An unrelenting wildfire jumped a fire line on Tuesday in the San Bernardino Mountains and headed toward Lake Arrowhead, devouring homes and disease-racked forests in its path. Downcast fire officials said they appeared to be losing their battle for the alpine resort region. The blaze, potentially catastrophic, was one of several fires that have burned close to 900 square miles of Southern California in the past week, leaving 16 people dead and destroying at least 2,000 homes, state officials said. Others raged from Ventura County to Mexico, forcing tens of thousands of additional evacuations and nearing more communities, including the Stevenson Ranch subdivision in northern Los Angeles County. ‘‘We are experiencing a history-altering event,’’ said James M. Wright of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. ‘‘We feel this is no doubt the most devastating natural disaster California’s faced, and also no doubt the most costly.’’ A shift in the weather brought cooling marine breezes to soot-caked fire crews. It helped arrest some fires, but fanned others in new and treacherous directions. The National Weather Service was predicting gusty winds for Wednesday afternoon, which could hamper firefighting efforts in some areas. As exhausted firefighters struggled to gain some measure of control over the fires, the head of the US Forest Service sounded downhearted. ‘‘It isn’t getting better yet,’’ Dale N. Bosworth said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in Sacramento. ‘‘It’s pretty grim.’’ Smoke filled the skies throughout much of Southern California, turning the sky a range of otherworldly colours, from a putrid greyish yellow to salmon pink. Residents of threatened communities, many of whom moved to the fringe of wilderness to escape urban stress, were confronted with life-and-death decisions and wrenching heartache.Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives in the nation’s capital Wednesday to meet with members of Congress. A Schwarzenegger spokesman said the governor-elect planned to meet officials on Thursday. President Bush, who on Monday declared four California counties to be a federal disaster area, promised again on Tuesday to help the state. ‘‘I express my deep concerns and sympathies for those whose lives have been hurt badly by these fires,’’ the President said. ‘‘The federal government is working closely with the state government to provide the resources necessary to help the brave firefighters do their duty.’’There were some encouraging trends on Tuesday, including the shift from hot, dry Santa Ana winds to cooler, moister offshore air flows. However, the trend alarmed firefighters around Lake Arrowhead, who had considered the Santa Ana winds their ally in pushing the fire down the south-facing slope of the mountains and away from resort communities. (LAT-WP)
