Firefighting resources from the Northwest will be sent to help battle wildfires in Southern California, officials at the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

California officials have requested bulldozer bosses, helicopter managers and fire engines from the Northwest to help fight fires that have killed at least one person, burned thousands of acres and forced hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes.

Three fire engines from the Northwest will be sent: one from North Bend, one from the Olympic National Forest and one from Olympic National Park.

Specifics on the numbers of people from the Northwest will come later in the day, officials at the Portland-based interagency told reporter Chris Legeros.

Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds forced the evacuations of nearly 250,000 people Monday in San Diego County, including hundreds who were being moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes.

The fires have burned about 100,000 acres in San Diego County, said county Supervisor Ron Roberts. "This is a major emergency," he said.

"We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them," San Diego Fire Captain Lisa Blake said. "A lot of people are going to lose their homes today."

About a dozen blazes erupted over the weekend, feeding on drought-parched land from the high desert to the Pacific Ocean. One person was killed and several injured in a fire near the Mexican border, and dozens of structures have burned across the region.

Things got worse Monday, when new fires sprouted and others merged. Some of the worst damage was in Malibu, where a church, homes and a historic castle were destroyed.

All San Diego Police Department officers and off-duty detectives were ordered to return to work to help with evacuations.

In many cases, crews couldn't begin to fight the fires because they were too busy rescuing residents who refused to leave, fire officials said.