FALLBROOK, Calif. (AP) – Firefighters in Southern California were on high alert for dangerous fire potential even before the first blazes broke out.
But once flames met ferocious winds, fire crews were mostly powerless to stop infernos.
Out-of-control fires destroyed nearly 700 buildings, killed dozens of horses and forced hundreds of thousands of people to run from six big fires that have burned over 260 square miles (673 square kilometers) across the region.
Dick Marsala looks through debris from his destroyed home after a wildfire roared through the Rancho Monserate Country Club Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Bonsall, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
State fire Capt. Kendal Bortisser says fires fueled by Santa Ana winds are as unstoppable as tornados and hurricanes.
Firefighters gained ground Friday and some of the earliest evacuees from the weeks fires were returning home, but danger persists.
Vegetation is bone dry and there’s been hardly any rainfall. Forecasts in the Los Angeles and Ventura areas call for gusts up to 40 mph (64 kph) Saturday and up to 50 mph (80 kph) Sunday.
Dick Marsala looks through debris from his destroyed home after a wildfire roared through the Rancho Monserate Country Club Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Bonsall, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Marissa Sherman, left, reacts as she sees the destroyed home of her grandfather, Dick Marsala, right, after a wildfire roared through the Rancho Monserate Country Club, Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Bonsall, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Fire crews search for hot spots among destroyed homes in the Rancho Monserate Country Club community Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Fallbrook, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Firefighter Jason Scott of the Heartland Fire Dept., recovers a safe from a destroyed home in the Rancho Monserate Country Club Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Fallbrook, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Firefighter Simon Garcia, of Heartland Fire Dept., gets a hug from a woman who did not give her name after she arrived to find her house was intact in the Rancho Monserate Country Club, Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Fallbrook, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A helicopter drops fire retardant on a wildfire, Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Fallbrook, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A plane drops fire retardant on a wildfire Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Fallbrook, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A helicopter prepares to make a water drop over the San Luis Rey Training Center, where thoroughbreds are housed and trained, in Bonsall, Calif., Friday, Dec. 8, 2017. Many horses were rescued or released to run free of the flames. But the California Horse Racing Board said more than two dozen horses were killed when eight barns burned and others in adjacent pastures were unaccounted for. (AP Photo/Amanda Lee Myers)
Dick Marsala looks through debris from his destroyed home after a wildfire roared through the Rancho Monserate Country Club Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Bonsall, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A statue sits among destroyed homes in the Rancho Monserate Country Club community Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Fallbrook, Calif. The wind-swept blazes have forced tens of thousands of evacuations and destroyed dozens of homes in Southern California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A tanker drops retardant while trying to keep the Thomas fire from spreading into Fillmore, Calif., on on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
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