ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago



SAN DIEGO - A merciful easing of the winds fueling Southern California's sprawling wildfires finally gave firefighters a chance to fight back against some blazes Wednesday, and weary residents could take solace in an overriding sign of hope: Just one person has died from the flames.


That contrasts to 22 dead from a fire of similar magnitude four years ago, and while the final toll has yet to be tallied from this week's fires, officials were crediting an automated, reverse 911 calling system that prompted the orderly evacuation of more than half a million people. That was 10 times the number evacuated four years ago.

"They are more determined that people leave," said Steve Levstik, who got his call 15 minutes before flames swept through his Rancho Bernardo neighborhood.

"It was very intense. On the call, it was like, 'This area, go! This area go!' In 2003 there was less guidance. It was like, 'Just pay attention to the news and if it looks bad, leave.'"

On Wednesday, winds dropped to 21 to 36 mph, considerably less than the fierce gusts of up to 100 mph that whipped fire zones earlier in the week.

The improving weather allowed for a greater aerial assault on the flames and helped firefighters beat back the most destructive blazes. Helicopters and air tankers dropped 30 to 35 loads of water on two fires that have burned hundreds of homes in the San Bernardino Mountains, near Lake Arrowhead.

"They're taking it down considerably," said Dennis Bouslaugh of the U.S. Forest Service.

Authorities said they had largely contained many of the fires north of San Diego, and all five fires in Los Angeles County were about 50 percent contained or more.

The death toll from the most recent blazes may rise as authorities return to neighborhoods where homes turned to piles of ash, but displaced homeowners and authorities were relieved that early reports were so low. The San Diego County medical examiner officially listed six deaths connected to the blazes, but he included five who died during the evacuation who were not directly killed by the fire. In 2003, all but a handful of the 22 dead succumbed to the flames.

Terry Dooley, who was ordered out of his home with his wife and three sons Monday, said authorities learned important lessons from Hurricane Katrina and the 2003 California fires that wiped out 3,640 homes and blackened 750,000 acres during a two-week period.

"They learned how to get things done more quickly," Dooley said as he waited at a roadblock Wednesday to return home to San Diego's upscale, densely populated Rancho Bernardo area.

In addition to the reverse-911 system, authorities also shut down schools, halted mail delivery and urged people to stay home if they were not in danger.

In 2003, only 50,000 people were evacuated in San Diego County. This week, more than 500,000 people were ordered to evacuate in San Diego County alone.

Unlike many of the poor neighborhoods flooded by Hurricane Katrina, the hardest-hit areas in California were filled with upscale homes, with easy access to wide streets. Less wealthy areas — including rural enclaves and horse farms that stretch through the mountains east of San Diego — benefited from easy road access and small crowds.

Despite Wednesday's progress, none of the six major blazes in San Diego County was more than 15 percent contained, and those fires threatened more than 8,500 houses. The top priority was a fire in San Bernardino County that threatened 6,000 homes and continued to rage out of control.

This week's fires have destroyed about 1,500 homes since Sunday and triggered the largest evacuation in California history. The flames have burned about 674 square miles, across five counties, from Ventura in the north all the way into Mexico.

Property damage has reached at least $1 billion in San Diego County alone, and President Bush signed a major disaster declaration for California. The president was scheduled to visit the region Thursday.

On Wednesday, about two dozen people gathered at a police barricade in Rancho Bernardo, which was one of the hardest-hit areas, hoping to retrieve medications and belongings — or simply to see if their homes were intact.

What awaited many was an apocalyptic scene: entire streets leveled, charred hulks of metal that once were cars sitting in driveways of homes with only chimneys left standing. House after house, 29 on one street alone, were reduced to piles of blackened concrete and twisted metal.

At one point, police officers lifted a barricade into the neighborhood only to turn residents away several hundred yards down the road at a second barricade. Some of the homeowners cursed at the officers.

"You let us in just to send us back out," one angry man yelled from his car.

Dooley knew his home was OK because his home answering machine still worked.

Six of San Diego County's 42 evacuation centers were full Wednesday but there was plenty space at Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL Chargers, where 10,000 people sought refuge. People rested on cots that lined covered walkways circling the bleachers and quietly watched television as National Guard troops watched. There were no bathroom lines.

Some displaced homeowners complained that the evacuations went too far.

Ron Morris, 68, saw smoke but no flames when he was ordered to leave a motor home park in Ramona, northeast of San Diego, Sunday night. He drove his home to Qualcomm Stadium's parking lot.

"It's good that everyone got out, but they did it too early in my opinion." he said.

Authorities made no apologies.

"One happy consequence" of the 2003 fires is that people remember that fire can be very unpredictable, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday in an interview.

"All but the most unlucky people can see the fire coming," he said. "There's no reason you should have loss of life, certainly for civilians."

The fires have burned 426,000 acres, or about 665 square miles, across five counties in Southern California, from Ventura in the north all the way into Mexico.

The only confirmed death from the flames was Thomas Varshock, 52, of Tecate, a town on the U.S. side of the border southeast of San Diego, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said. Authorities had told him to evacuate, but he didn't leave and authorities left to take care of other evacuations, the medical examiner's office said.

Firefighters returned to save two people trapped at his home Sunday but were unable to rescue Varshock, said Rick Hutchinson, a deputy incident commander for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Four firefighters were overcome by flames. One was in critical condition Wednesday; another was in serious condition.

Al Guerin, a San Diego County assistant sheriff, estimated only 100 to 200 people ignored evacuation orders. That included 20 people in the rural community of Jamul, near the Mexican border. Firefighters returned to save them.

Another 25 to 30 homeowners ignored orders Tuesday to leave unincorporated Deerhorn Valley southeast of San Diego, forcing firefighters to return to save them, Hutchinson said.

Homeowners who stayed behind knew firefighters were overwhelmed and figured their lives were safe, Guerin said.

"They say, 'Yeah, OK," and then they call you later and say 'Help! Help! Help!" he said.

Despite road blocks in the San Bernardino mountains, east of Los Angeles, some stayed behind.

"They don't want to lose their stuff," said Running Springs resident Don Rice. "And they get overconfident. We've all made it through a lot of fires."

___

Associated Press writers Gillian Flaccus, Allison Hoffman and Scott Lindlaw in San Diego, and AP National Writer Martha Mendoza in Running Springs, Calif., contributed to this report.

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