Wildfires ravage southern California

Powerful winds drove two ferocious firestorms that had already burned more than 200 homes into dozens more houses in California today.

Two people apparently trying to escape another wildfire, in San Diego County, died in their car.

In a canyon at the edge of Claremont, west of San Bernardino, about 50 homes were in flames this morning as the winds swept away more than 34,000-acre wildfire into Los Angeles County.

“We’re not sure exactly how many burned because we can’t get up there,” said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Edward Osorio. “Our priority of the moment right now is structure protection, not containment.”

The fire had started in the Rancho Cucamonga area Tuesday and destroyed 16 homes in San Bernardino County before spreading west across the county line.

Osorio said today that authorities were going through the cities of La Verne and Claremont, urging people to evacuate.

Closer to San Bernardino, a wildfire that hit at least 200 homes on Saturday - and was blamed for the stress-related deaths of two residents - was threatening at least 1,000 homes today.

The smoke and flames forced the evacuation of a university campus, Indian casino and a state mental hospital, and firefighters could not say when it might be contained.

In some areas, the two wildfires were only about a mile apart today and were expected to eventually merge, said Ranger Gabriel Garcia of the San Bernardino National Forest’s fire suppression agency.

Governor Gray Davis declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino and Ventura counties late last night.

“We are taking every possible step to support the firefighting effort,” Davis said. He said he called on President George W. Bush to issue a disaster declaration to free up federal loan money for people who lost homes.

The winds had died down as the temperature dropped overnight but they picked up again today, sending authorities rushing to evacuate hundreds more homes in the resort areas of Lake Arrowhead and Crestline, just north of San Bernardino.

Garcia said firefighters he talked to this morning were not optimistic they could save all the homes in the blaze’s path.

About 100 miles to the northwest, in Ventura County, other wildfires were raging early Sunday in the hills above Simi Valley’s Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and near Piru, where 300 homes were threatened for a time.

The Simi Valley fire had burned 47,000 acres by daybreak, damaged 14 homes and was threatening as many as 2,000 structures.

It had also shut down Highway 118, the main route connecting Ventura County to Los Angeles.

In San Diego County, three wildfires were burning, including one that had destroyed seven homes in a neighbourhood of estates near Ramona, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Chris Saunders said.

The fire, which forced hundreds of people to evacuate, started when a lost hunter started a signal fire to get attention, Saunders said.