The fire in northern San Diego County had been 60 percent contained by Sunday morning, but officials said that strong winds could easily rekindle the flames. One volunteer batted down the idea of giving out Christmas trees, since many people had no place to put them. The 2003 fire eventually burned more than 280,000 acres, destroyed more than 2,200 houses and killed 15 people in San Diego County, one of the largest wildfires in state history. The rebuilding here took years; in 2005 an article in the local newspaper found that just a third of residents whose homes were destroyed had moved back. In Scripps Ranch, the reconstruction drastically altered the landscape, turning single-story ranch homes into mini-mansions with turrets and Italian-style stone décor.

Source: New York Times December 11, 2017 01:35 UTC