Firefighters scurry down a blazing hillside to escape a sudden flare-up
on the eastern flank of the Simi Valley fire, which has grown to 95
thousand acres, in Stevenson Ranch, California, October 29, 2003. More
than 12,000 firefighters from across California and the western states
have been deployed at nine major fires and eight smaller offshoots that
have destroyed more than 600,000 acres (242,800 hectares). REUTERS/Lucy
Nicholson

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