In hills and canyons from Santa Barbara to San Diego, about 8,000 firefighters struggle against more than a dozen wildfires that have scorched at least 645 square miles, an area twice the size of New York City, in the past five days. Seven people have died and 2,327 structures have been destroyed or damaged as of late yesterday. Damages may top $1 billion and have forced almost a million people from their homes, the biggest evacuation in California’s history. There are 22,000 people in shelters across the region, thousands of them in San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. About 2,000 people are at an evacuation center at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
The four major fires that have burned the most homes are far from being controlled, according to the state’s Web site. In San Diego County, there is only 10 percent containment at the Harris Fire, which has burned 73,000 acres and 200 homes, and the Witch Fire that burned 196,420 acres and 645 homes. The Rice fire, which burned 7,500 acres and destroyed 206 homes, is 15 percent contained. Link
My good friend Arnold Christensen took these images night before last from his back yard in Mission Viejo. The fire was three or four miles from his home!
