Thousands delayed at McCarran

Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 | 11:16 a.m.

Maria Rodriguez sat on the carpet at McCarran International Airport on Sunday night, sipping coffee, her jacket smelling of smoke, and recalled what wildfire raging through Southern California had looked like from 30,000 feet.

Rodriguez and thousands of other passengers delayed, diverted or stranded in Las Vegas stood in long lines at ticket counters trying to reach another state or connect to another country after fires burning homes and brush struck Southern California, disrupting airline schedules.

Rodriguez said she had spent the weekend in a downtown hotel in San Diego and while she was eating breakfast Sunday morning, "the sun came up behind a mushroom cloud of smoke. It was dark."

She caught one of the last flights out of San Diego.

"I could see ... five fires burning in the mountains of Southern California. We could smell it inside the plane. People wore surgical masks. My throat is still burning from the flames," Rodriguez said, coughing.

"I have to go to work tomorrow," said Rodriguez, director for the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theater. "I was supposed to get home about 11 p.m. tonight. Now I get into Miami at 7 a.m. Monday."

By midmorning Sunday, airports in San Diego, Burbank, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Ontario had all closed after the wildfire forced the evacuation of a Federal Aviation Administration control center, FAA spokesman Donald Walker said.

"Zero visibility," Alexander Sanchez of the Clark County Department of Aviation said, explaining the reason flights were diverted or canceled to and from Southern California.

"My sister lives in Chino Hills and she said it was dark as night," Sanchez said.

Hilarie Grey, McCarran spokeswoman, said that once the control center shut down in California because of the smoke and the threat of flames engulfing it, a handful of flights were diverted from Southern California to Las Vegas.

The shutdown snarled McCarran's normally hectic Sunday schedule, she said.

"We've had dozens of cancellations and delays all day," Grey said.

"It's affecting flights throughout the country," Grey said, comparing it to the disruption when New York and parts of the Northeast suffered a power outage in July.

Southwest Airlines, a major McCarran carrier, canceled all flights to Southern California Sunday but today was flying into and out of airports in Los Angeles, Burbank, Ontario, San Diego and Orange County. The airline expected the smoke and fire could continue to cause some delays and cancellations, however.

In a statement issued to the media, the airline said: "We are encouraging our customers traveling today (and possibly tomorrow) into/out of these cities to rebook their flights for Wednesday and beyond. Customers are encouraged to check flight status via Southwest's website, southwest.com, or by calling (800) 435-9792.

Customers holding tickets for travel to/from any of these cities on Sunday, Oct. 26 through Wednesday, Oct. 29, may rebook travel or receive a refund without penalty."

The fire kept Denmark resident Dennis Peterson from getting to Los Angeles from Las Vegas. After spending four weeks in the United States, all Peterson wanted to do was return home.

Instead of leaving for Los Angeles at noon Sunday, Peterson was planning to fly east today to catch a connecting flight from Dallas.

"I'm not even sure what time I'll leave but sometime," Peterson said.

Air travelers are not the only ones whose routes were affected by the fire. Various portions of Interstate 15 have been closed over the past several days. On Sunday afternoon Interstate 15 was closed by the California Highway Patrol in San Bernardino County.

David Fluckinger of Washington state was trying to find a friend who had tried to drive to Las Vegas on I-15.

"Haven't heard from him," he said, standing in the airport's baggage area.