From far and wide, helpers pour into a fire-stricken San Diego(compiled by Candice Reed)Friday October 26, 2007
Rachel Hanley arrived in San Diego Wednesday after a 12-hour drive from her home in ColoradoSprings, Colo. She parked her truck at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, home of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, and set to work caring for some of the more than 2,500 horses that have been given shelter there from the region's firestorm."There are a lot of displaced folks, but they seem to be taken care of," says Ms. Hanley. "Butthese animals are really scared, and not a lot of people can handle them. People are helping thefire victims of San Diego in all sorts of ways. Mine just happens to be with horses."At least 1,000 volunteers have turned out in recent days, arriving at the fairgrounds andQualcomm Stadium, evacuation central, to offer their services to the fire-besieged – everythingfrom medical skills to yoga instruction.Likewise, fire crews who've been battling the blazes since Saturday are seeing reinforce- mentsarrive, as fires that had blackened nearly 500,000 acres by Thursday morning continue to burnthroughout San Diego County. Eight deaths have been attributed to the southern California fires,and in a bit of bad news that represents the opposite spirit of the volunteer corps, authoritiesreported that arson is the suspected cause of two wildfires to the north – one in Orange Countyand one in Riverside County.Among the firefighters who have worked to contain the San Diego fires are crews from Tijuanaand Tecate in Mexico. "It is very important for Mexico to cooperate with the United States insituations like these because these fires affect the environment on both sides," said Capt. MarcoAntonio Garambullo, Tecate's Fire Department director.Mexico has also sent electricity to the area. A fire cut a main power link with Arizona, and a blaze near the Marine base at Camp Pendleton was, at press time, threatening the main north-south power corridor that connects San Diego with the rest of California.The Mexican firefighters have since returned home to battle their own fires, but caravans of firecrews from northern California, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington continued to roll into San Diegoon Wednesday. About 950 firefighters from the US Forest Service will arrive soon, the FederalEmergency Management Agency reported.Away from the fire lines, average Americans with strong arms and big hearts threw their energiesinto helping all creatures, great and small, survive the fires as comfortably as possible.Among those pitching in alongside Hanley to tend to displaced horses and other livestock wereFuture Farmers of America students from Eureka, Calif., who drove 700 miles nonstop to help.At the stadium, where evacuees rested on cots and makeshift beds assembled on sidewalks,students from the University of Kentucky, Hawaii Pacific University, and Utah State Universityreported for duty. Church groups from Providence, R.I., and Yuma, Ariz., manned information booths and led prayer groups, and a motorcycle club from San Francisco roared into action,moving stacks of food and toiletries.
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