FALLBROOK --- Desiccated leaves and ash littered the doorsteps of still-closed stores in downtown Fallbrook on Friday as some residents returned to their homes for the first time since the Rice fire chased them out Monday.

However, many residents were still barred from their homes in the 9,000-acre fire area that stretched from Live Oak Road on the west to Rice Canyon on the east, and from Santa Margarita Creek on the north to Reche Road on the south.

Although Main Street was busy with car traffic, few residents walked the bucolic downtown area Friday.

Kathyrn Sharp walked across Alvarado Street on Main after dropping off the van she rented to evacuate her mother -- a hospice patient --- and her medical gear Monday. She said the rental fee was trivial compared to the emotional toll and financial hit some 200 families who lost homes to the fire in Fallbrook.

Sharp said her home was fine despite rumors of looters. She said her street bore the "surreal quality of a war zone" with tipped trash cans, debris strewn about, and her house covered with soot.

"I am overwhelmed by the whole experience, but extraordinarily lucky to come home to a house," she said.

Many of her town-mates were not so lucky.

As of Friday morning, the Rice fire had burned 206 structures, including 84 mobile homes in the Valley Oaks Mobile Ranch. The heat of the fire left hardened rivulets of silver slag glinting in the sun on the wrinkled tops of trailers. A pair of ceramic coffee cups sat atop a refrigerator, its door hanging open. A trussed turkey, once frozen but now barbecued, lay in front of the refrigerator.

Grim search completed

Investigators in the park finished the grim work Friday of searching for victims in the twisted remains of the mobile homes. Officials were thankful to find no victims in the burned hulks or inside the homes that survived intact.

The Rice fire is now about 40 percent "contained," which means that firefighters have created a fire line around 40 percent of the fire's perimeter. John Buchanan, spokesman for Rancho Fire, said authorities expect to have the fire completely encircled by Sunday.

After five days in evacuation shelters or in the homes of friends and relatives, the first order of business for many homeowners was clean clothes, followed by a good old-fashioned sweeping and dusting.

Leanne Green and her kids Matthew and Annie took turns sweeping and cleaning the Farmhouse Coffee shop just west of Main Street in preparation for today's reopening. Green, who characterized her state of mind Friday as "discombobulation," said she looked forward to hearing the "war stories" of her regulars.

Green got some welcome help from Steve Kettering, a teacher at Fallbrook High School, who organized a volunteer crew of students to sweep sidewalks around town.

Although stores along Main Street remained closed, business was brisk at the Fallbrook Local Assistance Center, one of four "one-stop shops" for disaster aid set up for evacuees and fire victims in the hardest-hit areas around the county.

Help available

Since Thursday, 99 families have registered at the center seeking services, said Carey Riccitelli, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Health and Human Services Agency.

Fire victims can apply for help from 34 local, state and federal providers, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Small Business Administration and the county health department. U.S. Postal Service workers were on hand to help residents redirect mail. The county Animal Control Department offered cat food and dog food and help in reuniting pet owners with their pets.

Karen Mitchell said she lost her home in the Valley Oaks Mobile Ranch. A jewelry maker and piano teacher, Mitchell said she got help getting her keyboard and jewelry supplies out Monday morning.

"I lost my home but not my livelihood," she said.

Emotionally raw, Mitchell said she got help from a counselor and Red Cross chaplain at the center.

"He let me cry and let me feel safe and that it was OK to cry," she said.

Mitchell lauded the work of a representative of FEMA who arranged an escort for Mitchell to her home in the burn area.

Located at the Fallbrook Community Center, 341 Heald Road, the Fallbrook Local Assistance Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call (760) 731-7139 for more information or go online at www.sdcountyemergency.com.

Contact FEMA at (800) 621-3362 or online at www.fema.gov.

Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or pireland@nctimes.com.

Located at the Fallbrook Community Center, 341 Heald Road, the Fallbrook Local

Assistance Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.,

Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call (760)

731-7139 for more information or go online at www.sdcountyemergency.com.