Some of California's Native American reservations were burned Tuesday as unchecked wildfires continued to rage across the region for the third day, forcing more than half a million people to flee their homes in what is called the largest evacuation effort in the state's history.
A fire breaking out overnight in the La Jolla Indian reservation near San Diego burned down historic buildings and homes, scorching nearly 3,000 hectares there and at the nearby Rincon and San Pasqual reservations.
"We've lost a lot of our older buildings we had, that have been here for years and years," tribal councilman Bo Mazzetti told local newspaper the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The San Diego area was hit hardest by the wildfires, which have been devastating Southern California since Sunday, leaving hundreds of thousands of hectares burned and over 1,500 homes and other buildings destroyed.
At least half a million people fled their homes in San Diego alone, where some exclusive hill-top communities had been reduced to ashes in flames, and city officials used the 60,000-seat Qualcomm Stadium and other public places as shelters to host tens of thousands of evacuees who have no places to go.
Weary firefighters tried in vain Tuesday to battle about 16 wildfires across Southern California's seven counties, with most of the fires still spreading with the help of dry, windy weather conditions. Fire officials said containment was days away at the earliest.
U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to visit here Thursday to view the fire damage, after declaring a state of emergency in Southern California earlier Tuesday and ordered federal officials to bring aid to the fire-stricken region.
Source: Xinhua
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