From Malibu to San Diego, the skies of Southern California filled with dark, acrid smoke from dozens of wildfires that burned at least 655 homes, including more than 130 in the Lake Arrowhead mountain resort alone.
In Malibu, police checkpoints kept drivers off the usually busy Pacific Coast Highway and the surreal effect was heightened by the numerous helicopters taking part in an aerial bucket brigade.
In northern Los Angeles County, helicopters also were hard at work as new wildfires suddenly appeared this afternoon, briefly threatening a massive subdivision known as Stevenson Ranch.
The Santa Ana winds, which blow hot and dry from the desert toward the sea, howled throughout the day and inflated tall, wide columns of purple and black smoke. The smoke at times obliterated the sun, turning it into a faint orange disc.
The fires forced authorities to warn more than 265,000 people in Southern California to leave their homes, including about 250,000 in San Diego County.
The wildfires of 2007 are yet another dark chapter in SoCal's history, which includes the deadly wildfires of 2003 that killed 22 people and destroyed 3,640 homes, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the 2005 La Conchita mudslide and, of course, the 1994 Northridge earthquake that killed dozens and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.
For more on the SoCal wildfires, read this report by a team of AP reporters.
--Paul Chavez
