running springs ca

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 23 ― Raging wildfires in southern California have destroyed and estimated 1,300 homes and businesses and have forced as many as a half-million people to evacuate their homes, state and local officials said today. More than 400 square miles of brushland and suburbs have been blackened by more than a dozen separate fires.

Residents of Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County watched the advance of the Buckweed fire.
Hot, gusting winds made the advancing flames nearly impossible for firefighters to control, officials said. The winds are expected to keep blowing through the day, and perhaps longer.

The worst conditions continued to be here in San Diego County, where large sections were under mandatory evacuation orders. County officials said today that "about 1,000" structures had been destroyed since the fires started Sunday. About 300 houses and businesses were destroyed elsewhere, according the governor's Office of Emergency Management.

A new fire that started on the LaJolla Indian Reservation today in the county spread rapidly and consumed 400 acres of the east side of Palomar Mountain. Some of the evacuees were being housed at the famed observatory at the top of the mountain. North of Los Angeles another fire started about 4 a.m. in the Newhall Pass area near the intersection of Interstate 5 and Highway 14.

Because President Bush declared southern California to be a disaster area, Federal troops and assets were starting to join the evacuation and firefighting effort. About 800 marines from Camp Pendleton, which is north of here, were made available while six C-130 specially modified cargo aircraft were being flown to California to help with firefighting.

Officials appealed to residents outside the evacuated areas to remain at home if possible and to limit their use of cellular phones, to keep highways and communication lines clear for emergency use.

"Please stay at home today," said Jerry Sanders, the mayor of San Diego, in a televised news conference. The mayor also appealed for donations of food, clothing and other supplies for evacuees taking refuge at Qualcomm Stadium, near downtown, whose numbers were expected to increase as evacuations continue.

Ron Roberts, the chairman of the San Diego Board of Supervisors, had said on Monday: "We have a very dangerous, unpredictable situation that is going on. We have, as we've noted, we have some of the highest temperatures, some of the driest landscape conditions, some of the most powerful winds; all of the ingredients for a perfect firestorm."

Speaking this morning, he said that the forecast for shifting winds later in the day "complicates life," and that there was "nothing in sight" that would promise relief from the hot, dry, windy weather.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday that 800 National Guard troops would be diverted from duty on the border to assist with evacuation and ground control in the county, and county officials said today that a total of 1,200 to 1,300 Guard personnel were now on duty.

By Monday, the fires comprised a Hydra with at least 15 separate burns in seven counties fed by gale-force winds. It had burned burned some 267,000 acres from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, but because of the fires' erratic nature, state officials had difficulty compiling accurate data on the scope of the damage or progress in controlling them. Engines and firefighters from as far as Nevada and Arizona were summoned as resources were stretched to the limit. Houses burned with no firefighters in sight as emergency crews on the ground and in the air struggled to keep up with shifting winds that fanned new fires and made others recede and reignite.

San Diego is particularly haunted by wildfires. The worst one in state history burned nearly 750,000 acres in 2003, destroyed 3,600 homes and other buildings, and killed 24 people across Southern California, with much of the damage and more than a dozen of the deaths in San Diego County.

Officials there said those memories prompted swift action this time as the latest fire burned in much of the same area and same direction as 2003.

The San Diego Wild Animal Park, a major tourist draw, was closed and the animals were moved to safer quarters while owners of horses throughout northern San Diego also rushed to save their animals.

Some of the fires appeared to have been started by downed power lines, but a few were thought to have been caused by arson.

Brush and small trees burned in most cases, but firefighters faced a difficult problem northeast of Los Angeles at the Lake Arrowhead resort, where a forest fire erupted early in the afternoon and added to the plume of smoke hanging over most of the region. Towers of flame tore through houses and other structures there, and water-dropping aircraft did not arrive for a few hours as they fought a larger fire 70 miles away in heavily populated Santa Clarita Valley, a typical dilemma firefighters faced.

Officials marveled that there had been just one death, in a fire in southeastern San Diego County on Sunday that also injured several people, including four firefighters. Scenes of residents taking matters into their own hands played out as some fires burned for long periods without a firefighter in sight.

Dozens of men, women and children in Canyon Country, north of Los Angeles, on Monday grabbed shovels and garden hoses and fought flames creeping up a canyon within 50 feet of their homes.

About seven children and young teenagers worked in tandem with their parents as the flames approached their back fences.

"That was hot!" said Steven Driedger, 14, as he examined his scratched legs for signs of a burn. "But I'm fine."

Steven's mother, Carolyn Driedger, said the family, along with their neighbors, had been battling the blaze since 4 a.m.

"Our neighborhood has really come together," Ms. Driedger said, as a firefighting crew finally pulled up in the late morning. "We had to. These are the first official firefighters we've seen."

In some of the day's only good news, firefighters made significant progress in surrounding a fire in Orange County without a single home lost.

Reporting was contributed by Will Carless from Escondido, Ana Facio Contreras from Irvine, Larry Dorman from Poway, Regan Morris from Canyon Country and John Holusha from New York.




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First Person: Waiting out the wildfires 37 minutes ago
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Running Springs, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Running Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 5125 at the 2000 census. ...

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Running Springs, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Running Springs, California

Location in San Bernardino County and the state of California
Coordinates: 34°12′28″N 117°6′30″W? / ?34.20778, -117.10833
Country United States
State California
County San Bernardino
Area
- CDP 4 sq mi (10.3 km2)
- Land 4 sq mi (10.3 km2)
- Water 0 sq mi (0 km2)
Elevation 6,109 ft (1,862 m)
Population (2000)
- CDP 5,125
- Density 1,281.3/sq mi (497.6/km2)
Time zone Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP code 92382
Area code(s) 909
FIPS code 06-63316
GNIS feature ID 1661346
Running Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 5,125 at the 2000 census.

Contents
1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Surroundings and Economy
4 References



[edit] Geography
Running Springs is located at 34°12′28″N, 117°6′30″W (34.207739, -117.108285).GR1

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 10.3 km2 (4.0 mi2). 10.3 km2 (4.0 mi2) of it is land and 0.25% is water.


[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 5,125 people, 1,903 households, and 1,366 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 497.2/km2 (1,286.1/mi2). There were 3,686 housing units at an average density of 357.6/km2 (925.0/mi2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 87.71% White, 0.47% African American, 1.70% Native American, 0.92% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 4.06% from other races, and 5.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.12% of the population.

There were 1,903 households out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.2% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families. 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 27.4% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 102.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $50,524, and the median income for a family was $56,855. Males had a median income of $45,172 versus $34,492 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $22,231. About 7.0% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.7% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.


[edit] Surroundings and Economy
Running Springs is a mountain community in the San Bernardino Mountains. It is an inholding in the San Bernardino National Forest. Situated at the junction of SR-18 and SR-330, it is a major gateway to the mountain communities of Lake Arrowhead, Arrowbear, Green Valley Lake, and Big Bear. It lies some 16 miles (24 kilometres) northeast of the city of Highland, California, up SR-330, at an elevation of 6080 feet. While there is no primary industry in Running Springs, there are service industries geared to the tourist market, as the San Bernardino National Forest is a highly popular year-round tourist destination. Also, taking advantage of the forested setting, the area is home to multiple summer camps, including Pali Overnight Adventures, which caters to upper class families. Several prominent celebrities children attend Pali, including the children of Hugh Hefner, Bruce Springsteen, and others.

Additionally, Running Springs, together with surrounding communities, form a bedroom community for commuters who are employed in San Bernardino and points beyond who are willing to tolerate the notorious Southern California commute in order to live above the city's considerable smog and pollution.

Running Springs is a member community of the Rim of the World, an inhabited stretch of the San Bernardino Mountains and wholly contained in the San Bernardino National Forest. The Rim (as it is locally known) extends from Crestline to Big Bear, a distance of some 30 miles (50 kilometres). The locals call themselves "Hilltoppers", as opposed to "Flatlanders", a term describing people from down the hill.


Running Springs is served by Rim of the World High School and Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate situated in Lake Arrowhead