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New evacuations, power shortages as fires stretch into fourth day

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- More San Diego County residents faced orders to leave their homes Wednesday, but others got permission to return home as wildfires swirled through smoke-choked Southern California.

Residents were being ordered from communities in inland north San Diego County, while evacuees from some communities closer to the coast were allowed home.

San Diego County residents returning to their homes, and those who had never left, were warned Wednesday morning to conserve electricity.

Officials said fires severed key connections to the regional power grid, creating what San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts called "a precarious situation."

An estimated 950,000 people have sought refuge from the fires in shelters, hotels and at friends' homes.

The National Weather Service said a red-flag warning for extreme gusty winds was in effect for San Diego through 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET) Wednesday, but forecasters said firefighters should see an end to the Santa Ana winds that have fueled the fires by Thursday.

"It's all dictated by the weather," said San Diego Fire spokesman Maurice Luque. He said the combination of the driest conditions in 200 years and the Santa Ana winds were "a recipe for disaster."

Some residents won't have to wait for Thursday to get home. People who evacuated earlier this week from Scripps Ranch and Del Mar Heights can go home immediately, San Diego emergency spokeswoman Lynda Pfieffer said Wednesday morning.

More than 20 fires have scorched 400,000-plus acres from the Mexican border to northern Los Angeles County and inland into the San Bernardino Mountains since the weekend. Almost 1,500 homes have been destroyed.

The blazes have killed one person and injured at least 70 more. Thirty-four firefighters have been hurt, authorities said.


Firefighters received help from Mexico, the state and federal governments and even inmates from California's prisons. About 7,000 firefighters were battling the blazes, including 2,300 inmates from California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, according to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

After an aerial tour of the affected area Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said, "We are still facing some very serious fires. The weather has made it very difficult for the air assets to get up and fight the fires. ... If the weather cooperates, maybe we can turn the tide tomorrow."

Officials have evacuated nearly 350,000 homes in San Diego County alone, where the worst of the fires are blazing. Based on numbers from the 2000 census, as many as 950,000 people may have been affected.

Among the evacuees are more than 4,000 military personnel from bases in the area.

As the fires burned, stress took its toll on evacuees, according to a U.S. Navy medic at Qualcomm Stadium, now a shelter to more than 12,000 people.

"A lot of people are watching TV while they're here -- they're watching their houses burn," Petty Officer Daniel Brautigam said. "People are just worried sick. That phrase alone explains it all."

Christie Williams, who lost a ranch in Ramona, said she takes strength from her 4-year-old daughter, who repeats after her mother: "We're strong people."

"So we're going to make it," Williams said.

And she said she'd rebuild her ranch, called Shangri La.

"It's my home. My kids took their first steps there. I can't just leave it," she said as tears filled her eyes. "I can't just walk away."

President Bush is scheduled to visit the area Thursday, the White House said. Chertoff arrived in San Diego on Tuesday afternoon for a look at the devastation.

Chertoff called federal efforts "phenomenally better" than the 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina "because we have been preparing and planning and training together for the last 2 ½ years."

Schwarzenegger said he was "heartbroken" after touring the Lake Arrowhead area, where the Grass Valley and Slide fires have burned 5,000 acres and destroyed more than 200 homes.

The combination of dry terrain, searing heat and hammering winds created "the perfect storm for fire," the governor said.

Chertoff said cots, blankets, water and other supplies have been moved where they are needed, and more are coming. FEMA delivered 25,000 cots to Qualcomm early Tuesday.

In San Diego County, the Witch Fire in the north, which has grown to 200,000 acres, is a priority because of its significant threat to structures, said Ron Lane, the county's director of emergency services.

Also in the county, a utility spokesman said the Harris Fire expanded and damaged a 500,000-volt transmission line, which will be out of service until at least Wednesday. Other transmission lines have been destroyed.

In Los Angeles County, the fire situation was improving Wednesday. As of 7:40 a.m. PT, state officials reported containment between 40 percent and 80 percent on the county's five active fires.