Wildfires' toll rising

SAN DIEGO — On a day when firefighters methodically beat back several of the wildfires menacing Southern California and thousands of evacuees were allowed home, authorities said they had found six bodies burned by the flames.

Border Patrol agents on routine patrol Thursday found four bodies in a wooded area near Barrett Junction, just east of San Diego and along the Mexican border, agency spokeswoman Gloria Chavez said. The area is near a major corridor for illegal immigrants who often walk hours or even days to cross into the United States from Mexico.

Authorities said they discovered the bodies Thursday afternoon but did not know how long ago the victims died or whether the flames were responsible for their deaths.

"They could have been out there a while," said Paul Parker, a spokesman for the San Diego County medical examiner's office. They were tentatively identified as three men and one woman.

Two bodies were discovered in the rubble of a burned home in San Diego County. Like a 52-year-old Tecate man killed Sunday in a fire along the Mexican border, the pair had been urged to evacuate.

Their deaths brought the number of people known to have been killed by flames to three, while seven died of other causes connected to the evacuations.

Flames have consumed more than 487,000 acres — about 760 square miles — and at least 1,800 homes since the weekend. About 24,000 homes remained threatened, as several major fires were no more than 30 percent contained in San Diego County and the Lake Arrowhead mountain resort area in mountains east of Los Angeles.

Despite the deaths, there were hopeful signs Thursday. Firefighters took advantage of calmer winds and cooler temperatures to launch an aerial assault on several stubborn blazes.

Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for most residential areas of San Diego, and shelters emptied rapidly. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said an evacuation center at Qualcomm Stadium, which had housed as many as 10,000 people, would be closed at noon today.

President Bush surveyed the damage in the hard-hit community of Rancho Bernardo, where he draped his arm around a woman who had lost her home.

"We want the people to know there's a better day ahead — that today your life may look dismal, but tomorrow life's going to be better," said Bush, who earlier declared seven counties a major disaster area, making residents eligible for federal assistance to help them rebuild.