(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-23 09:03

SAN DIEGO -- Wildfires blown by fierce desert winds Monday reduced scores of Southern California homes to ashes, forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee and laid a hellish, spidery pattern of luminous orange over the drought-stricken region.

Fire crews are overwhelmed as the fire crosses Ramblas Pacifico in the Malibu Hills, Monday, Oct. 22, 2007, in Malibu, Calif. [Agencies]

At least one person was killed in the fires, and dozens were injured. Nearly 130 homes had burned in one mountain town alone, and thousands more buildings were threatened by more than a dozen blazes covering at least 310 square miles.

"The sky was just red. Everywhere I looked was red, glowing. Law enforcement came barreling in with police cars with loudspeakers telling everyone to get out now," said Ronnie Leigh, 55, who fled her home at a mobile home park as flames darkened the sky over the nearby ridge line.

Firefighters -- who lost valuable time trying to persuade stubborn homeowners to leave -- were almost completely overwhelmed as gale-force winds gusting to 70 mph scattered embers on the dry brush. California officials pleaded for help from fire departments in other states.

A pair of wildfires consumed 128 homes in the mountain resort community of Lake Arrowhead, in the San Bernardino National Forest east of Los Angeles, authorities said.

"We're stretched very thin and we can't get any planes up," said forest spokesman John Miller.

At least 14 fires were burning in Southern California, said Patti Roberts, a spokeswoman for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

More than 265,000 people from Malibu to San Diego were warned to leave their homes. More than 250,000 were told to flee in San Diego County alone, where hundreds of patients were moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes, some in hospital gowns and wheelchairs. Some carried their medical records in large zip-lock plastic bags.

A 1,049-inmate jail in Orange County was evacuated because of heavy smoke. The prisoners were taken by bus to other lockups.

At San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, home to the NFL's Chargers, thousands of people huddled in eerie silence on the bleachers, staring at muted TV news reports of the wildfires. A lone concession stand served coffee and doughnuts.

Many evacuees gathered in the parking lot with their pets, which were banned from the stadium.

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