Old and young, rich and poor, an estimated 20,000 people had formed a well-organized tent city in the parking lot of the stadium that usually provides a home to the San Diego Chargers American football team.

Several people spoke confidently of being able to return to their homes as soon as the wildfire crisis subsided, viewing the evacuation orders as a precautionary inconvenience.

But others were not so lucky. Cindy Alexander, 54, who lives alone and survives on a disability allowance, said she lost her one bedroom home in Ramona, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of San Diego, one of the worst-hit areas in the state.

"My daughter called me and said it was gone," Alexander said.

She had received her evacuation notice on Monday, pausing only to gather a few possessions -- clothes, blankets, pillows and a box of family photos.

Alexander had spent the night curled up in the back of an aging four-door sedan, her son and daughter-in-law bedding down in the front seats.

It was the second time that California fires had hit Alexander's family. Her daughter's home was destroyed in 2003 infernos that ravaged the region.

"We've had a hard life. It's like, 'Okay God, What else?'" she said.

Alexander's daughter-in-law, Brandy, said she had lost contact with other relatives caught in the fire drama.

"At least we'll have cots tonight," she said. "And we've got our health, and our cats."

Two parking spaces along from Alexander, members of the Rey family were relieved to discover that they will soon be leaving the stadium for the comfort of the luxury Loews Hotel in San Diego.

"A room opened up tonight and we secured it," said Butch Rey, a 45-year-old software company executive, who arrived at the stadium with his wife, three children and two parents.

The Reys had been ordered to evacuate their four-bedroom home in the upmarket San Diego suburb of Scripps Ranch. So far the family home has not been damaged, Rey said, and he expected it would withstand the fires.

Nevertheless his children weren't taking any chances. "The boys took all their autographed baseballs plus their PlayStation 2," Rey said.

Rey, originally from Connecticut in the northeastern United States, said he was struck by the random generosity of strangers, many of whom have vivid memories of the 2003 fire.

"Last night a man drove up in a BMW and said that he had a five bedroom house and somebody was welcome to stay there with him," Rey said. "A family went home with him ... Every one of these guys knows people or goes to school with people who lost their home."

Kelli Kreeger, 18, who arrived late Monday with her family said television camera crews had made sleep difficult.

"They just come up and shine bright lights in people's faces while they're sleeping," Kreeger said.

The American Red Cross was receiving donations of blankets, flashlights, batteries, cots, sleeping bags, tents, hygiene products, canned goods, bottled water and money.

Denise Man, a volunteer nurse, said the facility's medical center was operating in an atmosphere of "controlled chaos." The most common ailments have been respiratory-related, she said.

San Diego city officials meanwhile requested that no more food donations be brought to the center, saying there was nowhere to store it safely. Officials have appealed for a refrigerated trailer to store donated food.

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