While almost all of the wildfires have been fully contained, red flag warnings were posted across Southern California for Friday night through Sunday. Firefighters and firefighting equipment have been pre-positioned in high risk areas should the Santa Ana winds that spread the fires last week ignite new blazes.

  Forecasters said the winds this weekend were not expected to be as strong as the ones that whipped the flames last week of nearly two dozen fires. Those fires blackened more than 500,000 acres and destroyed more than 2,000 homes. At times, winds were reported to be gusting from 80 to 100 mph.

  Disaster response groups and local churches have been assessing damages, providing assistance and looking at long-term recovery needs.

 The meeting of church leaders - also attended by local, state and federal officials as well as representatives from community- and faith-based disaster organizations - was designed to bring local churches together in order to better coordinate their response efforts.

Several of those at the meeting had attended a Southern California VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) earlier in the week. 

The role of the faith-based community will be pivotal to the recovery, according to those at the meeting.  "Without you, folks would not survive. Without you, people would be hurting," said Leroy Gilbert of the Department of Homeland Security's Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.  Gilbert said that when Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff returned to Washington after visiting the fire-stricken areas, "he literally bragged about the contributions that faith-based organizations are providing.  "He was immensely impressed with what you all are doing for victims of this firestorm," Gilbert said. "We are certainly going to use many initiatives that you are doing as a prototype for other cities throughout the United States."

  Teresa Manley, who headed the long-term recovery committee for the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego County, said she expected the interfaith community would soon form a similar long-term recovery committee to deal with the latest fires.  "It's going to take years," she said of the recovery. "It really is."

  State Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, whose district takes in most of the area affected by the fires in San Diego County, said the lessons learned from the Cedar fire have helped speed the response. "We're years ahead of where we were [in 2003]," he said. "The whole county structure and organization is so much more organized because we've been through it before.  We're much more encouraged than we were four years ago that people are going to be taken care of," he said.

  Still, church officials raised questions about what resources were available to assist diverse groups such as the homeless, illegal aliens, non-English speakers and Native Americans.  Illegal aliens are "afraid to come forward," said one audience member. "They're in hiding now and won't come out for food or water."