California Fires

[Soldier4Christ]

No need to fear that here. There are many that are of like mind on that.

[Littleboy]

hi Pastor,
I could'nt have said it better...
Let's not forget Hollywood & Mainstream Media,
The Dems. launching pad for success!
As long as people are willing to just take someones word as is (cnn,msnbc,cbs,abc,nbc)
We'll have people that will follow them where ever they say!
I like to decide after hearing both sides,Fair & Ballanced!

[Shammu]

AND, the baboons would cause the morals, ethics, and IQ to double.   

*SPEW*

Thanks brother, I need to clean my monitor now.

[Shammu]

Rain showers ease wildfire conditions

By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago

LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. - Firefighters battled stubborn wildfires across Southern California on Saturday, but scattered showers brought a welcome improvement in conditions.
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Tropical moisture flowing from the south replaced the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that roared in a week earlier and spread fires over more than a half-million acres, destroying more than 2,300 structures, including 1,700 homes.

The number of deaths directly attributed to the fires officially rose to seven. Officials confirmed that the flames killed four suspected illegal immigrants whose charred bodies were found near the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, said Jose Alvarez, a public information officer for San Diego County emergency services. Identification of the victims was continuing.

Although more than a dozen blazes were surrounded, containment of nine other blazes ranged from 97 percent to just 25 percent. More than 21,000 structures were considered threatened, and more than 15,000 firefighters were on the lines, the state Office of Emergency Services said.

"It's very overcast right now, no wind. Low humidity, about 30 percent. They're talking about rain," said Audrey Hagen, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in San Diego.

Active fires burned in the Lake Arrowhead resort region of the towering San Bernardino Mountains 100 miles east of Los Angeles, and in rugged wilderness above isolated canyon communities of Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles. A big blaze 60 miles northeast of San Diego stopped its advance toward the mountain town of Julian.

One home burned Saturday morning in Arrowbear, east of Lake Arrowhead, after power was restored in the area and an electrical fire erupted in the residence, said Mike Huddleston, an investigation supervisor with the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

A wildfire was about a mile from thousands of homes in Arrowbear, Green Valley Lake and Running Springs. Rain began falling in the mountain range during the late afternoon.

"The fire is moving away from the residences, but with the wind anything can happen," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Lisa Jones.

Forecasters said there would be some a weak flow of wind out of the north and northwest on Sunday and then a return to calm and drizzle.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a news conference that he would work to improve problems in the state's deployment of firefighting aircraft when major wildfires erupt. The Associated Press reported Thursday that nearly two dozen military helicopters stayed grounded for days after several wildfires broke out because state personnel who must be on board were not immediately available.

Two of the California National Guard's C-130 cargo planes also couldn't help because they've yet to be outfitted with tanks needed to carry thousands of gallons of fire retardant, though that was promised four years ago.

"There are things that we could improve on and I think this is what we are going to do because a disaster like this ... in the end is a good vehicle, a motivator for everyone to come together," Schwarzenegger said. "I remember after Katrina, as sad as it is, but it takes sometimes a disaster like this to really wake everyone up and affect things."

In Southern California fire areas, about 4,400 people remained in 28 shelter sites, but others waited out the fires in makeshift encampments.

In Highland, at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains, about 20 people were in their sixth day of living in a Wal-Mart parking lot, getting daily visits from sheriff's officials who reported their 17 homes were still intact.

"What are the chances of that? The hundreds of people staying at the shelters, I still don't think they have the comfort of knowing that kind of information," said Robert Newbourgh, 44.

Light rain also fell on the Rancho Bernardo section of San Diego, where more than 360 homes were lost. National Guard troops patrolled and postal trucks delivered mail to homes that were still standing.

"Everybody is really happy for me and I'm sad for them," said Helena Hyman, a retired school administrator whose cul-de-sac home survived with five ruined homes on each side. She credited her good fortune to replacing wood shingles with a fiberglass roof and chopping down a eucalyptus tree within the last five years.

Bruce Heinemann, 48, spoke with an insurance adjuster as friends sifted through his ruined home, looking for his wife's wedding ring, photos and other mementos.

Meanwhile, his daughter was at a newly rented home making lists of what they lost, and his wife was visiting department stores to get prices for the insurers.

"The kind of mode you're in is, what do you do today? What do you do tomorrow? Just make a list and get it done," he said.

The Heinemanns had about 10 minutes to evacuate Monday morning, just enough time to escape with some clothes and three of their four cars.

Heinemann, a self-employed loan officer, said it makes financial sense to rebuild, but they may never return to live on the street where the fire left hopscotch destruction — some of the Spanish-style, tile-roofed homes left standing, while others were turned to ash, leaving burned-out cars, chimneys and remnants of refrigerators and washing machines.

"It sounds terrible, but I'm glad it's gone. How would you like to sit in your house when one third of your neighbors are gone?" he said.

Elsewhere in the community, mortgage broker Mike Bartholemew, 37, removed rotten food from his refrigerator as he waited for cleaners to vacuum soot from inside his home, which survived the flames.

Bartholemew said returning home stirred memories of the frightening experience as flames advanced toward his home at 4 a.m. Monday. He said he opened his front door to "a bellowing furnace, smoke and embers" as a palm tree across the street burned and neighbors screamed.

Bartholemew said his wife and two children fled in an SUV and he left in another car, but he fell unconscious for unknown reasons and crashed into a utility box. He said a police officer rescued him.

"I have never in my life been that scared. I kept repeating to myself, 'Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic.' The fact that no one died in this neighborhood is a miracle," he said.

Bartholemew said it was eerie to be surrounded by ruined homes but he was anxious to come back home as soon as electricity was restored.

"I don't know where I would move in San Diego with these dry Santa Ana conditions we get," he said. "I could move to Indiana, but they have tornadoes and floods. Everywhere you go in the country you get something. Here we have earthquakes and fires."

Rain showers ease wildfire conditions

[Soldier4Christ]

Terror plotters urged setting fires in U.S.
Jihadist bulletin boards advocated arson before California blazes

While websites frequented by jihadis have been ablaze with claims of responsibility for setting the California wildfires, terror leaders also urged arson attacks as a tactic last summer, according to a new report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

In July, a post was made to numerous jihadist boards and then spread to a number of blogs citing a previously issued fatwa authorizing the setting of forest fires as a weapon of jihad. The post began "this is an invitation to the Muslims of Europe and America, Australia and Russia to burn forests." It went on to state the justification under Islamic Sharia law for this action and to cite its benefits for jihadists.

The post, revealed in G2 Bulletin's report, cites an undated video that shows Abu Mus'ab al Suri, author of "Call to Global Islamic Resistance" and advocate of the doctrine of individual terrorism, discussing the benefits to the jihad of setting forest fires.

Last year, the report points out, Maj. Robert Arthur Baird of the U.S. Marine Corps wrote in the May 2006 issue of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism: "The United States is at significant risk of a future pyro-terrorist attack – when terrorists unleash the latent energy in the nation's forests to achieve the effect of a weapon of mass destruction – the threat, must be defined America's vulnerabilities understood and action taken to mitigate this danger to the United States."

In his master's thesis, Major Baird also discusses arson as a terror tactic and sees it as a very real risk: "Instead of using expensive, complex and readily detectable nuclear or radiological bombs, a terrorist could easily ignite several massive wildfires to severely damage regional economies, impact military and firefighting forces and terrorize the American people."

He goes on to state that a terrorist has the potential to "unleash multiple fires creating a conflagration potentially equal to a multi-megaton nuclear weapon."

Is that what has happened this year?

California authorities have confirmed some of the wildfires were set deliberately, and a terror watch organization says the circumstances match terror plans the FBI alerted law enforcement to several years ago.

"In 2003 an FBI memo alerted law enforcement agencies that an al-Qaida terrorist being held in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States," the National Terror Alert Response Center warned.

"It was reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country," the advisory continued. "The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies."

WND reported in 2004 that an Arabic-language jihadi website also posted a message purporting to be "al-Qaida's plan of economic attack" on the U.S. that including proposals to turn the nation's forests into raging infernos. The National Terror Alert Response Center report said, "We are NOT implying that the California fires are an act of terrorism; however, the threat of pyro-terrorist attacks pose a significant risk to the U.S. and the fires in California and Greece earlier this year should be a wake-up call."

Less than two months ago, between four and five dozen people were killed and scores more hospitalized with serious injuries as a result of wildfires in portions of Greece. Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis expressed his suspicions.

"So many fires sparked simultaneously in so many places is no coincidence," he said when the blazes erupted.

And Terror Watch notes a top prosecutor in Greece now has begun investigating whether the arsons were, in fact, terrorism.

Dimitris Papangelopoulos said the investigation will determine "whether the crimes of arsonists and of arson attacks on forests" should be prosecuted under the nation's anti-terrorism law.

Arab terrorists in Israel have started dozens of major forest fires over the years.

As far back as 1988, Israeli police caught more than a dozen Palestinian adults in the act of setting fires, while other Arabs confessed to arson after arrest. Some fires followed specific calls by underground Arab terrorists. A leaflet issued by the Palestinian uprising's underground leadership called for "the destruction and burning of the enemy's properties, industry and agriculture."

[Soldier4Christ]

2,007 homes lost in 2007 California fires
Destruction of dwellings ironically matches present year

Some Southland residents turn to worship and cleanup, as authorities say they are gaining the upper hand on remaining fires.


The series of firestorms that laid siege to large swaths of Southern California over the last week had been mostly tamed by Sunday, as residents turned to worship and cleanup, and firefighters appeared to be corralling the few remaining blazes.

Evacuation orders throughout the region had largely been lifted by noon Sunday. In the seven Southern California counties affected by the fires, 1,454 people remained in public shelters that had held well over 20,000 only days before.

 By nightfall, three more fires had been contained, and firefighters said they had all but contained one more.

Optimism over improving conditions was tinged, nonetheless, with caution: Three fires were only two-thirds to three-fourths contained by Sunday night, and 2,007 homes had been lost.

"We've turned a corner here," said Frank McCarton, chief deputy director in the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. "But we have a long road for recovery, and we need to focus on that now."

Throughout the region, fire victims and their neighbors turned to the job of recovery, some starting with spiritual renewal as congregants of Malibu Presbyterian Church gathered Sunday at the Malibu Performing Arts Center -- down the hill from where their 50-year-old church lay in ruins -- and a small group of evacuees took part in services at Del Mar Racetrack and Fairgrounds, which is being used as a shelter.

At Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Chargers fans filled the stands where fire victims had sat only days before.

In neighborhoods throughout the region, residents ventured home, some finding little more than ashes and others learning to their amazement that their precious belongings had been spared.

"We are on to the recovery stage," said Michelle Sheffler, 41, who lost her home in San Diego's Rancho Bernardo community. "I see people moving forward."

Still, firefighters and others cautioned that the long battle was not yet over. The Santiago fire in Orange County was 65% contained as of Sunday night and was not expected to be fully surrounded until Friday. The Harris fire in San Diego County was 70% contained and was expected to be encircled by Wednesday.

It will take months or even years to rebuild the homes, businesses and the Malibu church that succumbed to the 35 fires that swept through seven counties.

Bill Peters, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said that if high winds return, the fires could flare up again.

"We definitely are closing in on it," he said. "The bulk of the fires are fully contained or near containment, unless we get some adverse weather to kick us back into active fire."

The most destructive of the blazes, San Diego County's Witch fire, had been 90% contained -- after destroying 1,040 homes and 30 businesses and killing two people.

The Rice fire near Fallbrook -- 206 homes destroyed -- and the Horno/Ammo fire at Camp Pendleton were fully contained Sunday, officials said, as was the Ranch fire in northern Los Angeles County -- the first of the fires.

Similarly, San Bernardino County's Grass Valley fire, which claimed 174 homes, and Slide fire, which took 200 homes, were nearing total containment.

More work

Significant work remained to gain control of the Santiago fire in eastern Orange County and the Poomacha fire in northeastern San Diego County. But both were more than 50% contained and neither posed an immediate threat to homes or businesses.

The series of blazes, which once stretched from Ventura County to south of the U.S.-Mexico border, will go down as among the most destructive in recent California history. The fires destroyed 2,813 structures. They charred 518,489 acres -- an area more than double the size of New York City -- while killing seven people and injuring 113 firefighters and 26 civilians.

Only two recent fire disasters have taken a heavier toll: the 2003 firestorm that destroyed 3,500 homes while striking many of the same mountain communities and the 1991 Oakland hills fire, which took about 3,000 homes.

Most fire victims had returned home by Sunday. Red Cross officials announced that they had closed 14 of 20 shelters.

The number of evacuees housed in public shelters throughout the seven-county region had dipped to 1,454, said Greg Renick, spokesman for the Office of Emergency Services.

Symbolic of the shift was San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, which last week had housed up to 13,000 of the displaced, but which Sunday again became the home of professional football's San Diego Chargers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened the game with the coin flip and then thanked the emergency workers in attendance.

Firefighters led the hometown Chargers onto the field, where they proceeded to drub the Houston Texans, 35-10.

During the game, Schwarzenegger went to the private box of Chargers owner Dean Spanos to phone President Bush, according to a spokesman.

The governor reportedly thanked the president for coming to California to tour fire-ravaged areas, but then repeatedly stressed the importance of "follow-through" on the part of the federal government.

Fans were in a celebratory mood. At tailgate parties on the stadium grounds, fans enjoyed the smell of barbecue -- even if it was mixed with the lingering odor of burning brush. They toted signs -- "Can't Burn our Spirit" and "Thank you, First Responders, God Bless" -- and lustily cheered the many emergency workers who attended the game.

"It's awesome," said Angel Gomez, 38, of Rancho Penasquitos, who watched the game at the Del Mar fairgrounds shelter. "What else do we have to bring everyone together except the Chargers, the firefighters and the great community?"

The army of personnel and equipment brought to Southern California during the onslaught is only now on the verge of returning to home bases as far away as Seattle and New Mexico. As of Sunday, 13,135 firefighters and other emergency workers remained in the field, staffing 1,477 engines.

Nearly 2,000 of the firefighters continued to battle the Santiago fire in the extremely dense brush of the Cleveland National Forest.

Crews used 18 bulldozers, as well as hand tools, as they began cutting 10 miles of new firebreak around a blaze that had blackened more than 28,000 acres. It was 65% contained late Sunday.

Eight air tankers and 13 helicopters aided the ground crews.

"It's a contingency plan," said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Stephen Miller, "in case things go south on us."

Humidity climbing

Gone, however, were the low humidity and wind gusts of 70 miles per hour and more that bedeviled mountain and canyon areas last week. The National Weather Service said that humidity could climb as high as 70% in coming days and that a bit of drizzle could even fall on the region.

The forecast for next weekend looks more problematic, with the return of gusty winds, but probably not as strong as those that pushed the fires beyond control.

The decreasing threat meant that many San Bernardino Mountain communities reopened Sunday, including Twin Peaks, Rimforest, Blue Jay, Agua Fria, Deer Lodge Park, Sky Forest and Cedar Glen.

Dawn King, 52, upon returning with her husband, Kent, 46, to the second home they have been renovating in Rimforest, was overjoyed that "we never saw one bit of charring of anything. There wasn't even a smell of smoke. It was like nothing ever happened. I thought, 'Thank God, everything is OK. Thank God.' "

But others -- including San Bernardino County residents and people who live near the Santiago fire -- would have to wait until today, at the earliest, to get permission to go back home.

Orange County officials said they had to complete assessments before they would give the "all clear" for Silverado Canyon, with its 750 homes and surrounding neighborhoods.

Amid the progress, people tried to deal with the trauma of the last week.

Congregants of Malibu Presbyterian Church, undaunted by last week's Canyon fire that destroyed their house of worship, gathered Sunday at the Malibu Performing Arts Center.

"It feels good to be back, but it's not the place we're used to," the Rev. Greg Hughes said as he prepared to lead the service.

Before the service, Mike Rupp, 46, tiptoed through the charred remains of the old church, near Pepperdine University.

Rupp said he was married in the church and his two children were baptized there.

"This was a really cool place, and it will be again," Rupp said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Tax relief offered for wildfire victims
IRS commish says meeting deadline is 'last thing they should worry about'

The Internal Revenue Service on Monday gave residents of California counties hit by wildfires extra time to file tax returns.

The tax agency said those affected by the fires will have until Jan. 31, 2008, to file returns and pay taxes on items due on or after Oct. 21, when the fires began. Those items include the federal withholding tax return, Form 941, normally due Oct. 31, and the estimated tax payment for the fourth quarter, normally due Jan. 15.

Taxpayers in seven counties covered by a presidential disaster declaration are eligible for the delay. They are Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties

Certain penalty deposits due between Oct. 21 and Nov. 5 will also be waived as long as the deposits are made by Nov. 5.

"As California taxpayers start the recovery process, the last thing they should worry about is meeting a tax deadline," said acting IRS commissioner Linda Stiff.

The IRS said its computers identify taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and apply automatic filing and payment relief.

It said that taxpayers in the disaster area also have the option of claiming disaster-related casualty losses on their federal income tax return for either this year or last year.

[Littleboy]

Next is the Mud-slides!
This happens almost every year and the tax payers bail them out...

[Soldier4Christ]

Yes, the mudslides  ...  where is the wisdom, the intelligense, in building super highly expensive homes on soft dirt or sand cliffs. The taxpayers should not be stuck with footing the replacement of them. It is ridiculous.

Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

[Soldier4Christ]

Officials: Boy With Matches Started Fire

Officials blamed a wildfire that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week on a boy playing with matches, and said they would ask a prosecutor to consider the case.

The boy, whose name and age were not released, admitted to sparking the fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday. Ferocious winds helped it quickly spread.

"He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," Hecht said in a statement.

The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said. It was not clear if he had been arrested or cited by detectives.

The fire began in an area near Agua Dulce and quickly spread. It was among 15 or so major wildfires that killed 14 people, destroyed some 2,100 homes and blackened 809 square miles from Los Angeles to the Mexican border last week.

Authorities arrested five people for arson during that period, but none have been linked to any of the major blazes.

All but four of the blazes are now fully contained. Firefighters on Wednesday continued to cut lines around the remaining fires and kept a close eye on the weather.

Forecasters have said moderate Santa Ana winds could pick up later in the week.

Investigators have blamed an arsonist for setting a destructive wildfire in Orange County that blackened 28,500 acres and destroyed 16 homes.

Authorities were seeking the driver of a white Ford F-150 pickup truck spotted in a canyon area around the time the fire broke out. They said they wanted to talk to the driver, but stopped short of calling the person a suspect.

Officials offered a $285,000 reward to anyone with information that will lead to an arrest and conviction.

[Soldier4Christ]

California firefighters brace for return of winds 
Crews, airplanes still on site – mobilized for expected change in weather

Applying lessons learned just a week ago, Southern California is lining up fire crews and aircraft to get a jump on wildfires if the hot, dry Santa Ana winds expected to return this weekend cause major flare-ups.

None of more than two dozen air tankers and military helicopters that arrived from around the country to fight last month's blazes are returning to their home bases, said Francis Solich, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF).

"If anything breaks loose, they'll be here," Solich said Friday.

The state also has 75 "strike teams" of fire engines spread throughout Southern California, Solich said.

Also Friday, Marines began training with state firefighters at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, and will be available to join firefighting efforts this weekend if needed.

"We are training them on how to work in our airspace. The Marines are great pilots, but they don't have any experience in how we fight fires," said CDF Capt. Matt Streck.

When more than 15 fires began breaking out across Southern California two weeks ago, it took more than 24 hours for nearly two dozen firefighting helicopters to get into the air.

By the time aircraft began arriving in large numbers, the winds were gusting at 100 mph or more in some areas, making it too dangerous to use them for firefighting.

State officials initially said the winds were to blame for the slow airborne response to the fires. That version of events was later challenged by San Diego-area congressmen, some local fire officials and by government records that show it was bureaucracy that kept many aircraft grounded.

[Soldier4Christ]

Christians sweep up
California fire mess
Pastor: 'We have been housing
animals, pets, feeding people'

News about the widespread California wildfire have faded from the headlines, but Christian organisations and churches remain behind to help clean up the overwhelming destruction left by the fires.

Christian relief groups and local churches were some of the first to respond to the wildfires that ravaged southern California last week. Workers prepared meals and drinks for firefighters and evacuated locals. They provided counseling and comfort to distressed victims who fled their homes leaving everything behind except the clothes they had on.

At one point up to a million people were estimated to have been evacuated.

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee’s Disaster Response Services (CRWRC-DRS) said it was holding a house-to-house needs assessment and reconstruction response among 1,800 homes and businesses that were destroyed. The church relief group is in contact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the American Red Cross and other agencies to plan to assist homeowners.

“With church groups from other parts of the country ready to assist, we are coordinating possible follow-up work with evacuees to help assess their losses, their eligibility for aid, and their available resources,” said CRWRC-DRS director Bill Adams.

They plan to focus on the most vulnerable survivors – those without insurance, the elderly, handicapped, and those surviving below the poverty line.

CRWRC-DRS also rebuilt homes in low-income neighbourhoods in the East hills near San Diego after wildfires in 2003.

International Christian relief and development agency World Vision is also working among survivors. It is distributing household basics to area families including bottled water, face masks, bedding and blankets, clothing, personal hygiene products, diapers and baby food, ground coffee and cleaning supplies.

World Vision will distribute the goods to local churches and community organisations who will in turn distribute them to evacuees.

Corporations who have donated supplies to World Vision’s California fire effort include Cardinal Health, Cypress Medical, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, KIDS and others to amount to an estimated $2 million worth in product.

“It will take time for life to return to normal here,” said Jo Carcedo, World Vision’s area director for Southern California.

“World Vision is especially concerned about families whose homes have been completely destroyed, who didn’t have insurance, who may have lost their jobs or who were already struggling financially,” Carcedo said. “We’ll continue working closely with our church partners in affected communities to make sure these families receive the support they need to get back on their feet.”

Saddleback Valley Community Church has also pitched in to help provide food, housing, comfort and counseling to victims.

“It's been a busy, busy week," Saddleback senior pastor Rick Warren said on CNN's "Larry King Live" show last week. The 128-acre campus served as an evacuation centre for refugees and as a “refreshment centre” for about 500 firefighters.

“We have been housing animals, pets, feeding people,” noted Warren.

The megachurch pastor said more than 600 people from his church’s college ministry went into the hardest-hit areas of San Diego to pray, clean up and offered help.

In total, there were 23 wildfires in Southern California which was blamed for at least 14 deaths, more than 508,000 scorched acres, and the destruction of over 1,600 homes.

[Littleboy]

AMEN Pastor,
GO Christians, Show your LOVE!!!!
I Praise God for groups such as these....
Angels in Heaven are watching and Praising God for What you are doing!
Halliluja, Glory BE to GOD!
Your Loving Brother Duane

[Soldier4Christ]

Again California Wildfire Spurs Evacuation of 10,000 People

A California wildfire, fanned by Santa Ana winds acting as ``a blowtorch with a hairdryer behind it,'' forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people near Malibu, said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Sam Padilla.

The winds were gusting at 70 miles (112 kilometers) an hour, Padilla said. More than 1,700 firefighters are battling the blaze, which started at 3:27 a.m. local time, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman. At least 35 homes were destroyed and more than 2,200 acres (890 hectares) were burning, he said.

The fire is shifting in a northwest direction and may subside as the gusts die down. ``There are some silver linings as we stand here today,'' Malibu Mayor Jeff Jennings said in a televised news conference. ``The winds are giving firefighters a chance to hammer the fire and bring it under control.''

Last month, wildfires burned more than 517,000 acres over two weeks in an area from Los Angeles to San Diego, which included Malibu. As many as 1 million people were forced to flee their homes and more than 2,000 structures were destroyed.

Jennings said no one has died, though five firefighters have sustained minor injuries fighting today's blaze.

Pepperdine

Today's fire started in the Mesa Peak Mountain-Corral Canyon area ``off a paved highway,'' Freeman said. Arson investigators were at the site.

Embers were being carried by the winds as far as one mile, igniting homes, Padilla said. Twenty-three aircraft were deployed, including helicopters that were dipping into backyard swimming pools to scoop up water to fight the flames.

As the fire neared the Pacific Coast Highway, firefighters were attempting to protect the structures from flames, Freeman said.

Surrounding areas are contributing personnel and equipment to help fight the blaze.

``The City of Los Angeles is committed to providing whatever assistance is necessary to fight this fire,'' Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in an e-mailed statement.

Pepperdine University ordered the relocation of certain Malibu campus residents, according to its Web site. Some students and faculty had left the campus for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, leaving fewer than 2,000 people on the premises, spokesman Jerry Derloshon said in a broadcast interview.

The October fires may cost insurers $900 million to $1.6 billion, according to an estimate from Risk Management Solutions, a catastrophe modeling firm based in Newark, California.

[Soldier4Christ]

Voracious Malibu Fire Claims 35 Homes, Forces 14,000 Evacuations
Officials: Blaze 25 Percent Contained, More Than 17,000 Firefighters Battling Blaze

A fast-moving wildfire pushed by Santa Ana winds raced through the canyons and mountains of this wealthy enclave for the second time in little more than a month Saturday, destroying more than 30 homes and forcing as many as 14,000 residents to flee.

The fire erupted shortly before 3:30 a.m. after the long-predicted Santa Anas finally returned, and it quickly grew before the winds died down. By midafternoon it was estimated at 4,500 acres, or about 7 square miles, with 25 percent containment.

"Waking up at 4 in the morning with the smell of smoke in your nose and the wind beating at the windows is something that we learn to live with here, but it always comes as something of a shock," said Mayor Jeff Jennings.

Fifteen helicopters and 15 airplanes, including a retardant-dropping DC-10 jumbo jet, attacked from the air while 1,700 firefighters battled flames on the ground. One firefighter suffered an unspecified moderate injury, and five others suffered minor injuries.

"It's great to be able to say that we have no loss of lives," Jennings said.

Helicopters lowered hoses into pools and the nearby Pacific to refill their tanks for water-dropping runs, and SuperScooper amphibious airplanes skimmed the ocean to reload.

Hundreds of firefighters and equipment from throughout the state had been positioned in Southern California for most of the week because of the predicted winds, which had been expected to blow most of the week but didn't arrive until late Friday.

Officials remained wary despite the decrease in wind speeds.

The mayor urged residents to "listen to your radios, go outside and see which way the wind is blowing. Stay alert. Stay vigilant."

An estimated 35 homes were destroyed, and 10,000 to 14,000 people evacuated, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman.

The fire broke out along a dirt road off a paved highway, and there did not appear to be power lines in the area, Freeman said. Investigators were trying to determine the cause, he said.

As a precaution, officials at Pepperdine University told its students to move to a campus shelter, although the school remained largely empty because of the holiday weekend.

Another fire broke out Saturday morning in San Diego County near the town of Ramona and was 40 percent contained after burning 50 acres, said Roxanne Provanik, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Power lines blown down by fierce winds caused last month's 4,565-acre Canyon Fire in Malibu that destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church. That blaze was part of siege of more than 15 Santa Ana-stoked wildfires that destroyed more than 2,000 homes, killed 14 people and blackened a total of 809 square miles between Los Angeles County and the U.S.-Mexico border.

Santa Anas, triggered by high pressure over the Great Basin, blow into Southern California from the north and northeast, racing down through the canyons and passes of the region's east-west mountain ranges and out to sea, pushing back the normal flow of moist ocean air.

Malibu, with homes tucked into deep and narrow canyons along 27 miles of coast on the southern foot of the Santa Monica Mountains, is prone to Santa Ana-driven wildfires. Among them was a 1993 blaze that destroyed 388 structures, including 268 homes, and killed three people.

Saturday's fire burned to the west of the portions of Malibu that burned in October.

Neighbors alerted one another, while authorities drove through Corral Canyon, a neighborhood of about 350 homes, telling people to leave. Along some narrow roads, several homes were reduced to embers while their neighbors were untouched.

Meredith Lobel-Angel, 51, and her husband, Frank Angel, 54, said they had 15 minutes to leave their split-level home and managed to take little other than some clothes and their laptops.

"I ran out on the deck and I just saw a little fire and smoke up the canyon on the ridge (about a mile away)," Frank Angel said. "By the time we evacuated it was already over the ridge. It spread faster than I've ever seen it."

Firefighters told Carol Stoddard, 48, that her home was probably gone. The 3,500-square-foot, seven-level home was worth $2 million.

Stoddard, a freelance videographer and photographer, captured some of the fire's destruction as trees beside her home and her collection of 12 uninsured cars burned.

"I stayed there until I couldn't breathe and the embers were flying everywhere," she said. "It was dark and I was standing around my house. I couldn't see. I couldn't grab enough stuff that was of importance like my passport."

Some evacuees were treated to moments of joy and relief.

Geraldine Gilliland, 56, shrieked with happiness as an animal control officer reunited her with her six dogs and 21-year-old cat, left in her house when the fire drove workers at the property down the canyon.

"Oh my God. They got them, they got them, they got them!" she said, kneeling to embrace her pets.

"You can't put a price on human life or canine life; these are my babies."