|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
By Category |
 |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
India On Media |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| Others
News |
|
| Californians flee as fires rage |
| California has evacuated a quarter of a million people as fierce winds fan wildfires in the Los Angeles region from San Diego up to Santa Barbara.
|
| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 23-October-2007
3:22:21 AM |
| At least one person has died and thousands of homes are at risk in seven counties where fires have scorched some 200,000 acres (81,000 hectares).
About 1,500 National Guardsmen have been brought in to help firefighters.
After visiting charred homes in Malibu, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said it was a "tragic time" for the US state.
"We have... the weather conditions that are perfect for huge fires all over the state," he told reporters.
"That's what we are having right now. We have a lot of wind and we have dry weather, and that's the perfect storm."
LA County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said emergency workers had been "stressed almost beyond the point of reason".
"The winds are erratic and unpredictable," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
"There is no telling where the fires will move and when."
'One big inferno'
"It was just like one big inferno," Malibu resident Robin Morgan told the Associated Press news agency.
See map of Malibu blazes and nearby celebrity homes
"We're just waiting for that knock on the door. We knew it was coming, so we were more or less prepared, but you're never really quite prepared for when you're coming down the hill. So, it was scary."
Officials say the ground is tinder-dry after a record summer heat wave.
With forecasters predicting that hurricane-force winds will continue until later in the week, thousands more homes could be at risk, says the BBC's David Willis in California.
In San Diego County, ambulances and school buses were used to move hundreds of people from hospitals, nursing homes and prisons threatened by advancing flames.
San Diego Fire Captain Lisa Blake said local fire-fighters lacked the resources to save all the homes at risk.
More than 1,500 firefighters have been battling the blazes, including one in the town of Potrero, near San Diego.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENTS
Free offer!!! Become an administrator for your zip home page, "Post" local news (local to your postcode)& pictures, "Post" advertisement banners from local companies. Make Extra money.
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
|
