Voices

“It looks to me that they’ve got the situation well in hand. Pray for low winds.”

--Gov. Pete Wilson, after inspecting firefighting efforts in Ventura County.

*

“I wish I could get my hands on the bastard. I’d like to strangle him.”

--Wilson, on the arsonist suspected of starting the Thousand Oaks fire.

*

“When we hear a fire truck in this area, we cringe.”

--Barbara Kloster of Thousand Oaks.

*

“You hear about all the millionaires who have nine homes and one of them burns and they’re called homeless. Well, what happened to their gardeners, their maids? That’s who we are. We’re out.”

--Arnold Zamora, camping out in Thousand Oaks after fire destroyed the house where he and his wife lived and worked.

*

“The sooner people apply, the better.”

--Alex Newton of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, on obtaining disaster aid.

*

“Sometimes I’ve doubted my guardian angel. But he was on duty here last night.”

--Robert House, whose home in Carlisle Canyon survived the fire.

*

“Just last night I was watching all of this on TV thinking, ‘Geez, I’m glad I’m not there.’ ”

--Pete Anderson, a firefighter from Jack’s Valley, Nev., who was called in to battle the Thousand Oaks fire.