Wildfires break out in five southern California areas
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22/10/2003
Racing against the expected arrival of Santa Ana winds, firefighters battled several southern California wildfires, including a blaze at Camp Pendleton that forced 200 residents to evacuate. Hundreds of firefighters coped Wednesday with high temperatures that helped spur five wildfires, burning more than 7,000 acres. Southern California has experienced record, triple-digit temperatures and the warm weather is expected to continue for the next few days. Officials were bracing for the season's first Santa Ana winds that may help the fires spread, said Bill Hoffer, a National Weather Service specialist. The winds were expected to begin Wednesday night.