The California Fires of October, 2007: Day 4

My more recent post on the fires is here

We’re in the fourth day of the fires that have devastated large areas of southern California. The scale of the disaster is beginning to become apparent:

SAN DIEGO – The devastating wildfires in Southern California have caused at least $1 billion in damage in San Diego County alone, officials said Wednesday, as easing wind gave firefighters hope that they could begin to gain ground against the flames.

The fires, in their fourth day, had destroyed 1,500 homes and caused at least a half-million people to flee — the largest evacuation in state history. At least 1,200 of the damaged homes were in San Diego County, and officials believe that number will rise.

“Clearly, this is going to be a $1 billion or more disaster,” Ron Lane, San Diego County’s director of emergency services, told reporters during a news conference.

The announcement of San Diego’s staggering losses came as President Bush signed a major disaster declaration for California in the wake of the wildfires that have charred about 426,000 acres, or about 665 square miles.

The declaration puts in motion long-term federal recovery programs to help state and local governments, families, individuals and certain nonprofit organizations recover.

“Americans all across this land care deeply about them,” the president said after a Cabinet meeting convened to coordinate federal relief efforts. “We’re concerned about their safety. We’re concerned about their property.”

That’s the San Diego area alone. I suspect that the total damage will be in the tens of billions.

Something remarkable thing I’ve seen is what’s been appearing on YouTube. This dramatic photo montage is an example of what people have been posting:

Resources

Official

Los Angeles County Fire Department
San Bernardino County
San Diego County Emergency
San Diego County Emergency Maps of Fires
Ventura County Fire Department

Professional Media

ABC 7 Los Angeles
CBS 2 Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times
NBC 4 Los Angeles (live coverage)
San Diego Union
Ventura County Star

Blogs

And Still I Persist is a great resource for info on the fires in San Diego
Infinite Monkeys has done a fine job of posting on the fires
Looking for ways to help? The Moderate Voice has an excellent list of resources for rendering assistance.
The San Diego Beat has a wonderful list of ways of helping out in the San Diego area

Other

Google Interactive map of the fires
Fire information aggregator

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