Many Seek Aid as Several Small Fires Still Burn

State and federal firefighters Saturday were battling 96 relatively small fires that were ignited by lightning, most of them in Shasta and Trinity counties in Northern California, the U.S. Forest Service said.

Dorene Medina, a Forest Service spokeswoman in Redding, said that three of the fires had covered more than 20 acres. Most were reported in areas of rough terrain.

Meanwhile, most of the victims of recent brush and forest fires in five areas of the state have applied for state and federal disaster assistance, a disaster relief official said Saturday.

Disaster centers were opened last week in Los Angeles, San Diego, Los Gatos, Big Sur and King City after President Reagan declared that victims of the devastating fires would be eligible to seek government relief for uninsured losses.

By Saturday night, 410 people--including 122 victims of the July 2 Baldwin Hills fire--had applied for low-interest loans and grants, Verne Paule, a spokesman for the relief program, said.

Paule said state and federal officials had identified 350 residences damaged by fires in seven counties. Two additional disaster assistance centers--in Ojai and San Luis Obispo--will be open next week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, to process applications from victims of blazes in those communities, Paule said.

The additional relief applications may have come from individuals living just outside the immediate fire areas whose homes may have been damaged by smoke, Paule said.

Loans at interest rates of 4% or 8% were available to qualified applicants, as well as grants of $5,000 for replacement of clothing and other personal items that were not covered by insurance.