California Wildfires Hitting Southern California Hard

Wildfires ravaged Southern California on Sunday despite the fact that calmer winds prevailed during the day. Thus far, the fires have destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and forced many to evacuate. Razed in the mayhem were all varieties of domestic dwellings, with the fire jumping freeways and other seeming impediments to mow down mansions, mobile homes and apartment complexes. So. Cal. Native Nicole Gephardt spoke of her community as though it were a war zone. She notes, "I’m just seeing a lot of burned fields, smoke, burned down houses. This is crazy knowing this is my community and it looks like a war zone."

In all, officials have noted that the wildfires have burned over 20,000 acres over the past four days, with the blaze focused on the foothills north of L.A., in some of the canyons in Orange County and in hilly Montecito, home to many celebrities. The fires themselves broke out in Montecito on Thursday and the cause is not known at this time.

Responding to the crisis, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke at a news conference, stating, "This has been a very though few days for the people of Southern California. We had the perfect storm – high winds, high temperatures and it is very, very dry." In response to the destruction of a mobile home park in Sylmar, which saw 500 trailers burned in a single night, Schwarzenegger noted, "Fire raged through that park so quickly that there was no way of stopping it. It was like matches."

Police, who have been busy working with the human element while firefighters busy themselves putting out the flames, have been stern with residents, but always in the interest of protecting them from harm. Janet Cunningham, who is 91 years old and lives in Yorba Linda, was told she had to evacuate her home within 5 minutes when police showed up in her community. Said Cunningham, "I was so nervous. Five minutes is so little time. I didn’t’ think. I didn’t’ know which way to turn first. I just had eye surgery on Thursday and I’m not supposed to drive." Despite that, the quite capable senior citizen made it to a rescue center and, to the best of her knowledge, her home remains safe from the blaze.