Weary Californians return homes

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Thousands of Californians forced from their neighborhoods by this week's wind-whipped wildfires returned home on Friday, some of them finding their property unscathed amid the destruction and others discovering nothing but blackened rubble.

In San Diego County, where an estimated 500,000 people fled the smoke and flames in the largest mass evacuation in modern California history, lines of cars streamed back into fire-scarred mountain communities that had been left ghost towns.

Traffic was jammed for miles as weary residents made their way one at a time past police checkpoints. In some neighborhoods the hop-scotching fires left a single home standing while burning everything else to the ground.

Steve Conner, 62, whose suburban San Diego home was one of 30 on his block reduced to ruins, described the moment he confronted the loss of his house and neighborhood.

"Emotionally, it was just beyond belief," the Vietnam War infantry veteran said, his voice shaking. "It's just totally wiped out. All the trees are black ... It just reminded me of Vietnam. It just reminded me of a war zone."

As of Friday afternoon, the wildfires killed at least 12 people, had blackened some 800 square miles of Southern California and destroyed 2,000 homes and other structures. Losses were expected to top $1 billion in hard-hit San Diego County alone.

The few hundred remaining people in the largest emergency shelter -- San Diego's Qualcomm sports stadium -- were being moved to several smaller centers. The stadium, which at one time had housed and fed more than 10,000 people, was due to close Friday.

Stores in the deserted communities began to reopen, some with signs in their windows thanking firefighters for their efforts. Crews removed fallen trees and repaired phone lines that were blown down by the high winds.