Wildfires burn thousands of acres, force evacuation

CORONA, Calif. -- Southern California's first wildfires of the season burned homes and brushlands and forced thousands of people to evacuate on Tuesday, portending what could be an especially dangerous and costly summer.

A man was charged with negligently setting the largest blaze.

The fires burned through a total of more than 15,000 acres of grass and low-lying scrub parched by blistering spring heat that led the state to declare an earlier-than-usual start to the fire season on Monday. At least nine cottages and two mobile homes were reported destroyed.

"We've never been burned this bad before," said Dick Benjamin, 70, whose home in Riverside County was saved. "Fires are supposed to be in August and September, not May."

Nearly a dozen firefighters among the thousands on the job in Southern California were treated for injuries, including heat stroke and dehydration. At least two people fleeing a fire in the Los Padres National Forest were treated for injuries, including smoke inhalation and cuts and bruises.

The two biggest fires burned in Riverside County, an inland region east of Los Angeles. Fires also burned in San Diego County and up the coast in Santa Barbara County.

"Burning conditions are probably about what we'd expect in late June or July," said Rich Green, assistant deputy director of the California Forestry Department. "It's shaping up to be a very difficult year statewide."

A drought that has left vegetation tinder dry and an infestation of tree-killing bark beetles have set the stage for what could be a severe fire season.

Those conditions have been compounded by record-setting heat and thin budgets for fire departments.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein said 2004 could be one of the worst fire seasons ever, coming on the heels of a record series of wildfires that tore through Southern California last year, killing 22 people and burning 3,600 homes. Feinstein said recreational areas may have to be closed during the peak fire season.

"It's hardship for some, but on the other hand the worst hardship is to have one of these major firestorms in play," she told KNX-AM.

As many as 600 people were evacuated as a 9,000-acre fire in Riverside County between Corona and Lake Elsinore approached their homes. An additional 2,000 to 3,000 people may have left voluntarily, Forestry Department engineer Rick Griggs said.

Abraham Contreras said firefighters warned on Monday that flames from the largest fire were coming toward his home. He said he got in his tractor and cleared debris around his 33-acre property, but the fire burned everything except his and his neighbor's home.

"The fire can't come back -- everything's burned," he said.

A smaller, 4,000-acre fire in Riverside County, 10 miles south of an area that burned last fall, destroyed 13 structures, including two mobile homes, officials said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency made federal money available to firefighting agencies for the two Riverside County blazes.

Last month, a governor's review panel outlined a series of changes that could be made to better prevent and respond to wildfires such as the ones last fall.

Among the commission's recommendations were more training and improved equipment; quicker use of military aircraft; and reconsideration of the sunset deadline for launching firefighting aircraft.

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On the Net:

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov

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Associated Press writers Seth Hettena and Don Thompson contributed to this report.