Fire on the mountain

Disaster leaves La Jolla Indian Reservation with almost nothing

By: David Kelly

A pitiless firestorm - one of the many that swept over Southern California - was especially cruel to the La Jolla Indian Reservation clinging to the southern slopes of Mount Palomar.

Residents described hellish flames sweeping over lush hills and valleys, burning 94 percent of the reservation and destroying 59 of its 170 houses. Thick forests of live oak that once shaded homes for generations of American Indians are gone now, replaced by black scars of ash.

Unlike many neighboring tribes, the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians don't own a casino. Many members rely on government aid to survive, and the chief source of revenue is a campground along a three-mile stretch of the San Luis Rey River.

"We were already at the bottom of the barrel, and now this takes us down even further," said tribal Chairman Tracy Lee Nelson, who returned from his honeymoon to find cinders where his house had stood. "I have never been up against anything like this before. It will take millions of dollars to repair this reservation."

Tribal members, who number about 700 , are still trying to digest the magnitude of destruction that has touched everyone in some way.

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