Fire brings destruction, uncertainty

Five years of drought in California has turned the state's wildlands into a tinder box

A ferocious wildfire had swallowed up many homes as it spread across more than 100 square kilometers of mountain and desert east of Los Angeles. Exactly how many, however, and to whom they belonged, remained uncertain.

Firefighters were faced with the difficult task of tallying that damage while still battling the huge, unruly blaze.

That left evacuees in a cruel limbo, forced to spend another night wondering whether anything they owned was still intact. They included Shawn Brady, who had been told by a neighbor that flames had raged down their street. But he was waiting for official word.

"What I've been told is that flames are currently ripping through my house," said Brady, a dockworker who lives on the outskirts of the evacuated town of Wrightwood.

"I'm trying to remain optimistic," Brady said as he sat outside a shelter for evacuees in Fontana. "It's the not knowing that's the worst."

San Bernardino County fire officials could only confirm that dozens of structures had burned, and that big numbers are likely.

"There will be a lot of families that come home to nothing," county Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said on Wednesday after flying over a fire scene he described as "devastating".

"It hit hard. It hit fast. It hit with an intensity that we hadn't seen before," he said.

4 percent contained

Firefighters had at least established a foothold of control of the blaze the day after it broke out for unknown reasons in the Cajon Pass near Interstate 15, the vital artery between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The fire was 4 percent contained on Wednesday.

Those assessing damage were also looking for dead and injured, but none had been reported yet. Cadaver dogs were searching the ruins for anyone who was overrun by the flames.

Five years of drought has turned the state's wildlands into a tinder box, with eight fires currently burning from Shasta County in the far north to Camp Pendleton just north of San Diego.

More than 34,000 homes and about 82,000 people were under evacuation warnings as firefighters concentrated their efforts on saving homes in the mountain communities. They implored residents not to think twice if told to leave, but it appears many were staying.

A fleet of 10 air tankers and 15 helicopters and an army of 1,500 firefighters took on the blaze, many of them coming fresh from other wildfires around the state.