California Mandates Evacuation of 1,000,000 People

Southern California has been suffering from some of the worst wildfires on record. San Diego, California has called for the mandatory evacuation of 1,000,000 of its residents - making it the largest evacuation in the state's history. 76,000 homes are threatened and almost 2000 have been lost so far. In all, over 1,000,000 people may be forced to leave their homes throughout the state.

President Bush has declared 7 southern California counties to be major federal disaster areas, and Homeland Security and FEMA officials are on their way to the region.