South California in a state of emergency due to wildfires by Zuzana Zelenakova

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency for the county as efforts to put out already widespread wildfire has failed so far. Wildfire boosted by hot and dry Santa Ana winds blowing from the northeast has already burned about 8,500 acres in the hills of Ventura County. Firefighters have been trying to do their best on the ground while in the air huge tankers have poured water and retardant upon the flames. Fire is threatening not only forest but also several hundreds of homes and valuable oil fields and agricultural industry. On Wednesday, helicopters stopped the flames that were headed towards orchards. Surely some trees burned down, but ! no serious damage to orchards has been recorded. "A lot of the ranchers would rather see their homes burn down than their orchards, because that's their livelihood," said county fire Capt. Ron Oatman. So far the fire has been following the path of another one from several years ago. “That was a big one and fortunately it burned a lot of the fuel that could feed this one,” said Moorpark spokesman Hugh Riley. On Wednesday, the weather got milder, however, it is expected to return to the original pattern by Friday. The Guiberson fire, as it was named, forced authorities to evacuate hundreds of homes. People could take shelter in the evacuation center south of Moorpark. “Don't wait for an evacuation order if you feel like you're in danger,” said Fire Capt. Ron Oatman. Second fire ignited in the Riverside County, southeast of the Ventura County, and burned about 160 acres. However, it was about 60 percent contained and according to the reports no homes ha! ve been lost. About 900 firefighters have been working on the ! fire and fortunately no serious injuries were reported. The fire in the San Gabriel Mountains in August cost two firefighters their lives.

related story (sgx15452): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_on_re_us/us_wildfires...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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