Weather Helping, But Fires Continue

Edit: As of 9 p.m. tonight, Bro. Darin Sargent is not back into his house. They will spend another night at a local hotel. We continue to pray for a safe return to an undamaged home.

An amazing satellite shot of the fires in Southern California. We are praying for all those who have been impacted by the flames. Bro. & Sis. Gerald Buxton's house is ok. Bro. Darin Sargent and his family are still waiting to return to their house. They have been staying in a local hotel since being evacuated on Monday.

This report taken from KCAL9 News:

1 Million Evacuated From Raging SoCal Wildfires

(AP) SAN DIEGO Faced with unrelenting winds whipping wildfires into a frenzy across Southern California, firefighters conceded defeat on many fronts Tuesday to an unstoppable force that has chased an estimated 1 million people away.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.

"Tentacles of unpredictable, shifting flame have burned across nearly 600 square miles, killing one person, 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.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."

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."These winds are so strong, we're not trying to fight this fire," said firefighter Jim Gelrud, an engineer from Vista, Calif. "We're just trying to save the buildings."

More than a dozen wildfires blowing across Southern California since Sunday have also injured more than 45 people, including 21 firefighters. The U.S. Forest Service earlier reported a fire death in Los Angeles County's Santa Clarita area, but officials said Tuesday that information was erroneous.

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.

President Bush, who planned to visit the region Thursday, declared a federal emergency for seven counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts.