California Fires #12

A fire in Los Angeles will need at least a week to get control of the wildfires that have destroyed more than 900 homes. High winds have come from Santa Barbara to Anaheim since Thursday, blazing about 40,900 acres of land. Sustained winds eased, but locally gusty conditions and humidity could continue, the National Weather Service has predicted. Everyone is trying to be optimistic in this devastating disaster, but firefighters are very hopeful to get work done. The most extensive losses have been in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, where winds were clocked at 70 mph that drove a wall of flames across the hillsides and destroyed nearly 500 homes. No bodies were found after going through the wreckage after the fires. Police think most of those living in the 608 mobile homes fled the fire, Deputy Police Chief Michael Moore said. But he also told those who escaped to call in and let investigators know they survived. One woman who survived said, "I am so thankful that I am at a loss for words. My heart goes out to those not as fortunate."Most of the damage was in Orange County, where more than 100 homes were destroyed.n Santa Barbara County, northwest of Los Angeles, firefighters said they had the Tea fire 95 percent contained after it destroyed more than 100 homes. Among the losses in the 1,900-plus acres it incinerated were a monastery and several mansions in a community where celebrities have homes. One man on Good Morning America even said, "it's amazing, its just gone, rebuilding would be -- it's too much. You can't rebuild that."