SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA "FIRE WATCH" NOVEMBER 1, 2007

Good morning. It's the day after Halloween and after making it through the spooky winds of Ghost, Goblins and Ghouls, Southern California braces itself for another Witch of a time as the Santa Ana Winds return and new fires loom on the horizon. These Santa Ana winds could be blowing anywhere from 30 and 50 mph and give our hot weather and dry foliage it’s "blast furnace" effect.

Governor Schwarzenegger has put all state agencies on call. Cal-Fires, the Department of Forestry and Office of Emergency Service have all been strategically placed throughout Southern California. 1500 National Guard are and on stand-by as are six water dumping planes they deploy.

Many residence here have not unloaded their cars from last week's evacuations, in anticipation of this new warm up. And please don't act surprised when we tell you there are four major fires still burning here from last week. Tune in here for updates.

CALIFORNIA FIRES ... ARSON IS NOT MY HOBBY, IT IS MY PROFESSION

It has been confirmed by fire authorities that the fires in Santiago California near San Diego among otheres were deliberately started. They base this on the two" flash points"(first ignition points) of the fire. You see I calculated the wind direction and my scientific placement of the two flash points maximized the spread of the fire. I am an Arsonist and I am flattered by the reward of $280,00 that has been offered for information leading to my arrest. The question everyone should be asking themselves is not who set the fire but who paid me to set the fire? Who has gained from the fires.

Is it someone who couldn't afford to pay his mortgage, a builder who can't pay several mortgages, or perhaps a business or group of businesses that are not profitable. Arson is one of the oldest ways to make a "come back". So let's start by asking the right questions, because I know what to do and I was paid very well to do it.

While we wait to hear more from official arson investigators ... check out what the victims are saying about me.

The wildfires that have consumed about half a million acres have terrified and frustrated Californians for nearly a week. But in few places are people, including fire crews, as angry as in Orange County's Silverado Canyon, where the spreading fire appears to have been caused not by nature or bad luck but by a carefully planned arson.

Even as wildfires throughout much of Southern California began to bow to some degree of control on Friday and tens of thousands of residents were allowed back into their homes after days of mandatory evacuations, the blaze in this stunningly beautiful canyon continued to eat through the forest's bone-dry, 100-year-old growth at an alarming rate of speed.

About 750 homes -- everything from single-wide trailers to middle-class dwellings to multimillion-dollar mansions -- were at risk of joining the ranks of the more than 1,800 California homes destroyed by the previous week's raging wildfires. Shifting winds in the canyon were only making the fire's path more unpredictable, though a light sprinkling of rain Saturday lifted firefighters' spirits.

A reward for information about who started the blaze, which has swallowed at least 14 homes and more than 20,000 wildlife-inhabited acres, grew to $280,000 as the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives aided local investigators."It's very frustrating," said Richard Jenkins, a firefighter from South Pasadena who had been battling the fire in Orange County. "Every year we get the Santa Ana winds and the cuckoos start coming out of the woodwork with their matches. "California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke directly to whoever the arsonist might be during a news conference Saturday: "If I were one of those people who started the fire, I would not sleep soundly right now, because we are right behind you. As a matter of fact, if I would be you, I would turn myself in."

Indeed, at least five people have been arrested on arson charges since wildfires broke out across Southern California last week, but none has been linked to any of the major blazes. Anger and fear over the possibility that more fires could break out because of arson fueled rumors that a terrorist group such as Al Qaeda might be responsible, a theory that has been soundly discounted by state and federal authorities. At a news conference Thursday, federal and local investigators said they recovered evidence from a hollow where the Silverado Canyon wildfire started. They said they were confident the flames had been deliberately started with a form of "liquid fuel."

Authorities confirmed that they had interviewed one person and searched one home but had no suspects. Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona said authorities had received 250 tips, none of which had panned out. By Saturday afternoon, the arson, dubbed the Santiago Fire, was still growing. It was being battled by 1,100 firefighters with 110 fire engines, three helicopters, four air tankers and 10 bulldozers. Flames had traveled 3 miles into the 5-mile canyon, and fire officials were considering lighting backfires in the hope that the two fires would consume one another."We want the fire on our terms," Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather explained.But as the team of fire spotters feared, the blaze still seemed to hold grave potential to crest a peak in the Cleveland National Forest and make its way into residential Silverado Canyon.

Area homeowners, evacuated since Monday, were being allowed brief trips back to their homes to gather essentials -- important documents, family photos, heirlooms -- with warnings that it could be the last time they saw their homes. 'Burn him at the stake' "It isn't looking good," said Linda Gottlieb, who designed and built a home with her husband four years ago. Gottlieb wore a particle mask over her mouth and nose to filter air that was thick with smoke and blowing ash. As she looked toward the peak where the fire seemed ready to crest, she seemed near tears. But then, as though to buoy her spirits, she explained how her house had been built to state and local standards, was constructed of a special kind of hardy plank wood, had interior sprinklers and had even been used by the local fire department in simulating how to guard houses against wildfires. Gottlieb, like others, was visibly furious that her home was in jeopardy because of an arsonist. "It's infuriating that someone would want to destroy the last pristine part of Orange County," she said. "Even if I didn't live here, I would be infuriated."She paused and then added deliberately, "I assure you, if the people of this canyon got a hold of the arsonist, we'd burn him at the stake for what he's done."

Ironically, fire officials said Silverado Canyon is not normally a fire risk because of the way the canyon is configured. It hasn't burned in some 60 years, Jenkins said. He said firefighters were told at their Friday morning briefing that the area was once a Native American sacred site, and that many residents believed that had long served as a protective force -- until now.----------

Contributions from Kirsten Scharnberg Chicago Tribune

Dawn: The Sun Rises, Southern California Continues to Burn

SNAPSHOT NUMBERS

12 major fires continue to burn

700 homes destroyed

300,000 evacuated

Weather Report: winds will die down …”to 65mph??”

Temperatures: will continue to rise north of 94 degrees. No relief until Thursday

New fires: New Hall, Santiago Fire, Rancho Bernardo. Running Springs. Many small fires have joined as one.

New technologies: Reverse 911, the newest life saver: Your home phone rings and a recorded message tells you to evacuate your home … now!

New catch phrase: "Welcome to what's left of our house."

Things that pissed me off: Idiot on Malibu Canyon Road driving 80 mph to evacuate … rolls down his window and throws a lit cigarette out the window!!!

More updates to come.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BURNS, WE ARE SURROUNDED AND IN SAN DIEGO...IT'S ARSON!!!!

Malibu, Canyon Country, Saugus, San Clarita, San Diego, Foothill Ranch, Santa Barbara, Inland Empire. We are surrounded by fires. And this just in ...

IT IS NOW OFFICIAL, AUTHORITIES HAVE CONFIRMED ARSON IN SAN DIEGO!

More details to follow as at every turn a new fires is popping up. All television stations here are wire to wire news coverage of the latest flame-ups. If you live in another state or another country, let me explain to you why this is all happening.

This time of year in Southern California we get what people in other parts of the world call, "Indian Summer." A week ago the temperature here in Southern California, (Los Angeles & San Diego) was about 69 to 74 degrees. This week the temperature has dramatically risen to 95 degrees. It is hot and very windy because in addition to the heat we have only 8 percent humidity and the Santa Ana Winds are blowing. The winds are fierce, bending and breaking trees. Therefore just one tiny cinder can blow on a wood cedar roof or the dry grass nearby and ignite a house. California is still the land of "wide-open" spaces and there are no roads to these places.

The terrine is rough, wild animals are running to get away from the fires, so you can imagine how dangerous this is for firefighters. Fire hoses can't reach the main source of the fires so they have to wait until the fire gets close enough to the road where the trucks are waiting. Overextended flying water tankers (super scoopers) can't keep up so in many cases for containment sake we have to let the fires burn themselves out.

Here's the latest from front-line journalist:

SAN DIEGO - Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds consumed huge swaths of bone-dry Southern California on Monday, burning dozens of buildings and threatening hundreds more from Malibu to San Diego, including a jail, a hospital and nursing homes.

More than a dozen wildfires had engulfed the region, killing at least one person, injuring dozens more and forcing hundreds of thousands of evacuations. Overwhelmed firefighters said they lacked the resources to save many houses.
"We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them," San Diego Fire Captain Lisa Blake said. "A lot of people are going to lose their homes today."

Nearly 250,000 people were forced to flee in San Diego County alone, where hundreds of patients were being moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes, sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Knauss said.
About a dozen blazes erupted over the weekend, feeding on drought-parched land from the high desert to the Pacific Ocean. One person was killed and several injured in a fire near the Mexican border, and dozens of structures have burned across the region.

Warm temperatures and strong winds created "dramatically worse" conditions overnight as flames shot 200 feet high, said Bill Metcalf, chief of the North County Fire Protection District. In Orange County, a 1,049-inmate jail was being evacuated because of heavy smoke, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said. Inmates were being bused to another facility in Irvine. All San Diego Police Department officers and off duty detectives were ordered to return to work to help with evacuations.

The fires have burned about 100,000 acres, or 156 square miles, in San Diego County, said county Supervisor Ron Roberts. Across the region, 40,000 acres, or 62 square miles, had burned by Sunday. "This is a major emergency," Roberts said. In many cases, crews couldn't begin to fight the fires because they were too busy rescuing residents who refused to leave, fire officials said.
"They didn't evacuate at all, or delayed until it was too late," Metcalf said. "And those folks who are making those decisions are actually stripping fire resources."

More than a dozen people were being treated at the UC San Diego Medical Center Regional Burn Center for burns and smoke inhalation, including four fighters — three in critical condition, officials said. Some of the injured were hikers, and others may be illegal immigrants.

One blaze devoured more than 5,000 acres in northern San Diego County and forced the evacuation of the community of Ramona, which has a population of about 36,000. Several structures were burned on the edge of town and sheriff's deputies called residents to alert them the fire was approaching the city, San Diego sheriff's Lt. Phil Brust said. "The winds are up, it's very, very dangerous conditions," San Diego County spokeswoman Lesley Kirk said. "Fires are popping up all over the place." Guardsmen assigned to the border were forced to evacuate one of their barracks and troops were aiding evacuations, said Col. David Baldwin, director of operations for the California National Guard. "The border is still secure, but agents are evacuating the threatened areas and the Guard is supporting that operation," Baldwin said. Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL's Chargers, was added to a growing list of evacuation centers.

The fires were being fueled by stronger than usual Santa Ana winds roaring out of the region's canyons, scientists said Monday. The powerful, dry winds typically blow between October and February and peak in December. Typically, Santa Ana conditions last about a day, but the ones that flared up over the weekend were expected to last through Tuesday.

"For it to be this strong for so many days is unusual," said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. In Saugus, north of Los Angeles, about 120 people spent the night on cots in the gymnasium of Saugus High School, principal Bill Bolde said. Michele Beard fled her home with her husband, mother-in-law and three older children. "It just lit up the whole mountainside fiery red," said Beard, 48. "I had never seen anything like that so close before."

The fire in Malibu had destroyed or damaged 16 structures, among them a church, homes and a historic castle, and was expected to burn for another two to three days, Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said. "There will literally be thousands of homes that will be threatened" until the blaze is out, he said.

Portions contributed by: Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat