California Fires Continue to Rage

Another study indicated that the cost could balloon to as much as $4 billion if development continues. California has the most homes built next to public forestland, though many jurisdictions enforce laws requiring that brush and other combustible foliage be kept away from structures.

Yet even huddled in evacuation centers and fast-food restaurants, displaced homeowners declared that they would not live anywhere else.

"We watched the neighborhood burn," said Jean Sanders, sipping a Diet Coke in a Subway restaurant in Escondido, as shifting winds pushed a crescent of flame around the city in San Diego County.

"It was coming so fast. It just went shhhh -- so fast, so fast. Across the street from us, two houses went."

Her husband, Richard Sanders, added: "We were watching, going, 'God, I hope that's not our house.' " It was recently renovated, on half an acre with a pool and a spa. It escaped damage in the 2003 and 1990 fires and they were hoping it would again.

"We have always thought the area is safe because of the way the property is kept," with manicured lawns instead of highly flammable brush, said Richard Sanders, 70. "You don't anticipate having winds blowing 90 miles an hour, blowing fire in front of it. You don't anticipate a drought."

"We'll stay," he said. "We will stay. We like the community, we like the area. The people are nice. Where we live I still think is a perfect location -- near the beach, near the desert, near Mexico, near the mountains."

Holly and Mike Friedman echoed that determination. They had left their home in the nearby San Pascual Valley early Monday morning and evacuated three times, as fire threatened each place they went. That shook Holly, at least for a moment.

"When she had no sleep in 36 hours, she said 'We are moving,' " said Holly's mother, Betty Cincanelli. But the urge to move "disappears as fast as it comes."

"Every place has something: wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes," Holly Friedman said. "There's no perfect area of the country to live."

She was calling her answering machine every few hours to make sure it had not burned. So far it was still answering, she said.

"We won't move," she said. "If our house burns down, we'll move in with [my parents]. If their house burns down, they'll move in with us. We won't leave."