Fire engulfs all, leaving fields of black and grey

Conor O'Clery in San Bernardino: Tall brick chimney stacks stand like headstones over the graves of houses

Conor O'Clery in San Bernardino: Tall brick chimney stacks stand like headstones over the graves of houses. A few burnt-out cars squat on wheel hubs. A cold mist swirls eerily through blackened trees.

The only colours are black and grey, apart from the yellow gear worn by firefighters looking for hot spots.

This was the scene in the mountain communities of Cedar Glen and Running Springs north of San Bernardino yesterday morning after they were engulfed by the "old fire", one of the two deadliest raging in the state since Sunday.

In few other natural disasters does one find such complete and utter devastation. During the night the fire consumed 380 dwellings in San Bernardino Forest Park, bringing the total across southern California to almost 3,000.

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Because of the smoke, the mist and the vagaries of a wind that frequently changed direction, an exact count of damaged property could not be made.

Some homes destroyed were little more than log cabins on stilts; others were solid three car-garage mountain lodges with swimming pools. "It's still dangerous here," said a fireman in a nearby burned-out stretch of forest.

"These trees were diseased and branches can just fall on top of you - even the trees themselves."

After inspecting the damage from a Blackhawk helicopter, Governor Gray Davis called the fires the most expensive disaster in California's history.

"We're outside all the predictive models, this is an all-consuming fire," said Tom O'Keefe, head of the San Bernardino unit of California's Forestry and Fire Protection Department.

The death toll rose to 20 since Sunday, with most of the casualties in the 250,000 acre Cedar fire, the largest in California's history, still burning out of control near the city of San Diego. On Wednesday fireman Steven Rucker, 38, died in his fire truck as it was engulfed in flames in the Cedar Fire, and three colleagues were injured.

They were part of an ultimately successful effort to save the old gold-mining town of Julien from a fire that Janet Marshall, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, described as "nothing short of apocalyptic".

At least 1,700 dwellings were destroyed in the fire, which at one point extended into the San Diego suburbs.

Twelve of the fatalities occurred in two rural San Diego neighbourhoods where residents had no forewarning of the approaching fire.

The dead reportedly included a a 17-year-old high school student, her mother and an aunt, whose skeleton was found in a bathtub along with the bones of her dog.

Four people were burned alive in the upscale gated community of Lake View Hills Estates. Yesterday a cold front enveloped the mountains of San Bernardino in fog, bringing some hope that the worst here may be over, but the wind whipped up again in early afternoon. Rain is forecast for today and even snow at the highest resorts.

The firefighters, exhausted after working almost non-stop since Sunday, managed to keep the fire from the 100-year-old resort of Arrowhead and another popular ski destination, Big Bear Lake.

After the fog cleared, skycrane helicopters began scooping up 2,600-gallon-loads of water from a reservoir along Highway 173 to dump it on trees and homes in communities still threatened by the 15-mile long wall of fire. Earthmoving equipment was brought up the mountain roads to create fire breaks and clear away dead trees.

The disaster has caused a huge refugee problem in southern California, with 105,000 people forced from their homes since Sunday.

Thousands of residents with an assortment of pets, even a black pig, have taken refuge in the TWA hangar of San Bernardino Airport where helpers have been bringing food and blankets to the stranded.

Parked outside the hangar are pick-up trucks and SUVs, some with trailers attached containing boats and jet skis.

California media reported one bit of good news yesterday.

The ancient Santa Clarita oak tree which was the scene of a protest last year when it was threatened by development narrowly survived the Simi Fire north of Los Angeles.