SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- Raging California wildfires that have destroyed almost 700 homes burned through the night as nearly 6,000 firefighters prepared for the fierce Santa Ana winds to fuel the flames again Tuesday.
At least 14 wildfires have scorched about 425 square miles from north of Los Angeles to southeast of San Diego.
While three major fires rage in Los Angeles County -- including one threatening the movie-star enclave of Malibu -- the largest disruption of life and property came to the south.
More than 300,000 people fled their homes in San Diego County, where five of 19 emergency shelters reached capacity Monday evening. Others took shelter with friends or relatives.
In an e-mail to CNN, Jonathan Gallen, a doctor in Poway, described how the fires quickly closed in on his neighborhood Monday.
"My pool was completely black with soot. Like the 'Creature From the Black Lagoon' was about to walk out of there," Gallen wrote. "The soot was falling so heavily that it blocked out the sun. There was a smoke cloud above our home that seemed to stretch for miles. This was bad."
Reporter Larry Himmel of KFMB-TV in San Diego showed viewers the destruction of his home in the Forest Ranch area.
"You can see my hose right here valiantly trying to do something," Himmel said as flames dwarfed a trickle of water. Video Watch reporter's account as his home burns »
National Guard troops were posted at Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL's San Diego Chargers, as it became a temporary home to 10,000 fire evacuees.
Sean McGough and his family fled their home in El Cajon for Qualcomm early Tuesday morning as the flames closed in.
"I looked out and saw the mountain engulfed in flames with a trail at least three miles long coming down," McGough said.
"When I went to bed at midnight, nothing in the East County was any immediate threat. ... Two hours later is when we got the news we needed to get out of our homes."
President Bush issued an emergency declaration Tuesday for seven California counties, clearing the way for federal disaster relief.
San Diego officials said they used lessons learned four years ago when the fast-moving Cedar Fire killed 15 people and blackened 280,000 acres in the same area of northern San Diego County where the Witch Fire is raging. One lesson included moving more quickly to order people out of their homes, officials said.
The Witch Fire consumed 145,000 acres, 500 homes and 100 commercial buildings between Sunday afternoon and late Monday, moving on a fast 20-mile westward path from its origins near Ramona into the more populated San Diego city limits and across Interstate 15. The Pacific coast was barely five miles west of the fire line early Tuesday. Photo See photos of the fires »
"It's probably the worst this county has ever had, well in excess of the Cedar Fire. ... It looks like it's going to get worse, and we want everybody to be prepared and understand," San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender said.
One improvement since the Cedar Fire is a "reverse 911" system, which has dialed 262,000 home phones with fire updates and evacuation orders, according to Harold Tuck, the county's deputy chief administrative officer.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff assured him that "help is on the way" from the federal government, including 25,000 cots and blankets for people sleeping in shelters.
Bush's declaration covers the same seven counties that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared as in a state of emergency Monday: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura. See where fires burn across Southern California »
According to the White House, the federal Agriculture Department will provide fire crews, air tankers and helicopters to fight the wildfires, and the state will receive assistance grants to help pay firefighting costs.
The U.S. Marines' Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, told only "key and essential personnel" to report to duty Tuesday. The Rice Fire is burning east of the base.
Residents of Fallbrook, adjacent to Camp Pendleton, evacuated as the Rice Fire burned 1,500 acres and destroyed 50 homes and damaged 30 more in nearby Rice Canyon.
Southeast of San Diego, the hαɾɾιs Fire burned 25,000 acres. The blaze claimed the only life lost so far on Sunday and injured 17 civilians and five firefighters.
Officials said they're concerned about the fire spreading to San Miguel Mountain, the site of important communications towers.
Early Tuesday, a new fire was reported on the La Jolla Indian Reservation, northeast of Escondido, according to a state fire report monitored by the San Diego Union-Tribune. Several structures were burning and people were being evacuated to the nearby Palomar Observatory, the report said.
In Los Angeles County, 2,900 firefighters have made headway in containing the three largest fires, said Fire Chief Michael Freeman.
"We still have the very strong Santa Ana winds and the single-digit humidities, which are predicted to persist for the next couple days," Freeman said.
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Firefighters have the Canyon Fire around Malibu 8 percent contained. But Freeman said groundwork was been laid for significant progress Tuesday. Six homes, two businesses and a church were lost as 3,800 acres burned, but there have been no injuries.
Two fires that erupted Monday morning in San Bernardino County near Lake Arrowhead have destroyed at least 123 structures and charred 1,800 acres, said Loretta Benavidez, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino National Forest. Several communities in the area, including Green Valley Lake, Arrowbear and Running Springs, were evacuated.
Topic: Wildfires in California continue (Read 719 times)