Six burned bodies found in California

FE Team | Published: October 27, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

SAN DIEGO, Oct 26 (Agencies): On a day when firefighters methodically beat back several of the wildfires menacing Southern California and thousands of evacuees were allowed home, authorities said Thursday they had found six bodies burned by the flamesBorder Patrol agents on routine patrol found four bodies in a wooded area nearBarrett Junction, just east of San Diego and along the Mexican border, agency spokeswoman Gloria Chavez said. The area is near a major corridor for illegal immigrants who often walk hours or even days to cross into the United States from Mexico.
Authorities said they discovered the bodies Thursday afternoon but did not know how long ago the victims died or whether the flames were responsible for their deaths.
Two bodies were discovered in the rubble of a burned home in San Diego County. Like a 52-year-old Tecate man killed Sunday in a fire along the Mexican border, the pair had been urged to evacuate.
Their deaths brought the number of people killed by flames to three, while seven died of other causes connected to the evacuations.
Flames have consumed more than 487,000 acres - about 760 square miles - and at least 1,800 homes since the weekend. About 24,000 homes remained threatened, as several major fires were no more than 30 percent contained in San Diego County and the Lake Arrowhead mountain resort area in mountains east of Los Angeles.
Despite the deaths, there were hopeful signs Thursday. Firefighters took advantage of calmer winds and cooler temperatures to launch an aerial assault on several stubborn blazes.
Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for most residential areas of San Diego and shelters emptied rapidly. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said an evacuation center at Qualcomm Stadium, which had housed as many as 10,000 people, would be closed at noon on Friday.
President Bush surveyed the damage in San Diego's hard-hit community of Rancho Bernardo, where he draped his armed around a woman who had lost her home.
At least 52 firefighters and about 30 other people have been injured. In the Los Angeles area, fire crews worked to tamp out many wildfires, including two that burned 21 homes and were now fully contained. But the focus shifted to flames still raging in Orange and San Diego counties, particularly in rural areas near the Mexico border where more evacuation orders were issued.
Meanwhile: As some wildfire evacuees returned to their neighborhoods to find only ashes where their homes once stood, others sought government help for dealing with the uncertainty of their upended lives. Justin Miner was among hundreds of people who gathered Thursday at a disaster center in Rancho San Diego in San Diego County, where an array of federal, state and county agencies had clustered to offer assistance.
Miner was evacuated from his home in Deerhorn Valley and had just arrived with his family at Qualcomm Stadium when his wife - seven months pregnant - went into labor prematurely.
Five hours later, Miner walked out of the disaster assistance center with food stamps, financial help from the Red Cross and a little bit of hope, though he still didn't know if his house was still standing.
The Small Business Administration provides low-interest loans to businesses and - despite the agency's name - homeowners and renters to help with property damage and other costs. FEMA, among other assistance, gives grants for temporary housing.
In San Diego's fire-ravaged Rancho Bernardo neighborhood, some residents who stayed behind grabbed garden hoses, ensuring their neighbors would be less likely to need FEMA's help.