SoCal Firefighters: "We Can't Stop It"

It's a fight to the death with what firefighters call "the beast."

And right now "the beast" is winning, reports CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.

Faced with unrelenting winds whipping wildfires into a frenzy across Southern California, firefighters all but conceded defeat Tuesday to an unstoppable force that has chased more than 500,000 people from their homes.

Unless the shrieking Santa Ana winds subside, and that's not expected for at least another day, fire crews say they can do little more than try to wait it out and react -- tamping out spot fires and chasing ribbons of airborne embers to keep new fires from flaring.

"If it's this big and blowing with as much wind as it's got, it'll go all the way to the ocean before it stops," said San Diego Fire Capt. Kirk Humphries. "We can save some stuff but we can't stop it."

Smaller fires are merging to form giant infernos, creating pillars of smoke that can be seen from space, reports Couric.

Tentacles of unpredictable, shifting flame have burned across nearly 600 square miles, killing two people, destroying more than 1,600 homes and prompting the biggest evacuation in California history, from north of Los Angeles, through San Diego to the Mexican border.

Triple digit heat is pushing the 6,000 firefighters to their limits. Some of these men and women have been at it now for 36 hours straight, as modified airliners skim the hilltops to drop mile-long lines of flame-retardant chemicals, reports Couric.

"When they drop retardant, when they drop water, it's literally turning to mist," because the winds are so strong it dissipates, said Matt Streck of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The 70-mile-per-hour Santa Ana winds make it nearly impossible to predict where the fire will go next. Just as crews prepare to make a stand, they get outflanked by embers that hop the lines and explode into new fires.

"You won't see a Santa Ana fire come down on you until it's too late," said Streck.

President Bush, whose administration was criticized for its handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, declared a federal emergency for seven counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts. He also planned a visit to the region Thursday, and the Pentagon said it has sent troops and equipment.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the flames were threatening 68,000 more homes.

"We have had an unfortunate situation that we've had three things come together: very dry areas, very hot weather and then a lot of wind," Schwarzenegger said. "And so this makes the perfect storm for a fire."

The fires also affected some of California's celebrity residents, threatening the oceanfront town of Malibu where many stars like Mel Gibson, Cher, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Aniston, Mel Brooks, Ryan O'Neal and others have homes.

In Rancho Santa Fe, a suburb north of San Diego, houses burned just yards from where fire crews fought to contain flames engulfing other properties. In the mountain community of Lake Arrowhead, cabins and vacation homes went up in flames with no fire crews in sight.

More than a dozen wildfires blowing across Southern California since Sunday have also injured more than 45 people, including 21 firefighters.

Los Angeles County's Santa Clarita residents fought all night to save their homes, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.

"It was my home for 40 years and now it's gone," said one resident.

The U.S. Forest Service earlier reported a fire death in Santa Clarita, but officials said Tuesday that information was erroneous. The one confirmed death occurred over the weekend, authorities said, and the person has been identified as Thomas Varshock, who died after he ignored warnings to evacuate and authorities left to take care of other evacuations, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Besides Varshock, the San Diego medical examiner's officer listed four deaths as connected to the wildfires. Three were people in their 90s who died from natural causes; the fourth was a woman who died after falling at a restaurant.

All are considered fire-connected deaths because they occurred during or after evacuations.

A dozen firefighters battling blazes in Orange County had to deploy emergency shelters, a last resort when they are surrounded by flames.

Orange County's fire chief angrily declared it didn't have to happen, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.

"It's an absolute fact that had we more air resources we would have been able to control this fire," said Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather.

The fires also forced the evacuation of more than 350,000 houses, most of them in San Diego County. With the area's average household size of 2.6 people, that means the evacuation could encompass nearly 910,000 people.

"It's basically a mass migration here in San Diego County. The numbers we're seeing are staggering," said Luis Monteagudo, a spokesman for the county's emergency effort.

The sweeping devastation was reminiscent of blazes that tore through Southern California four years ago, killing 22 and destroying 3,640 homes.

The ferocity of the Santa Ana winds in 2003 forced crews to discard their traditional strategy and focus on keeping up with the fire and putting out spot blazes that threatened homes.

Fire crews were especially concerned about dense eucalyptus groves in Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe, fearing the highly flammable trees could turn neighborhoods prized for their secluded serenity into potential tinderboxes.

The usual tactic is to surround a fire on two sides and try to choke it off. But with fires whipped by gusts that have surpassed 100 mph (161 kph), that strategy does not work because embers can be swept miles ahead of the fire's front line. In those cases, crews must keep 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9 meters) back from the flames or risk their own lives, Los Angeles County firefighter Daryl Parish said.

Any flame longer than 8 feet is considered unstoppable, and even water and fire retardant will evaporate before they reach the ground, said Gordon Schmidt, a retired U.S. Forest Service deputy director of fire management.

"In these situations, the strategy generally is to fall back," he said. "You pick and choose your priorities in terms of what you can protect. Instead of trying to stop the fire, you try to prevent it from burning resources."

In the suburbs north of San Diego, firefighters did just that as fingers of flame pulsed across a 10-lane freeway and raced up a hill on the opposite side in just seconds. The fire engulfed white-washed homes at the top of the ridge.

Firefighters battling two fast-moving blazes in Lake Arrowhead, in the San Bernardino Mountains about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, were also taxed by steep terrain, winding roads and a forest packed with dead or dying trees.

More than 200 homes burned in Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs, fire officials said.

At least three times in the past two days, fire crews have been forced to "pull off, and wait for things to calm down" because of danger, said San Bernardino National Forest Ranger Kurt Winchester.

Fighting a gusty blaze also puts the firefighters in harm's way. At least twice in the last two days, firefighters have had to unfurl their emergency fire shelters - small fire-resistant tents to shield them when they can't escape a fire.

Weather conditions only grew worse, with temperatures across Southern California about 10 degrees above average. Temperatures were in the 90s by mid-afternoon and wind gusts up to 60 mph were expected in mountains and canyons.

In the San Diego suburb of Del Dios, fire completely destroyed one home but seemed to touch other items at random. Two lawn chairs and an umbrella were left in a burnt, melted heap on the patio. But behind the house, near a murky brown swimming pool, two chaise lounges and a four-foot-tall decorative fountain survived unscathed.