San Diego wildfires force mass evacuations, burn homes

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A huge fireball erupts as a structure burns on Coronado Hills Drive in San Marcos. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Steve Deck photographs a huge plume from the 8,000-acre Las Pulgas fire at Camp Pendleton. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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David Roberts surveys the ruins of his Escondido home, destroyed by the Cocos fire. Built with concrete and steel, it still could not withstand the relentless flames. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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News crews converge on a destroyed home on Mount Whitney Road in Escondido. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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A cracked and tilted wall is all that’s left of a burned-out home off Coronado Hills Drive in San Marcos. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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The front grille and bumper of an older Dodge pickup truck was melted by the heat of the fire in Escondido. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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The remains of a destroyed home stands out against the green trees and unscathed home in the background after the Cocos fire burned through the area in San Marcos. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Associate Pastor Mario Soto takes a moment Friday morning while looking for an antique bell in the rubble of Calvary Assembly church in Escondido. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Pastor Floyd Freeman leaves the front office after inspecting the destruction Friday morning at the Calvary Assembly church. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A home smolders on Mount Whitney Road in Escondido as the Cocos fire continues to burn. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Jeff Brown looks over the smoldering ruins of his grandmother’s home on Mount Whitney Road in Escondido. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Calvary Assembly Church on Cedar Street in downtown Escondido is engulfed in flames. Crews battling wildfires in the area saw their resources stretched further by the church fire. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Red smoke fills the air as flames engulf the Calvary Assembly Church Cedar Street in Escondido. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Smoke fills the air as flames engulf Calvary Assembly Church in Escondido. Officials have said that no structures within the city have been damaged by a brush fire. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters retreat from heat and flames as a propane tank explodes behind a residence on Country Club Drive in Escondido. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters hose off the smoldering ruins of a home along Country Club Drive in Escondido. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Thick smoke nearly obscures the sun above San Marcos, where the wildfire continues to burn. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Hose spewing, a firefighter tries to keep the flames from reaching a home on Country Club Drive in Escondido. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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It’s a wall of orange as flames envelope a residence on Country Club Drive in Escondido. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighter puts out hot spots at a burned home in San Marcos. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Raging fire threatens structures in San Marcos as the wind picks up Thursday afternoon. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Smoke billows above the Cal State San Marcos campus as water-dropping helicopters battle the Cocos fire. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Jeff Brown watches as his grandmother’s house burns to the ground in the Cocos fire off Mt. Whitney Road in Escondido. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighter walks near a blaze in San Marcos. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Fire consumes a hillside above La Moree Road in San Marcos as crews continue to battle the Cocos fire. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Joe Oliver talks on his cell phone as flames approach his home in Escondido. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Gregory Saska, 63, surveys his destroyed home in the 1700 block of Skimmer Court in Carlsbad. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A home goes up in flames along Country Club Drive in Escondido. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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James Harkins, 72, uses a garden hose to fight flames racing up a hillside toward his home in San Marcos. Harkins, who refused to evacuate, said he didn’t want to let his house burn. “No, no, no,” he said. “Not without a fight.” (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Robert and Sophie Payne, left, and son Bronson visit their home destroyed in wildfire on Black Rail Road in Carlsbad. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Anya Bannasch looks at her parents home destroyed in wildfire on Black Rail Road in Carlsbad. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters battle flames as fires continue to burn in San Marcos. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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A house burns above Coronado Hills area in San Marcos. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighting airplane drops fire retardant on burning brush along Crestwind Spur Road in San Marcos. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Hot spots continue to burn beside a charred vehicle along Crestwind Spur Road in San Marcos. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A charred sign sits beside a driveway in San Marcos, where the Cocos fire continues to burn. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Gilbert Cope surveys a destroyed home in the 1700 block of Skimmer Court in Carlsbad. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A wildfire burns in San Marcos as the moon rises in a smoky sky as seen from Carlsbad. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A hillside burns Wednesday night in San Marcos as seen from Coronada Hills Drive. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Cal Fire firefighters wait for more water as they battle a large wildfire threatening homes in the Coronado Hills neighborhood of San Marcos on Wednesday night. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Flames send up clouds of smoke around San Marcos. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Fire burns around San Marcos, one of several locations where blazes were being fought on a hot and windy day. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Fires burn early Thursday around San Marcos near Bresa de Loma Drive. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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An L.A. firefighter walks through thick smoke as he monitors a wildfire threatening homes in the Coronado Hills neighborhood of San Marcos. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Cal Fire crews battle a wildfire Wednesday in the Deer Springs area east of Fallbrook. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Fires burn around San Marcos early Thursday. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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An airplane makes a fire retardant drop on a burning hill near in a fire that burned nearly 2,000 acres in northern San Diego County in May 2014. A 14-year-old girl convicted of starting the fire was sentenced Wednesday to 400 hours of community service.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Sophie Payne walks past what is left of her home on Black Rail Road after it was destroyed in the Poinsettia wildfire on May 14, 2014 in Carlsbad, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighting helicopter drops water on a commercial building engulfed in flames. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A heavy plume of smoke fills the sky as fire burns around San Marcos. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Sophie Payne,left, and her daughter Anya Bannasch react as the family dog Rocky is found in the ruble of her burned home on Black Rail Road in the Carlsbad area. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Flames surround a large hilltop home near Cal State San Marcos that caught fire. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Bronson Payne carries his dog, Rocky, to safety as his sister, Anya Bannasch, watches. Rocky was found hiding in the back of his burned home on Black Rail Road after it was destroyed in the Poinsettia wildfire on Wednesday in Carlsbad. An industrial blaze sparked by the wildfire burns in the background. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A wildfire approaches homes Wednesday afternoon in San Marcos. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Fire burns above the hills in San Marcos. Multiple brush fires are burning in the San Diego area. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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San Diego County sheriff’s deputies monitor traffic in San Marcos as a wildfire burns along the hillsides on Wednesday. Multiple fires across Southern California damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A wildfire burns along the hillsides on Wednesday in San Marcos. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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An airplane makes a fire retardant drop around a large Coronado Hills home in the San Marcos area. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters pour water onto the Ambrosia apartment complex to keep flames from spreading to other structures. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A wildfire burns out of control in the Deer Springs area east of Fallbrook. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

By Tony Perry

May 14, 2014 5 PM PT

Reporting From San Diego —

A new wildfire in San Diego County forced the evacuation of Cal State San Marcos Wednesday as crews battled a series of other blazes that had taxed firefighting resources to the point where officials declared a local emergency.

The university, which has an enrollment of more than 10,000 students, was in the middle of administering spring finals when the evacuation order was issued as the fire in the hills south of the campus advanced closer.

Dubbed the Twin Oaks fire, the blaze quickly spread to 20 acres near Lake Hodges, prompting evacuation orders for North San Elijo, Discovery and Coronado Hills.

In Carlsbad, where 30 homes were burned by the wind-driven Poinsettia fire, the number of evacuation orders had increased to 15,000.

Several other fires, including in Fallbrook, Camp Pendleton and Rancho Bernardino, prompted their own evacuations as agencies from other jurisdictions sent resources to aid in the fight.

The burden on local firefighting resources prompted San Diego County to declare an emergency, and called on Gov. Jerry Brown to free up greater access to assistance.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said his agency was coordinating with the military to help battle fires in Carlsbad and Fallbrook, adding that about 120 deputies were helping fight fires.

Evacuations were in effect for wildfires in Bonsall, Fallbrook, Camp Pendleton and Carlsbad. Fires were also being fanned in Rancho Bernardo, Oceanside and Escondido Wednesday afternoon.

Elsewhere, crews were also fighting fires in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

More than 100 firefighters responded to a brush fire that broke out at 1:13 p.m. in an agricultural area west of Santa Paula, forcing the temporary closure of California 126 between Peck and Wells roads.

Firefighters on Wednesday had increased containment of the 600-acre Miguelito fire in Santa Barbara County to 50%.

A mobile home park in Anaheim was also briefly evacuated due to a nearby brush fire that closed the 91 Freeway in both directions.