged through the area.
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A federal effort to clear brush and remove trees in the Arrowhead area is controversial but makes a difference.
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Malibu Presbyterian members feel a sense of loss, yet view the disaster as an opportunity to enlarge their ministry. The destruction won’t stop the pastor from honoring a $500,000 pledge, he says.
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Containment shrinks to 30% as winds kick up. Blaze is expected to move into Riverside County in the next 12 to 24 hours.
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- Insurance companies, already scrambling to bring in personnel from across the country to handle a surge in fire claims, got help today from California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
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President says he wants Southern Californians ‘to know that Americans all across this land care deeply about them.’ Some Democrats criticize federal preparedness.
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Because of fires, game against Houston might be played Monday at Qualcomm Stadium or in Texas.
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Amid fires’ devastation, some people are seeking a pleasant respite, course managers say
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Hikers leave the trail in search of food and find a ghost town.
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Those whose homes suffer at least $10,000 in fire damage may seek reassessment and a corrected tax bill or refund.
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The plan that helped San Diegans evacuate this week faces serious logistical obstacles in this area. Some cities do have their own versions.
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Call him Noah: Former Warner Bros. executive Bob Daly evacuates a menagerie of more than 200 birds and animals to safety - and temporary digs in Bel-Air.
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Southern California has long been plagued by wind and drought, but climate change may make for a drier future, scientists say.
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Even as blazes are doused and winds die, unhealthful air is expected to hang around. Experts advise people to stay indoors.
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Criticism is mounting that the region was unprepared.
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The Tinkers say they and their neighbors on a San Diego County hilltop weren’t warned of the approaching fire. A fire marshal’s tips from years ago saved them.
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With abundant food from various ethnic cuisines and a sea of volunteers to distribute it and other provisions, Qualcomm Stadium is opulent compared to most disaster shelters.
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Firefighters worry that the wind could blow the fires together, a scenario that a U.S. Forest Service official says ‘could be catastrophic.’
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Times staff writer Janet Wilson, who has lived in a creekside stone house in Modjeska Canyon in Orange County for nearly nine years, returned from her wedding Monday evening to find her home threatened by the Santiago fire.
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Ramona Airport is the hub for San Diego’s air assault. But the runway caught fire. Then the water failed. And the planes went elsewhere.
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Because of topographical quirks, Santa Ana winds funnel particulates to the beachfront community, even if fires are nowhere near.
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Newer communities have been built with fire resistance in mind.
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State official predicts ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ in damages.
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Huddled in portable shelters, they hoped they would survive.
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Blazes are prioritized at the Riverside facility based on their size, threat to life, potential to spread and danger to property.
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Residents of San Diego’s hard-hit Rancho Bernardo neighborhood discover their fate during an escorted visit.
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The area was devastated by the 2003 Cedar blaze. As new fires threaten, residents don’t want to believe it could happen again.
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They began arriving late Monday, people displaced by the San Diego County fires seeking refuge from the red flaming storm.
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The Southern California fires wreaked havoc on cellphone service, destroying dozens of antenna towers, causing power outages in other areas and leaving many residents with no other means of communication.
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Evacuees were camped in the aisles and parking lot of the facility, as doctors and nurses on an upper floor aided evacuated nursing home residents.
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More than 19,000 acres burned in O.C., thousands evacuated
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Steve Lopez is in San Diego County reporting from the fires.
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High winds and fires have left about 9,250 homes in Southern California without power tonight as fires continued to batter the region, said Gil Alexander of Southern California Edison.
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RUNNING SPRINGS Residents ‘have no idea what is happening to their property’ The owners had already fled and the two houses perched on a hill were destroyed in minutes.
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President Bush today declared a state of emergency in Southern California, paving the way for federal aid to help fight the region’s wildfires.
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The number of blazes and their wind-whipped ferocity strain the area’s firefighting resources to the limit.
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Unfazed by wildfires, some say they would never live anywhere else.
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Air quality in spots is called “very unhealthy.” Officials warn against breathing particles.
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A Rancho Bernardo resident and the veteran motorcycle officer tasked to evacuate his neighborhood see the looming flames differently.
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Stations turn much of their Monday airtime over to live coverage.
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As the region again goes up in flames, firefighters and residents find that not enough has changed to help them cope.
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Seasoned Arrowhead residents are stunned by flames. “We’re mountain people; we’re tough,” one victim says.
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SAN DIEGO -- Diane Doroski knew it was time to pack up and leave home when she saw a strange new ingredient sprinkled atop her breakfast quesadilla: ash.
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Crews engage in a back-and-forth battle as flames spread in the Saugus, Piru and Stevenson Ranch areas.
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Winds have ballooned the blaze to 25,000 acres. ‘We’re doing the best we can with what we have,’ a fire official says.
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Lacking air support in the suspected arson, they use shovels and picks to tame flames racing toward homes.
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Fires in the area are too familiar. Earlier this year, 11 seaside homes were destroyed or damaged. And in 1993, a suspected arson caused $219 million worth of damage.
