Wildfires Racing to San Diego

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 22, 2007 6:49 AM CDT
Wildfires Racing to San Diego
A Los Angeles County fire helicopter drops water on a fire where a wildfire driven by powerful Santa Ana winds threatened a university and forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007, in Malibu, Calif. Flames destroyed a church and several homes, one of them a landmark castle....   (Associated Press)

A wildfire bearing down on San Diego this morning, moving faster than expected, is forcing 10,000 to evacuate their homes, after one person was killed and 17 more injured in a series of fires across Southern California yesterday. Near hurricane-level winds have fanned a dozen outbreaks from Santa Barbara to San Diego, claiming 39 buildings.

A massive blaze that destroyed a church and 25 structures in Malibu yesterday won’t be under control until Tuesday at best, firefighters warned. “We still only have 10% containment here, which is not a heck of a lot,” one told the Los Angeles Times. "You do not expect something to stretch our resources to this magnitude," Los Angeles County's fire inspector told the AP. "To try and staff something this big, you cannot predict it." (More Malibu stories.)

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