Word: zone
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...edge suburbs and untouched wilderness. More than 8.6 million Western homes have been built within 30 miles (50 km) of national forest since 1982; in California, where the population has more than tripled since 1950, in excess of 50% of new housing has been built in a severe-fire zone. That's risky for obvious reasons: If more people choose to live in areas threatened by fire, more people will be in harm's way when disaster finally strikes. But those houses, especially if owners fail to prioritize fire safety, are often more sensitive to fire than are untouched forests...
...Losing Battle As more houses are dispersed through the fire zone - whether summer cabins or new McMansions - both firefighters and budgets are stretched ever more thinly. Last year the Forest Service spent a record $2.5 billion fighting wildfires that burned 9.9 million acres (4 million hectares), another record. Even though California has boosted spending on firefighting since the catastrophic blazes of 2003 - the state set aside $850 million for this year - when a megafire like this one strikes, officers on the ground quickly hit the limits of what they can do. "You're putting people between the unstoppable force...
...fires already have burned hundreds of acres to the east, north and south of that community, and the devastation has attracted the attention of the White House. President Bush declared Southern California a federal disaster zone after speaking to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff compared the fires to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans two years ago. "I think there's no question that a couple of lessons from Katrina we're putting into effect here are, first of all, planning and preparation in advance for these kinds of challenges," Chertoff said...
...fires, the reduced number of fatalities and lost structures ultimately might be attributed to lessons learned since the Cedar fire. Among the changes since then is a new reverse 911 system that automatically calls homeowners with a pre-recorded message warning them if they are in a mandatory evacuation zone. All schools in the county are closed this week, mail delivery was halted and businesses ranging from corporate offices to sandwich shops were closed. People were urged to stay home. Those who did venture out became snarled in traffic jams with evacuees or scrambling to find alternate routes around closed...
...phone rang at 4:15 a.m. It was the reverse 911 phone call [the pre-recorded call warning homeowners that they are in a mandatory evacuation zone]. I touched the window. It was very warm. I heard sirens. I said, "We've got to get out of here, quick...