Lessons From the Flames

Residents along the Pacific Coast Highway cover their faces to protect against dense smoke.

System flaws. While largely successful, the reverse 911 system didn't work for everyone. Some residents never received the calls. Rozee Blanco-Hickey, who lives on the La Jolla Indian Reservation, knew to get out only when a frantically honking car drove by at 3 a.m. She found the nearest shelter full so instead joined a group of evacuees in a supermarket parking lot. Two stores gave them food and water, and locals offered toys and baby supplies.

Indeed, volunteer efforts may have made all the difference in this disaster. In May, the California state auditor criticized the state's emergency preparedness efforts. According to the audit, "Despite the heightened awareness of the potential for a catastrophic emergency... the State is not as well prepared for emergencies as it should be." Also in May, state forestry officials predicted an extreme fire season and cautioned that equipment shortages within the California National Guard could impede firefighting efforts.

At the beginning of last week, some of those forecasts seemed to be coming true. Local officials pleaded for airdrops of water or retardant soon after the outbreak, though buffeting winds would very likely have rendered them useless and endangered pilots. And the state's lieutenant governor, Democrat John Garamendi, incensed some conservatives by asking that National Guard units in Iraq be brought home.

The fact is, the combination of a prolonged drought, high winds, and easily ignitable homes in brush lands meant there was little firefighters could do to extinguish the flames. "I've been in this business for 47 years, and I've got to tell you this is the worst I've seen in my lifetime," says Ron Coleman, a liaison for the California State Fire Marshal. "There are not enough firetrucks in the universe to stop it." Several fire officials also noted that so many blazes at once could hardly be a coincidence; the FBI is investigating arson.

Fire state. But these epic blazes are becoming the norm nationally. Since 2000, the country has seen six of its worst wild-land years on record. Acreage burned over the past four years is 211 percent higher than the 48-year average. William Sommers, director of George Mason University's EastFire Laboratory, faults the growing "wildland-urban interface" as one of two major drivers of growing wildfires. San Diego is a worst-case example: flammable homes encroaching on chaparral, the term given to this region's frequently dry shrubs, brush, and trees. The second is climate change, which is propelling droughts in some areas and raising temperatures.

In San Diego, officials have been faulted for not ordering more controlled burns to clear growth, but with houses set so far into the brush, such burns are dangerous. Concern for critical habitat also prevents land from being razed. Peters acknowledges that the authorities must do more to enforce a recently mandated 100-foot clearance zone around certain homes, which meets with resistance from residents who love their landscaping. And starting in 2008, new homes must be built with flame-retardant materials. But no one, not even the sunny Californians, believes these measures will prevent another catastrophic fire. "This will occur again," Coleman says. "We are a fire state."

With Chris Wilson, Kent Garber, Randy Dotinga in Escondido, Calif and Kenneth T. Walsh in Irvine, Calif.