European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 07, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes California fires sunday. November 7,1993 Malibu returning to everyday life. W. Malibu Calif. A firefighting helicopters dipped their huge buckets into the Pacific White surfers paddled nearby As signs of normalcy returned to Anarea devastated by deadly wildfires. More than 6,000 firefighters remained in Malibu on saturday to mop up the arson fire that killed three peo ple ravaged hundreds of Homes and forced More than 2,000 to flee. City officials anticipated Long lines at a disaster Relief office. They planned a Community picnic to help rejuvenate battered residents said mayor Carolyn Van horror. It s a Healing process. We be done it before out Here. We will do it again she said referring to mudslides and previous wildfires that have hit the Star studded Seaside Community. The fire that raced Over 18,500 acres was 80 percent contained Friday night said fire department inspector Dan Ertel. It destroyed or damaged More than 360buildings, most of them Homes causing $170 million in damage he said. Hot dry Santa Ana winds had fanned the flames i past Days but saturday s forecasts called for mild winds and cooler temperatures. Investigators have said the fire was started tuesday director s cat found with Paw injuries Agoura Hills Calif. A the siamese cat for whom a film director gave his life emerged from the wildfires hobbling on burned paws its whiskers and ears singed. I put a Blanket around it and it let me. You could Tell it s just a really Nice animal said Carol Redman of the los Angeles county animal shelter. The cat s Collar bore the name Elsa and a nonworking phone number. On tuesday British director and screenwriter Duncan Gibbins escaped from his rented cottage As flames approached but he turned Back for the stray cat he had befriended according to Peter Alexander who owned the Home. Gibbins 41, died the following Day of his bums. That same Day the cat was found near a burned out car registered to Alexander. Gibbins death was the first in the out break of wildfires that began oct. 26 in Southern California. Two other bodies were found thursday night. Elsa appeared to be recovering Well. The animal was Given intravenous fluids for dehydration. The american society for the proven by an arsonist s match or lighter at the top of old to Panga Canyon. Arson has been blamed for 19 of 25 fires that destroyed 1,150 buildings blackened More than 200,000acres and injured nearly 200 people across Southern California since oct. 26. This has to be one of the biggest tragedies Ever attributable to arson said Larry Cornelison of the fed eral Bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms arson Bureau in los Angeles. It took such a toll in damage and human misery. And to know that individuals were responsible for this makes it even worse he said. Investigators from 13 agencies pursued dozens of tips and worked on a psychological profile of the arsonists said special agent John d Angelo of the Bureau of Al Cohol tobacco and firearms. Several witnesses said a Young couple they saw near the fire s Flash Point might have started it but they could not give authorities Clear descriptions. The los Angeles times reported saturday that the investigation included a search for the author of a let Ter in which a Man identifying himself As fed Buster threatened to set a big fire because government agents seized some of his property. The letter was sent to about 35 Southern Californi Alaw enforcement agencies the times said. Arson continued to pose a danger. Amid the ashes of a Small Brush fire in the Canyon country area about 35miles North of los Angeles sheriffs deputies found a bottle with a rag stuffed in it. The fire which burned about 100 Square feet was extinguished after a Motorist spotted the flames said it. Dan Reidder. The death toll in the Malibu fire Rose to three thurs Day when sheriffs deputies in a helicopter spotted two charred bodies on a winding dirt Road. Their identities had not been released by authorities Friday night but neighbors and co workers identified the dead As Donn and Amy Yarrow. Amy Yarrow was a retired mail sorter at the Santa Monica Post  Yarrow was a retired philosophy professor friends said. The couple had lived without electricity in a Mountaintop Home for about 40 years. The yarrows were probably the last of  said neighbor Watt Webb. British director Duncan Gibbins 41, died wednes Day of Burns after he tried to Rescue his cat from his Home. Elsa the siamese cat that escaped the Blaze get her singed paws patched up thurs Day at the Agoura animal shelter near los Angeles. Her owner British director Dun can Gibbins died wednesday of Burns he received tuesday while trying to save her. Tion of cruelty to animals said it will establish an award in Gibbins name. The Duncan Gibbins heroism award will go to people who show extraordinary Cour age to save an animal in distress. The Asp a also added $5,000 to the$250,000 Reward fund for information leading to the arrest of the arsonist who set the fire. Shelter officials were trying to reach Gibbins Mother who travelled to the United states from Cornwall England to see if she wants the cat. Gibbins film credits included fir with fire eve of destruction and the Cable to movie third degree bum. Fireman recalls finding director burned but alive Calabasas Calif. A Losangeles county firefighter pc incr Snyder s strike team was fighting the fast moving wildfire in Topanga Canyon when someone shouted that a Burn Vic Tim was  and others tended to Ron mass who was critically burned trying to save his Friend British film director Duncan Gibbins. Then As they were putting mass 40, onto a fire depart ment helicopter Snyder heard on the radio that a second victim had been  second victim was Gibbins burned Over virtually All of his  but still alive. A picture taken by David Crane of the daily news of los Angele shows the director standing in a swim Ming Pool As a paramedic holds his hand and tries to Comfort him. Gibbin died in a Hospital wednesday. The problem with Duncan is he had a very High Raspy voice and was in a lot of pain Snyder said Friday. We immediately put him in Stretcher and Cov ered him with a line solution Burn packs. We we retry my to help him  Snyder picked up the paramedics Gibbins who arrived in second helicopter for Gibbins and drove them to the House where he was staying someone had already taken Gib bins from the Pool Snyder said. They were applying sterile dressing Sand tending to him and they loaded him onto a paramedic  then Snyder guided the paramedics vehicle to the helicopter waiting on a nearby Road in the rugged twisting can Yon that separates the san Fernando Valley from the Pacific Ocean. Gibbins 41, was the first person to die from Southern California s wild fires. He was burned while trying to save his cat which later was found alive. While firefighters tended to Gibbins Snyder said they also had to keep battling flames that were raging All around them it happened within the first 10 min utes of the fire he said. The fire moved so fast that i could t believe it had actually eve gotten to the top of the Gully where they were. I did t even see where the  it was just horrible he said. Absolutely  cancelled by 3 newspapers Santa Ana Calif. A Southern California s three largest daily newspapers cancelled this week s doonesbury comic strips saying Garry Trudeau lighthearted look at recent wildfires was in taste. This tragedy is one of the worst in Orange county s history. It s nothing tomake fun of said tonne Katz editor of the Orange county Register. In the county s Laguna Beach 407homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed by fire oct. 27. In Altadena in neighbouring los Angeles county 135 Homes were damaged or destroyed ear Lier that Day. On tuesday and wednesday fire left three dead and destroyed at least 350homes in Malibu in los Angeles county. The Register the los Angeles Tim Sand the san Diego Union Tribune chose not to run six strips. They will run old doonesbury strips instead. We re not running it said Doug Hope managing editor of the Union Tribune. It s the sensitivity to the fires out there times spokeswoman Laura mor unsaid. The strips feature a Malibu couple panicking when they believe a neighbor s Home is on fire. It turns out it s not wildfire but an overheated Barbecue Grill. In one strip Toopsie an aspiring actress is shown on a phone talking to her husband b.d., while smoke Billows among the Palm Trees. . Suggests she save his insurance papers baseball car Sand if there s time his dockers Slacks. Universal press Syndicate distributor of the comic said the strips were draw after the Laguna Beach and Altadena fires but before the Malibu fire. Under the circumstances it s understandable that papers might not want Torun it said Lee Salem editorial director for Universal press Syndicate. We a similar situation with the floods in  Trudeau would t  1990, the fort Worth Star Telegram in Texas and the Republic in Columbus,ind., decided not to run a doonesbury strip about the National endowment for the arts. In 1991, the Naples daily news in Florida replaced a strip about troop sin saudi Arabia publishing an american Flag drawing instead