"I never thought in my wildest dream that would face anything like this."

ESCONDIDO – When Abdul Mannan Faruk came to Escondido from his home in India three days ago to attend a family wedding, he didn't expect to be evacuated, then
stranded.

Faruk was staying at a motel in southern Escondido when he got the order to
evacuate early Monday morning.

"I'm waiting for my cousin to pick me up," Faruk said hopefully, as he stood with his two suitcases in front of Escondido High School, an evacuation center. "My initial program was to depart from here" to Las Vegas, he said, but the fire forced him to miss his flight.

"I didn't like this," he said. "I never thought in my wildest dream that I would face anything like this."

Faruk said he planned to catch a bus to Las Vegas and continue his U.S. tour.

"In India, we don't have anything this," he said.

– Karen Kucher