Winds wane as 18 wildfires burn in California
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Dying winds gave California firefighters their first big break on Wednesday after four days battling wildfires, but San Diego faced more calamity as blazes there burned out of control and kept more than half a million evacuees from returning home.
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By Christina Almeida THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  OJAI -- Gusty winds stoked three wildfires scorching Southern California on Sunday, forcing authorities to shut down highways and evacuate thousands from canyon and desert communities.
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Towering wildfires burned out of control across Southern California for a third day on Tuesday as 500,000 people fled the San Diego area, and firefighters made a desperate stand to save a mountain town ringed by flames.
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Strong winds and high temperatures fuel California brush fires, forcing hundreds to evacuate their homes.
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Hundreds of thousands of people in California have been forced to flee their homes as fierce brush fires fuelled by gusting winds continue to burn out of control.
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More than a dozen uncontained wildfires raged Monday across Southern California, threatening thousands of structures and forcing 265,000 people to flee homes. In San Diego, the chairman of the County Board of Supervisors said weather conditions had "all the ingredients for a perfect firestorm."
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By GILLIAN FLACCUS OJAI, Calif. - Helicopters lifted off as winds calmed Sunday, ferrying water and transporting firefighters to battle a three-week-old wildfire that has scorched more than 200 square miles of the Los Padres National Forest.
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Fierce desert winds continued to propel a series of wildfires in southern California yesterday, causing 300,000 people to flee their homes and destroying more than 1,000 homes in the San Diego area alone.
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Dry conditions combined with fierce winds fueled wildfires in at least a dozen areas around Los Angeles and San Diego, threatening homes, forcing evacuations and causing at least one death on Sunday.
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LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. - Two wildfires erupted Tuesday in the forests of Southern California as a moist ocean breeze helped slow a huge blaze that has burned for more than two weeks near the coast.
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Fire crews were hoping for a Monday morning lull in the winds that have been fanning a 2,000-acre wildfire across northeastern California, where it has scorched more than 220 homes and other buildings, authorities said.
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Lighter winds and higher humidity have enabled firefighters in California to go on the attack more, but the fires remain worrisome.
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A California wildfire fanned by powerful winds burned out of control on Sunday in the celebrity seaside enclave of Malibu, forcing hundreds of people to flee and destroying a handful of multimillion-dollar homes.
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Cool, damp weather moved into Southern California from the Pacific Ocean on Friday boosting efforts to beat down stubborn wildfires, while weary families returned to find many homes unscathed but hundreds of others burned to rubble.
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SAN FRANCISCO Sept. 5, 2004 - Hot dry winds hampered the efforts of firefighters battling a 9,200-acre wildfire in California wine country on Sunday, and promised no respite for the next two days.
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A dozen wildfires stoked by gusting winds burned out of control in southern California on Sunday, killing one person in San Diego and forcing thousands to evacuate homes from the celebrity enclave of Malibu down to the Mexican border.
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Weeks into a wildfire season that has already burned parts of Catalina Island, Los Angeles and Lake Tahoe, swaths of California's flammable national forests are some days protected by nothing more than luck.