Southern California battles wildfires for second day

LOS ANGELES -- Southern Californians weathered a second straight day of devastation Saturday as wind-blasted wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes, shut down major freeways and forced thousands of residents in the path of flames to flee to safety.

A fire that ravaged the Sylmar community in the hillsides above Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley grew to 6,500 acres -- more than 10 square miles -- and was only 10 percent contained. It sent residents fleeing in the dark Saturday morning as notorious Santa Ana winds topping 75 mph torched cars, mobile homes and bone-dry brush.

"We have almost total devastation here in the mobile park," Los Angeles Fire Capt. Steve Ruda said. "I can't even read the street names because the street signs are melting."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles, a day after he did so to the northwest in Santa Barbara County, where 111 homes burned to the ground Thursday night in the wealthy, star-studded community of Montecito.

And as many as 30 homes burned in a fire in Orange and Riverside counties, officials said.

The Los Angeles blaze, whose cause was under investigation, threatened at least 1,000 structures, city fire department spokeswoman Melissa Kelley said. A burned resident was in serious condition, and four firefighters were treated for minor injuries.

Evacuation orders

Fire officials estimated 10,000 people were under orders to evacuate. Among them were residents of the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, where about 500 trailers were lost to the flames. Many had housed senior citizens.

At an evacuation center, Lucretia Romero, 65, wore a string of pearls and clutched the purse and jacket she snatched as firefighters shouted at them to flee hours earlier.

Her daughter, Alisa, 42, wore a bloodstained shirt and pants. A helicopter dropping water on their home caused the entryway ceiling to collapse. Debris scratched her forehead and gave her a black eye.

They were optimistic that their home of 30 years survived because firefighters were there when they left. But the family cat, Doris, was missing.

Lucretia Romero said she saw smoke above the hills beyond the front door and then, within an hour, saw that a canyon across from her home was red with flame.

"They would drop water, the water would squash the flames and then two minutes later the flames would come back," she said. Firefighters soon banged on the door and gave them 10 minutes to evacuate.

Flames swept across the park and scorched cypress trees, Ruda said. Firefighters had to flee, grabbing some residents and leaving hoses melted to the concrete.

Ruda produced a burned U.S. flag on a broken stick as a sign of hope and bravery for firefighters. "The home that this flag was flying from is gone," he said.

Hazardous winds

The Santa Anas -- dry winds that typically blow through Southern California between October and February -- tossed embers ahead of flames, jumping two interstate highways and sparking new flare-ups. Walls of flame raced up ridge lines covered in sun-baked brush and surrounded high-power transmission line towers.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said power lines were down in places, and he asked residents to conserve power to help avoid possible blackouts.

Shortly after midnight, fire burned to the edge of the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center campus, knocking out power and forcing officials to evacuate two dozen critical patients.

For residents of Sylmar, at the edge of the Angeles National Forest beneath the San Gabriel Mountains, the fire underscored the hazards that come with living close to nature when the dangerous winds fan catastrophic blazes. Residents of a nearby trailer park lost their homes in a fire a month ago.

"Near-hurricane winds made it very difficult for firefighters," Los Angeles deputy fire chief Mario Rueda said. "When they arrived [at the scene], it was very well developed into the forest."

The shifting winds caused the fire to move uphill toward the San Gabriel Mountains, downhill toward homes and sometimes skip across canyons. It also jumped across Interstates 5 and 210, forcing the California Highway Patrol to shut down portions of both freeways and some connecting roads.

Flying embers ignited spot fires, and firefighters patrolled the evacuated neighborhoods "making sure these small fires don't turn into big fires," Rueda said.

It has burned a portion of forest land, including habitat for the endangered California condor and several hiking trails, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea said.

A separate blaze chewed through expensive Orange and Riverside communities, burning as many as 30 homes as flying embers took a crazy-quilt path of destruction.

The flames erupted near a highway and quickly grew to at least 800 acres. Fierce, erratic winds pushed it into an adjoining subdivision where 5,000-square-foot homes are the norm.

A dozen buildings burned in the Riverside County town of Corona. Two city firefighters were slightly injured when the fast-moving flames swept over their fire engine, said Christy Romero, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Authority.

Northwest of Los Angeles, an 1,800-acre blaze that began Thursday night in the Santa Barbara community of Montecito forced the evacuation of more than 5,400 homes.

About 800 firefighters battled the blaze in the wealthy, celebrity-studded enclave, and they were expected to make significant progress through Saturday, said Santa Barbara city fire spokesman John Ahlman.

He said homes would not be in serious danger if the winds remained calm.

Several multimillion-dollar homes and a small Christian college were damaged in Montecito, a town of 14,000 that has attracted celebrities such as Rob Lowe, Jeff Bridges, Michael Douglas and Oprah Winfrey.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. At least 13 people were injured.

A 98-year-old man with medical problems died after being evacuated to a hotel, but it was unclear if his death was directly related to the blaze.

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Denise Petski, Alicia Chang, Bob Jablon and Daisy Nguyen in Los Angeles and Thomas Watkins and Amy Taxin in Montecito.