One person was killed and thousands were evacuated yesterday as a series of wind-driven wildfires swept across California, forcing firefighters onto the defensive as they scrambled to halt the flames. Nearly one year after a devastating firestorm that left eight people dead and gutted more than 2,000 homes, California's fire season returned with a vengeance as scattered fires broke out from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
The most serious incidents were twin blazes threatening homes in residential areas north of Los Angeles, where more than 1,000 firefighters were tackling flames bearing down on residential areas in the San Fernando Valley. At least 1,200 residents had been evacuated and dozens of mobile homes had been destroyed as hot desert gusts known as the Santa Ana winds whipped up a wall of flames, Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said.
The fires ripped through nearly 10,000 acres of tinder-dry brush and prompted authorities to issue mandatory evacuation orders for several neighbourhoods as well the closure of several schools. The California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the areas, urging residents to evacuate swiftly when asked. "Winds are causing fire conditions to change by the hour, which is why it is so important that residents in the areas surrounding these wildfires heed warnings from public safety officials to evacuate," he said.
Ed Winter, an official for the Los Angeles County Coroner's office, said the first fatality of the wildfires appeared to be a homeless man living in a wood and cardboard shelter beneath a freeway interchange. One longtime Porter Ranch resident who fled his home described smoke that was "so thick, you could cut it with a knife." "You couldn't breathe there," Randy Stalk told reporters. "It was horrible." The other fire threatening Los Angeles was blazing across 4,726 acres in the Angeles National Forest. Eight neighbourhoods had been issued with evacuation orders although officials were unable to say how many homes were affected.
*AFP
