More residents return to San Bernardino

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- A second wave of residents displaced by Southern California's wildfires returned home Sunday as a weekend of cooler, calmer weather helped firefighters begin to get the upper hand.

As the threat began to diminish, authorities also sent home some of the thousands of firefighters who have been battling blazes scattered from San Diego County to the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Some evacuees got the go-ahead Saturday to check on their homes.

Among them were JoDee Ewing and her husband, Steve, who found little standing of their 1920s-era house but the stone chimney, the foundation and -- for some inexplicable reason -- their rose bushes.

"I still have roses blooming," said Ewing, 40. "But there's no toilets. They disintegrated."

The fire that started Oct. 25 just up the road from the Ewings' place, in Upper Waterman Canyon on the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest, consumed 91,285 acres. In the last week, that blaze and a half-dozen others across Southern California have burned about 750,000 acres, destroyed nearly 3,400 homes and killed 20 people.

In San Bernardino County, some firefighters were beginning to head to home, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Bob Narus, although he couldn't say exactly how many. In San Diego County, firefighters were expected to begin leaving after spending a few hours resting on Sunday morning, said California Department of Forestry spokeswoman Barb Daskoski.

Though fog, lower temperatures and even snow slowed the spreading flames, more than 12,000 firefighters were still on the lines early Sunday.

The fire that destroyed the Ewings' house came to a standstill Saturday, and firefighters allowed them and other homeowners to survey the damage. Residents of nearby Big Bear Valley were given the go-ahead to return Sunday.

"It's lying there right now not doing anything," Big Bear City Fire Chief Dana VanLuven said of the Old Fire, which was 72 percent contained Sunday. "The threat is still very real, but we are confident we can hold it off."

Not everyone was allowed home. Eligio Miglia, 51, lives in Crestline, an area particularly hard hit by the Old Fire.

Sunday, he pushed his grandmother Regina Fyffe, 80, in a wheelchair through the breakfast line at a San Bernardino shelter. They have been living in a mobile home with four other family members.

"They're saying it's going to be another week to get up there," said Miglia, who believes his home survived. "I'm happy we are safe, I'm satisfied we've got food. I'm hopeful we'll get up there soon."

Fyffe, however, was tired of being away from home.

"It's the worst," she said. "That's all I can say."

Authorities say an arsonist started that fire on Old Waterman Canyon Road, a winding two-lane leading from San Bernardino to Upper Waterman Canyon, a community of 66 homes and a seasonal fire station. All but eight of those homes and the fire station were destroyed.

Despite a reward of $110,000 and the distribution of a composite sketch, the arsonist has not been caught.

Firefighters across the region took advantage of the weather to build firebreaks near communities that could be threatened again next week with the expected return of hot Santa Ana winds. Firefighters near Sugarloaf burned piles of dead trees and dry brush.

"With this inclement weather, they feel they can burn that stuff safely, which will provide increased fire safety for communities later on this week when the wind and weather conditions are expected to change," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Anne Westling.

The weather has also brought drawbacks. Snow and rain that fell overnight Friday caused a mud and rock slide that closed Highway 18. One firefighter, part of a team that cuts down burnt trees, suffered a broken arm and leg when a large branch fell on him.

In San Diego County, the 281,000-acre Cedar Fire -- the largest individual blaze in California history -- was 90 percent contained Sunday after burning for six days in the mountains northeast of San Diego.

In all, six fires were still burning across four California counties.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who visited a relief center in Claremont on Saturday, said he was unsure if the nation had ever seen such destructive wildfires. The major blazes alone have cost more than $50 million to fight.

"We have our work cut out for us," Ridge said.

The secretary also defended a Bush administration decision not to declare Southern California forests an emergency tree-removal zone before the current fires erupted into one of the state's worst disasters.

Ridge, speaking with Gov. Gray Davis, said it was understandable that California asked for $430 million in emergency aid to rid forests of trees killed by bark beetles. But he said it was equally understandable that the Bush administration, after allocating $43 million, declined to provide any more.

"This finger-pointing is not going to do anybody any good anymore," Ridge said.

In Upper Waterman Canyon, Ewing and her neighbors donned gloves and sifted through the ashes of their homes, finding coins and an occasional undamaged piece of china.

Some, like Dr. Roger Smith, were incredibly lucky. The retired neurosurgeon returned to find two windows broken by the fire's heat but little other damage.

"Miraculous," the 81-year-old physician said.

The Ewings, although they lost practically everything, said they have no intention of leaving the area.

"Of course, you're sad that things are gone," said JoDee Ewing. "But it's a great place up here. We'll be back."

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Associated Press writers Chelsea J. Carter, Brian Skoloff and Justin Pritchard contributed to this story.