Escondido High School

About 350 people spent Sunday night on cots inside the Escondido High School Gym after evacuating their homes in Ramona, San Pasqual and other areas because of spreading wildfires.

By 10 a.m. Monday, at least 550 people were at the high school, which was closed for students and converted to a temporary Red Cross evacuation center where people were offered shelter, food, water and medical supplies.

Clear blue skies were overhead, but dark brown smoke blowing toward the school left many wondering whether the evacuation center itself would be evacuated by the end of the day.

Among the evacuees were about 25 monks and nuns from the Deer Park Buddhist Center and Monastery.

Dennis Howard, a Buddhist who lives at the monastery to provide medical help, said Sheriff's deputies told residents there to evacuate as a safety precaution because there is only one road to the center.

The monks and nuns left the high school about 10 a.m. to find other shelter in Los Angeles.

In the school parking lot, Jesse Chisholm of Ramona secured cages holding eight Ocicats, rare cats he breeds that resemble ocelots, but he was more worried about the 14 horses he left behind at his Ramona home.

"The Sheriff's said, 'You're running out of time; take what you've got and go,'" he said about being evacuated about 11 p.m. Sunday.

Chisholm, who said he took only two-thirds of his cats, asked a Red Cross worker for advice about how to see that his horses were fed. Chisholm was told to call the sheriff's communications center, but found the line busy.

Many evacuees brought their pets to the high school and were seen walking them on leashes in the parking lot or hugging them for comfort in the evacuation center. The student locker room was converted to a pet center and was filled with people huddled with their dogs and cats.

Besides Red Cross workers, the Church of Scientology sent four volunteer ministers to assist by directing traffic and helping distribute supplies.

David Meyer, president of the Church of Scientology of San Diego, said he also likes to joke with people, asking them if they're here for the party and whether they've enjoyed their stay, to keep them calm during the crisis.

"If they get relaxed, they won't make stupid mistakes," he said.

-- Gary Warth

Qualcomm Stadium

Thousands of fire evacuees streamed into San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium on Monday and huddled around television sets to search for clues about what had become of their homes and neighborhoods.

Volunteers passed out food, water and other necessities as families settled in and tried to stay upbeat.

Relaxing in a shaded nook between concrete pillars, Hector Herrera, 37, played cards with his wife and three children.

The family's journey from Ramona began around 9 p.m. Sunday. Hearing that the blaze was just a few miles away, Herrera put his family in the car and headed south for Rancho Bernardo. For hours, they were stuck in traffic, watching with frazzled nerves as towering eucalyptus trees bucked in the wind.

"My stomach was hurting because I was so nervous," said his daughter Sonia, 11.

The heat inside the car was sweltering, but turning on the air conditioning let in noxious fumes that made their eyes burn, so some of them stripped off their shirts, Herrera said.

Around midnight, the family checked into a Rancho Bernardo hotel. But their stay was brief. At 6 a.m., they were told to flee toward San Diego. The fire was coming.

Throughout the morning at Qualcomm, senior citizens from assisted-living centers arrived on buses from the Poway Unified School District.

They stepped off the vehicles slowly, leaning on walkers and wearing surgical masks to protect themselves from the smoke.

The elderly, and others with health problems, were taken to the stadium's second floor clubhouse where the air conditioning was pumping and blankets were passed around.

Straining to hear the television over the din, Lee Schwoerer, 77, said that when he left his Rancho Bernardo home around 6 a.m., a nearby palm tree was on fire.

"I don't know whether we'll find ashes or a house," he said of his eventual return.

But like many inside the stadium, Schwoerer appeared to be in good spirits.

"I've totally accepted our fate," he said. "Whatever will be, will be."

Several families in the stadium spent the day comforting their pets -- from a trio of day-old Chihuahua puppies (barely larger than hamsters) to bunnies to golden retrievers.

Brad Montagne, a 42-year-old tour manager for a rock-and-roll band, balanced a white cockatoo on his finger while recounting his chaotic night.

While driving home from Los Angeles, Montagne learned that the ranch he co-owns near Del Dios highway was in the path of the firestorm.

With flames licking at the perimeter of property, he spent the wee hours Monday frantically packing and throwing dozens of possessions -- silverware, furniture, even his bongo drums -- into the pool. Hopefully, water damage can be repaired, he said with a shrug.

Despite the likely loss of his ranch house, Montagne was full of energy, joking with other families he'd met outside the stadium.

"My business is like a train wreck," he said with a laugh. "Everything goes wrong all day, so I'm used to this."

Evacuees weren't the only ones showing up at Qualcomm -- hundreds of volunteers lined up at registration tables and lugged donations inside. Rather than "sit at home, watch TV and be frightened," Joni Pradetto, a massage therapist from San Diego, set up a chair near the main gate to "help people with my gift of touch." She had plenty of takers.

"It's different than the tension of the work-day world," she said while kneading her knuckles into some stiff shoulders. "It's way different."

Rhonda Anderson from La Jolla said she watched the disaster unfold on television and felt compelled to head to an evacuation center to see what she could do.

"This is what the world's all about -- you pull together when it's necessary," Anderson said. "There is a lot of fear here, so just talking with them and holding their hand means a lot."

-- Craig TenBroeck

Evacuation Shelters

Information about the shelters the San Diego Chapter of the American Red Cross is providing for wildfire evacuees is available at http://www.sdarc.org or by calling the chapter's main number at (858) 309-1200.

Evacuation preparation tips

Tips for what to do before, during and after a wildfire are available at www.wildfirezone.org, a web site developed by the Farm and Home Advisor's Office of the University of California Cooperative Extension and the County of San Diego.

Recommendations for evacuations include:

• Keep vehicle fuel tanks at least half full during fire season because nearby gas stations may be inaccessible.

• Keep car windows and doors closed to prevent smoke penetration.

• Put essential items in your car.

Essential items to remember to take with you include:

• Credit and ATM cards

• Extra cash

• Pets and animals

• Family valuables like photographs, videos and heirlooms

• Identification with current address and other records like insurance and financial documents

• Three days worth of water

• A change of clothes and personal toiletries

• Battery-powered radios and flashlights and extra batteries