More San Diego County residents faced orders to leave their homes early Wednesday as wildfires threatened new areas of charred, smoke-choked Southern California. The newest evacuees from De Luz, a community near the Camp Pendleton Marine base, and from the Fallbrook area near Riverside County will join an estimated 950,000 people already seeking refuge from the fires in shelters, hotels and at friends' homes.The National Weather Service said a red-flag warning for extreme gusty winds was in effect through 3 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET) Wednesday, but forecasters said firefighters should see an end to the Santa Ana winds that have fueled the fires by Thursday.
Some residents won't have to wait for Thursday to get home. People who evacuated earlier this week from Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch and Del Mar Heights can go home immediately, San Diego emergency spokeswoman Lynda Pfieffer said Wednesday morning.
More than 20 fires have scorched 400,000-plus acres from the Mexican border to northern Los Angeles County and inland into the San Bernardino Mountains since the weekend.
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