Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 28, 1990 TAG: 9006280802
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
Thousands of acres were burning out of control today. More than 600 firefighters battled the blazes overnight, and twice as many were expected later in the day, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Susan Mockenhaupt.
"The fire is incredible. It came down from the mountains. It spread everywhere. It burned everything in its path," said Tim Grasey, spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.
"It looks like a war zone out there," Grasey said. "Everything is blackened. It's just total devastation. You never felt more helpless. You look at it and there's nothing you could do to stop it."
Authorities blamed the fire on arson, saying an unidentified incendiary device was found where the blaze began Wednesday.
A heat wave also was continuing to cause problems in the West, with the death toll rising to at least six in Arizona and California.
Temperatures soared into the 100s from California to Texas on Wednesday. After back-to-back records of 120 and 122 degrees, the heat abated only slightly Wednesday in Phoenix, topping out at 118 - a record for the date.
Today's forecast offered no relief. The National Weather Service said highs would be in the 100s in the inland cities and slightly lower elsewhere through Sunday.
Fires forced thousands of people from their homes throughout Southern California, injured scores of firefighters and closed highways.
One person was arrested on suspicion of arson in Orange County.
From Santa Barbara to San Diego, the fires were worsened by four years of drought and a searing heat wave that pushed temperatures to record levels well above 100 degrees. Water reserves were at their lowest levels in years.
Hot desert winds up to 60 mph fanned the Santa Barbara fire Wednesday, Mockenhaupt said. The wind later calmed, but officials feared it would pick up today.
Giant balls of flame rolled through the hills and engulfed entire neighborhoods during the night. Ashes filled the sky more than 35 miles away.
"When the fire came down that canyon it sounded just like a freight train," said firefighter Larry Ashton. "I can't believe that no one was killed."
In one subdivision, every home was gutted, every street was a landscape of chimneys and charred kitchen appliances. Occasionally, a geyser of flame shot from a gas main, giving the scene a hellish look. Workers rushed to shut off gas lines.
In Arizona, meanwhile, fire burned out of control today in Tonto National Forest, where six firefighters were killed Tuesday. In Montrose, Colo., a lightning-sparked fire in the ponderosa burned at least 1,000 acres.
The Santa Barbara County fire destroyed an unknown number of businesses, a school for handicapped adults, a Sheriff's Department prison farm and a fire station, said Jan Bullard, a sheriff's spokesman.
It forced evacuation of the jail, disrupted phone service, closed a major north-south highway and burned a train trestle, interrupting Amtrak service.
The blaze was the Santa Barbara area's worst in more than 13 years. A 1977 fire burned 234 homes in the area, which is on the Pacific Coast 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Its property values were among the state's highest.
Brenda Rein watched from a shopping mall as the fire marched down a mountain.
"The whole sky was just orange. I looked up and saw the moon through the smoke, kind of a werewolf moon," she said.
Barbara Jefferson of Santa Barbara came out of a movie theater to find the evening sky raining soot and the wind blowing so fiercely it was hard to stand. In the distant hills, she said, "we just saw mountains of flames."
Officials said a fire in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale that destroyed or damaged 50 homes also was set. The homes were valued at $300,000 to $700,000 each, and property losses were estimated at more than $25 million.
"The California chaparral over here, all that sage and scrub oak, is literally like gasoline," Fire Battalion Chief Chris Gray said.
by CNB