An unrelenting wildfire jumped a fire line Tuesday in the San Bernardino Mountains and headed toward Lake Arrowhead, devouring homes and disease-racked forests in its path. Downcast fire officials said they appeared to be losing their battle for the alpine resort region.
The blaze, potentially catastrophic, was one of several fires that have burned close to 900 square miles of Southern California in the last week -- an area larger than Orange County -- leaving 16 people dead and destroying at least 2,000 homes, state officials said. Others raged from Ventura County to Mexico, forcing tens of thousands of additional evacuations and nearing more communities, including the Stevenson Ranch subdivision in northern Los Angeles County.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday October 30, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 33 words Type of Material: Correction
Chatsworth -- An article in Wednesday's California section about the region's wildfires referred incorrectly to the location of Chatsworth. It is in the northwest corner of the San Fernando Valley, not the northeast.
Fire destroyed the hamlet of Cuyamaca in the Cleveland National Forest east of San Diego, authorities there said.
"We are experiencing a history-altering event," said James M. Wright of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "We feel this is no doubt the most devastating natural disaster California's faced, and also no doubt the most costly."
A shift in the weather brought cooling marine breezes to soot-caked fire crews. It helped arrest some fires, but fanned others in new and treacherous directions. The National Weather Service was predicting gusty winds for this afternoon, which could hamper firefighting efforts in some areas.
As exhausted firefighters struggled to gain some measure of control over the fires, the head of the U.S. Forest Service sounded downhearted.
"It isn't getting better yet," Dale N. Bosworth said in an interview with The Times in Sacramento. "It's pretty grim."
Smoke filled the sky throughout much of Southern California, turning it a range of otherworldly colors, from a putrid grayish yellow to salmon pink.
Close to the fires, eyes stung, lungs ached.
Residents of threatened communities, many of whom moved to the fringe of wilderness to escape urban stress, were confronted with life-and-death decisions and wrenching heartache.
In the town of Running Springs, along Rim of the World Highway between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear, local fire Battalion Chief Ben Wilkins was besieged with telephone calls from anxious residents who had evacuated and wanted status reports on their homes and properties.
Wilkins, who recently bought a three-story log home in Running Springs, was sympathetic but frank. "I fully expect to lose my home today," he told the callers.
