Wildfires death toll reaches 13

Wildfires merged into walls of flame stretching across miles in parts of Southern California, leaving 13 people dead, burning 650 homes and frustrating overmatched firefighters who worked relentlessly against fierce winds.

The state’s largest fire, in eastern San Diego County, caused at least nine deaths, including two who died inside their car as they apparently tried to escape the flames, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender said.

“We were literally running through fire,” said Lisza Pontes, 43, who escaped the fire with her family after the roar of flames woke them at 3.45am As they drove off, they saw a neighbour’s mobile home explode.

“I was grabbing wet towels. Fire was at our feet,” Pontes said. “It was blazing over our heads and burning everywhere.”

Ten major fires were burning in Southern California today, with one large cluster in the San Diego area and another about 100 miles north near San Bernardino. By last night, the fires had blackened 264,000 acres.

Fire also forced staff at a Federal Aviation Administration control centre in San Diego to evacuate the building, disrupting air travel across America. Some airlines cancelled flights into the region.

The biggest fire, at 100,000 acres, started on Saturday near the mountain town of Julian when a lost hunter set off a signal fire, authorities said. The hunter was detained and may face charges.

Among those killed were one person whose body was found in a motor home, and three in other vehicles, county sheriff’s spokeswoman Susan Knauss said. Three were killed while trying to escape on foot and two were dead on arrival at hospitals.

About 260 homes were destroyed, San Diego police said.

Another fire near San Diego that started yesterday killed two people and destroyed 36 homes while burning 3,000 acres, Lora Lowes of the California Department of Forestry said. It also prompted evacuations in north-eastern Escondido.

The flames drew much of their strength from the fierce Santa Ana winds, whose gusts of up to 70mph moved the fires along.

Around the congested suburbs of San Bernardino, a city of about 200,000 about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, one flank of a 50,000-acre fire burned through four towns while the other flank destroyed more than 300 homes.

Two men collapsed and died, one as he was evacuating his canyon home and the other as he watched his house burn, the county coroner said.

The 30-mile fire in the San Bernardino area was formed when two smaller fires merged, covering the region with thick smoke and ash.

Other fires on the outskirts of Los Angeles County merged to create a 47,150-acre fire that threatened 2,000 homes in four communities and closed four highways, sealing off access to two mountain towns, fire spokeswoman Michele Alcorn said.

Firefighters, including 25 strike teams and 125 engines, tried to make a stand at Crestline in the San Bernardino National Forest, said US Forest Service fire information officer Stanton Florea. But hours later, Florea said homes there were burning as well.

The area is vulnerable because drought and an infestation of bark beetles have left millions of dead trees.

California governor Gray Davis, who visited the San Bernardino fire on Friday, returned yesterday to announce he was extending the state of emergency to Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

“This is a terrible situation,” Davis said. “These are the worst fires that we’ve faced in California in 10 years.”

Davis’ administration also gave an emergency briefing to governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger.