Day 4: A Glimmer of Hope

A firefighter starts a backfire on East Grade road on Palomar Mountain.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

A California Department of Forestry firefighter is dwarfed by flames along East Grade Road on Palomar Mountain.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

An aerial attack on the Santiago fire in Live Oak Canyon provides support for a crew from Cedar City, Utah.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Grass Valley resident Mark Traughber pauses as he sifts through the debris of his home on Sonoma Dr. Wednesday. From the internet and a network of neighbors, Traughber already knew his home was lost before coming up from Orange County. “I’m here for psychological reasons,” he said.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Retired Santa Ana firefighter Gary Summers stands on the deck of his Hamiliton Trail home in Live Oak Canyon.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Aerial support on the Santiago fire in Live Oak Canyon was a welcome relief to crews on the ground as they tried to get the upper hand on the 20,000 acre blaze that started Sunday evening.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

California Department of Forestry firefighters put out hot spots on Palomar Mountain.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Leo Calac passes an undamaged piece of Southwest Indian pottery to a family friend as he sifts through a lifetime of collected artifacts at his Rincon Reservation home. Calac’s home of 30 years was a total loss.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Calvin Culbertson, a maintenance worker, surveys the damage to a trailer that melted on the Rincon Indian Reservation.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Residents of Rancho Bernardo listen to a police officer explain when they will be allowed to return to the San Diego neighborhood. Portions of the area were reopened in the afternoon.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Caregiver Laurie Benson waits for word on the whereabouts of a Rancho Bernardo client who had been evacuated after her home was damaged in the fire.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A lone house stands unscathed on a charred mountaintop in Rancho Bernardo.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Ann Owens presents her husband, Jeff, with a tray of cinnamon buns and a small balloon on his birthday as they sift through the ashes of what’s left of their home on Horizon Court in Poway. They had just completed a $300,000 renovation.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Ten-year-old Katie Borg waits while her mother Judy and sister Kelsey ,15, pack the car. The Borgs decided to evacuate their Arrowbear home after a flare-up from the Slide fire jumped Highway 18 in front of their home.  (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)

Neighbors Connie James, left, and Clare Sadowski hug at the ruins of James’ home on Malibu Knolls Road in Malibu. With them are James’ husband, Bernie, and Sadowski’s companion, Joseph A. Broger, far right.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Rachel Whittemore, 17, looks at a child’s drawing left in the ruins of the Malibu Presbyterian Church nursery school. Rachel, who attended the preschool as a child, said she cried when she saw it burn down on television. Her mother said bringing Rachel to the ruins was important for her daughter to find “closure.”  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

At the San Bernardino Fairgrounds, David Sireika comforts his daughter Brianna, 9. Their home in Running Springs burned, and they are now staying with friends. They went to the evacuation center at the fairgrounds hoping to get assistance from FEMA.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Margaret Cedono fixes a hotdog at the San Bernardino Fairgrounds as her husband, Luis, 63, watches. The Cedonos’ home in San Bernardino suffered smoke damage, forcing them to leave.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Nancy Walery stands in the middle of her fire-ravaged home along Villa Loma Vista in Del Dios. in San Diego County. The Walery family evacuated on Monday and returned for the first time Wednesday to see what was left of their home.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Ken Walery salvages tools from his home in Del Dios.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Nancy and Ken Walery survey the ruins of their home in Del Dios.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The kitchen clock stopped at 12:42 p.m., in and around the time the Witch fire destroyed Jeff Owens home on Horizon Court in Poway.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A Poway firefighter returns to a gutted home he tried to save on Twisted Branch Road.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The Witch fire in northern San Diego County destroyed hundreds of homes, including these in Rancho Bernardo.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Tracy Michaelis hugs a neighbor outside the ruins of the Michaelis home in the Camp Plenty area of Canyon Country. The home was lost when the fire jumped from one house to another on the powerful Santa Ana winds. The family hopes to rebuild in the same location.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The Santiago fire burns through canyons in Orange County.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

A view looking south from Costa Mesa shows smoggy Irvine in the background.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Wildfire evacuee Kendra Heathman,15, wakes up with the sun -- and the family dog, Missy -- in the parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The Heathman family believes their home survived the wildfires.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteer coordinator Kirk McKeever, right, gives volunteers assignments at Qualcomm Stadium. Hundreds of volunteers are at the stadium to help people forced out of their homes by wildfires in San Diego County.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Standing on a tree stump, a fireman puts out hot spots in a residential area near Running Springs.  (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters in the San Bernardino Mountains do what they can as a house goes up in flames on Live Oak Road in Running Springs.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A Southern California Edison crew works to restore power in Running Springs.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A U.S. Forest Service firefighter is placed on a stretcher after he was injured while creating a fire containment line in Green Valley Lake.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters gather at the Running Springs Fire Station to discuss deployment strategy.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter surveys a flank of the Santiago fire, which has charred tens of thousands of acres in Orange County.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A mule deer makes its way through the canyon area scorched by the Santiago fire.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The Rincon Catholic Church, along with more than 50 other structures, was destroyed on the Rincon Indian Reservation in San Diego County.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Small pieces of a nativity scene lie in the ruins of Rincon Catholic Church.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The fire’s heat was intense enough to melt a brass lock at Rincon Catholic Church.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

A charred car is surrounded by smoldering homes along Elm Lane in Del Dios early this morning.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Smoke from the Witch fire in northern San Diego County shrouds Lake Hodges in Del Dios early this morning.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A television news crew lights up the rubble of a Running Springs home as smoky haze covers the area.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

A burned vehicle sits in the smoldering ash of a ruined home in Fredalba, near Lake Arrowhead.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

A melted record of haunted house sounds lies in front of a destroyed home in Fredalba, just south of Running Springs.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Rabbi Joseph Brod, left, runs to hug Chaim Cunin at the Chabad Kiryas Schneerson campus in Running Springs. The campus was surrounded by fire Tuesday night but survived.  (Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times)