POWAY -- Many held out as long as they dared, but as the clock passed 8 p.m. Sunday, the numbers of fire refugees began to increase rapidly at an evacuation center set up in the gymnasium at Poway High School.

The families didn't stay long.

As the evening wore on, authorities said they were forced to move the evacuees to a hastily set-up center at Miramar High School because of poor air quality created by smoke and ash.

Before the move, however, a Red Cross representative said there were about 40 evacuated Ramona residents already registered, with more arriving steadily to wait out the wind-driven Witch Creek fire that was bearing down on their homes.

Charles Davis and his teenage daughter, Lorissa, arrived at about 7:45 p.m. after leaving their home in the hills north of Ramona at about 7 p.m.

"The velocity of the wind up there in the canyons and hills is just unbelievable. They came and told us we had to evacuate, so we put the dogs in the car and we left," Davis said.

He said he cleared brush as far away from his home as possible, but nervously added that, because half of his 4.7 acres is on land considered environmentally sensitive, he was not able to cut as big a buffer zone as he would have liked.

"In some places it's 40 or 50 feet from the house," he said. "We did everything we could to prepare. It's in God's hands now."

The Davis family brought Callahan and Reily, a Labrador mix and a Shih Tzu, with them to the shelter, which set up a space for animals outside on a nearby baseball field. With smoke making the heavy sports lights look hazy, the animals peered out from their kennel at other dogs and cats also waiting for their families to return.

Nearby, Amy Parr and her husband, Michael, sat with their three cats and one dog. They planned to pitch a small tent next to their animals and sleep outside.

"We brought enough camping supplies that we can be out for awhile and there will be no problem," Amy Parr said.

She said the family had a wild burro it had to leave behind on their east Ramona property.

"He's pretty wily, and we're hoping he will be OK out there," she said.

Though she regretted having to leave her pottery and basket collections and 1,300 books behind, Parr said she did manage to grab an eclectic mix of family artifacts, including a tablecloth her grandmother crocheted, her grandfather's muzzle-loading rifle and a broadsword she likes to take to renaissance festivals.

"It's strange the kinds of stuff you end up grabbing at the last minute," she said.

Many who were at the high school Sunday night said the Paradise and Cedar wildfires of 2003, which threatened Ramona, prepared them well for the latest blaze.

Bill Mielke and his wife, Elaine, left their home in Ramona's Country Estates community a little after 3 p.m.

Bill Mielke said he learned from the Cedar Fire that it is best to get out of Ramona early.

"I remember last time we tried to leave and there were trucks pulling horse trailers backed up for miles trying to get out. The hills were on fire on both sides of the road," he said. "This time I said, 'No, we're going to get out now. We're not going to wait.' "

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.

Roads closed because of Ramona-area wildfire include:

- Highway 78 at Magnolia Avenue

- Highway 78 at Rancho Santa Teresa

- Highway 79 at Highway 78

- Old Julian Highway at Vista Ramona Road

- Highway 79 at Highway 76

-- Source: California Highway Patrol, as of 10:45 p.m.

Contacts and updates:

24-hour Community, Health and Disaster Information: Dial 211

County General Information Line: (858) 694-3900

County Office of Emergency Services fire updates: www.sdcountyemergency.com

San Diego Gas & Electric Co.: www.sdge.com

California Highway Patrol traffic and road closure information: cad.chp.ca.gov

County Animal Services emergency information: (619) 767-2675