Help Pours in for Calif. Fire Victims
Feds Nixed Request to Clean Up Forests
Hunt on for Those Who Set Wildfires
Feds OK Forest Management Plan
Halloween Still on for Fire Refugees
Wildfires Have Mixed Economic Impact
California Firefighters Nixed Water Drop
Fires Test Airtanker Pilots
Hunt on for Wildfire Arsonists
Smoke Grounded Calif. Copters for Days
Gov. Davis Relieves Local Governments
Calif. FFs Remember Fallen Brother
Survivors of 1991 Fire Remeber
Wildfire: Choices Mean Life or Death
Desert Foothill Folks Join Fire Refugees
Crews Dig in to Protect Homes
Firestorm Catches News Crew
Congress Seeks Funds for Firefighting
Porterville FF Describes Firestorms
Health Alert For San Diego Co.
Firefighting System Pushed To Limit
Julian, Survives Night
N.C. Air Nat'l Guard To Help Fight Fires
California Fires Nix Forest Filming
Tens of Thousands Evacuate In Calif.
L.A. Horses Moved Out of Harm's Way
CA Fires Kill 18, Destroy 2,000 Homes
Fla. Helicopter To Help Fight Fires
Calif. Governor-Elect Seeks Aid
Calif. Fire Crew Fights for Home
Rescuers Save Livestock From Wildfires
Fire Found San Bernardino Prepared
Supercomputers Can't Predict Wildfires
Wildfires Threaten Mountain Towns
Exhausted Crews Fight Deadly CA Fires
Deadly S.D. Blazes Threaten to Merge
President Orders Aid For CA Fires
Arson-Caused Fires Anger Residents
Wildfires Cause Fear, Frustration
Fires Raze San Diego, Calif. Community
Calif. Fires Rage Out Of Control
Wildfire Toll Tops 1,500 Calif. Homes
Orange Co. Sends Fire Help, Keeps Vigil
No Way Out When Home Is in 'Firebelt'
CA FFs Forced to Make Indirect Attacks
A Fiery Shutdown: Activities Curtailed
Deadly Fires Highlight Perilous Choices
CA Owner Loses House A Second Time
So. Calif. Fires Draw Local Concern
Devastation Looms Over San Diego Co.
Bush Declares Calif. Disaster Areas
Neighbor Warned Wildfire Victims
Calif. Fires Threaten 30,000 Homes
Colo. Crews To Help Battle CA Blazes
Man Questioned In Del Paso, Arsons
Group Calls For More Fire Staffing
Calif. Fires Slow As Winds Die Down
80,000 Acres Torched in Ventura Co.
Fire Danger High In Northern CA
Calif. Fire Officials Investigating Arson
CA Residents Make Frantic Escape
Calif. Firestorm Rages On
No Help Soon For Shorthanded CA FFs
Fires Kill 13, 900+ Homes Gutted
4 Killed in CA, Bars Prevent Escape
Wildfires Destroy Four Houses
FFs Close To Containing Fort Ord Burn
Calif. Forestry and Fire Protection
Forest Service Fire Maps
UpdateLA.org
FEMA
Then, just days before she was supposed to be out, wildfires raging through her Crestline community forced her to leave early.
Now, for all she knows, the home is gone, destroyed by the flames.
``Why am I laughing?'' she said at an emergency evacuation shelter this week. ``What else can I do?''
Nearby, her friends chuckle sympathetically and then start telling similar stories of living in grinding poverty even before the fires broke out - sleeping in sheds, having no health care, surviving on welfare.
Across Southern California, the wildfires have destroyed million-dollar estates and vacation homes. But the flames have also devoured shacks, cabins and trailers. Many of those who lost everything did not have much to begin with.
Of the major regions aflame in Southern California, the areas around San Bernardino are by far the poorest. The poverty rate is around 20 percent. In the city of San Bernardino, where thousands were evacuated, 32 percent of the residents receive some type of welfare.
``A lot of people have more than just the fire to contend with,'' said Julie Alvarez, who works with the San Bernardino County Victim Services unit. ``For some folks, this evacuation has just exacerbated their problems.''
San Bernardino was not always so poverty-stricken. In recent years, however, it has lost major employers such as Kaiser Steel, Norton Air Force Base and the Santa Fe Railroad switching yard.
Day, 42, made it out of the mountains with just the clothes on her back. Firefighters have not yet allowed evacuees to return to the mountain because the fires still pose a threat.
``A lot of people are poor in my neighborhood,'' she said. ``We live in the welfare slum on the mountain.''
The fire was not even the last of her troubles. After she was evacuated, law enforcement agents checking her identification found that she was wanted on forgery charges and took her to jail. She was later released and hitchhiked to a Red Cross center, where she got food and a blanket.
``If they're staying at this evacuation center, they're likely indigent, without insurance or resources,'' said Dawn Robins, a therapist volunteering at an evacuation center in San Bernardino.
Philip Bullington, 48, was evacuated from his home in the mountains Saturday and has been sleeping in a parking lot outside a disaster relief center at Sultana High School in Hesperia.
Bullington said he was not in good shape even before he was evacuated.
``I didn't have anything - maybe 30 or 40 cents in my pocket,'' he said. ``I was working at my landlord's house when the order came to evacuate.''
Dressed in donated clothes, he is spending his days minding his pile of belongings - a blanket, a pair of boots, jeans and a bag of pretzels.
Even for those in more stable financial positions, getting evacuated has been a big setback.
Debra Reyes of Crestline had to leave her home Saturday. Her main concern was getting her four dogs out. She took them to a kennel, at $42 a night. Now she is waiting out the fires at the evacuation center in San Bernardino, worried about running out of money.
Reyes' husband has continued to work during the fires, driving a truck twice a day on a smoky route to and from San Diego.
``He's got to keep working,'' she said. ``This is costing us so much.''
