USA: Cool weather brings relief to fire-hit California

Cool, damp weather moves into Southern California from the Pacific Ocean, boosting efforts to beat down stubborn wildfires. Weary families return to find many homes unscathed but hundreds of others burned to rubble. After six days of relentless blazes from Los Angeles to the Mexican border, most of the raging fires had either been doused or brought under relative control on Friday (October 26, 2007) as the emergency turned to the long business of recovery. At the height of the fires, some 500,000 people were evacuated from their homes. But on Friday, the few hundred remaining in the largest emergency shelter -- San Diego's Qualcomm sports stadium -- were being moved to several smaller centres. The stadium, which at one time had housed and fed more than 10,000 people, was due to close Friday. Favourable weather should help firefighters struggling with two major fires in San Diego County and Orange County, although the flames were generally moving away from populated areas and into forests. As of Friday morning, the wildfires had blackened some 800 square miles (2,072 sq km) of Southern California and destroyed 2,000 homes and other structures. Losses were expected to top 1 U.S. dollars billion in hard-hit San Diego County alone. As families began returning, the chances rose for more grisly discoveries. Fire officials said more bodies could be found in remote areas where people had refused to leave their homes, or who were overrun by the speed of the inferno. Four burned bodies found in the path of the wildfires on Thursday raised the death toll, either directly from the flames or while evacuating, to at least 12 people. The four were thought to be illegal immigrants overrun by fire near the Mexican border as they walked through rugged terrain.

ITN Source | October 27, 2007

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