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Cool weather helps crews battle wildfire ( 2003-11-02 10:50) (Agencies) The massive blaze creeping toward Big Bear Lake, a mountain resort town in California came to a standstill Saturday, prompting fire officials to let many Californian residents return home. "It's lying there right now not doing anything," Big Bear City Fire Chief Dana VanLuven said. "The threat is still very real, but we are confident we can hold it off." Residents of Big Bear Valley were given the go-ahead to return home starting Sunday morning, VanLuven said. Residents in the Lake Arrowhead area, roughly 20 miles west, already had begun returning. Light snow and cooler temperatures aided firefighters, who raced to bulldoze firebreaks around communities in the San Bernardino Mountains to prepare for hot, dry winds they expected within days. Work along the south side of the lake, however, was suspended because of concerns about archaeological and sensitive plant sites. The wet, chilly weather slowed the march of the blaze, which has scorched more than 90,000 acres, destroyed about 850 homes and killed four people. It was 45 percent contained after moving within eight miles of Big Bear Lake. Even with the danger reduced for now, "the safest route for the public would be to stay out of the area," said Anne Westling, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Forest Service. "The threat has abated in the short term but folks need to recognize that the threat is not over." Among those allowed to see their land again were residents of Upper Waterman Canyon, a tiny enclave near the origin of the fire and about five miles north of San Bernardino. Most of its 66 homes were reduced to stone chimneys and foundations, but eight homes were inexplicably spared. "I still have roses blooming," said JoDee Ewing, 40, whose two-story home dating from the 1920s was reduced to ashes. "But there's no toilets. They disintegrated." Crews worked to remove debris and clear roads for the eventual return of all 15,000 people who were evacuated earlier this week. Firefighters burned piles of dead trees and dry brush near the small community of Sugarloaf. "With this inclement weather, they feel they can burn that stuff safely, which will provide increased fire safety for communities later on this week when the wind and weather conditions are expected to change," Westling said. There was a negative side to the snow and rain that fell overnight Friday. The precipitation caused a mud and rock slide that closed Highway 18, a major road in the area. A number of trees also fell after being weakened by fire and a previous infestation of bark beetles. "We've got trees coming down like dominoes," Forest Service spokesman Steve Ritchie said. "They're coming down on the roads all over the place." A large branch fell on a firefighter who was part of a team cutting down burned trees in Cedar Glen, northeast of Lake Arrowhead. He was treated for a broken arm and leg, authorities said. The blaze was among a barrage of wildfires that have killed 20 people, destroyed more than 3,300 homes and burned about 750,000 acres across Southern California over the past week. Six fires were still burning across four counties Saturday. The most destructive and deadly blaze, a 281,000-acre fire in the mountains northeast of San Diego, has become the largest individual wildfire in California history. It was 81 percent contained Saturday. The blazes have made 2003 California's most destructive wildfire year ever, with a total of 4,443 homes destroyed across the state, according to Karen Terrill, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry. Forecasters said the heat and dry Santa Ana desert winds that whipped the flames into infernos could return early next week.
People displaced by the wildfires took time to celebrate Halloween at evacuation and disaster relief centers. Hundreds of children in a San Bernardino International Airport hangar donned donated costumes and munched candy. Volunteers painted faces of children, who ate meals and candy on green cots covered with blankets. Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge toured a relief center in Claremont and said he was unsure if the nation had ever seen such a destructive wildfire. "We have our work cut out for us," Ridge said.
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