Day 5: Making progress

Michelle Hairgrove, 20, of La Mesa feeds Caden, a 10-year-old Appaloosa horse that was evacuated from Ramona during the fires. Hairgrove had slept in the barn at the Del Mar Fairgrounds with the horse for the last two nights. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Sept. 16, 2014 3:09 AM PT

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Stubborn fires continue to rage, but many of those affected begin taking the first steps toward a return to normalcy.

Members of Malibu Presbyterian Church join with other faiths for an ecumenical service at Our Lady of Malibu Catholic Church on Thursday night. The Presbyterian church burned down Sunday. (Alexander Gallardo / Los Angeles Times)

A line of fire works its way up a hill behind the Pauma Indian casino on Thursday evening. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

U.S. Forest Service firefighter Ryan Gonzalez cuts down a burning tree along California 18 near Arrowbear on Thursday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

San Diego city firefighter Mike McBride, left, and Ventura County firefighter Chrystal Horton meet Hillary Pollard and her sons David, 6, and Ryan, 4, who baked cookies for firefighters Thursday. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The sun sets as a water-dropping helicopter flies over the Slide fire in the San Bernardino Mountains on Thursday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Bernardo residents dig through the remains of their homes after being allowed to return Thursday evening. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Jay Riordan holds a family photo recovered from the ashes of his home in Rancho Bernardo. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Holding a coffee cup that belonged to her late grandmother, medical student Tress Goodwin sobs at the memories lost and found in the ruins of the house she grew up in on Aguamiel Street in Rancho Bernardo. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Tim and Susan Deehan embrace in the ruins of their home on top of Oak Canyon overlooking Lake Poway. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

James VanJen of Koiland Co. retrieves koi from an ash-blackened pool on Zumaque Street in Rancho Santa Fe. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

President Bush hugs Kendra Jeffcoat after touring the site of her Rancho Bernardo home, which was destroyed by the Witch fire. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

California Department of Forestry Capt. Blair Gillespie rests inside a truck after working all night at the Poomacha fire on the La Jolla Indian Reservation. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Members of the Volunteer Fire Department at the La Jolla Indian Reservation pull down a fire-damaged tree on the reservation. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A charred bus lies in ruins on the La Jolla Indian Reservation. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A California Department of Forestry investigator looks for clues in the Santiago fire along Santiago Canyon Road. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

U.S. Forest Service firefighter Adam Chittenden tries to keep flames from jumping California 18 near Arrowbear in the San Bernardino Mountains. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

An air tanker drops fire retardant on the ridges near Snow Valley in the San Bernardino Mountains. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

U.S. Forest Service firefighter David Johnson keeps an eye on the fires along California 18 in Arrowbear. (Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times)

Dion McDermott of Running Springs kisses daughter Xandra, 1, while waiting in line to seek government assistance at the National Orange Show Fairgrounds evacuation center in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Victim relief chaplains Nora Aplin, left, and Donna Stewart pray with an evacuee at the National Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Christine Brubaker of Crestline cradles her calico cat at the National Orange Show Fairgrounds evacuation center in San Bernardino. She visits her cat, which is kept in a cage away from the main shelter, several times a day. “It’s hard to watch her go through the pain of being separated from us,” said Brubaker. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Healthcare provider Lucia Barbu welcomes Jessie Harrington back to the Remington Club Health Center, a nursing home in Rancho Bernardo. Harrington and dozens of other residents were evacuated this week. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A decorative windmill stands among the ruins of a home burned on Modjeska Grade Road. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Molten metal from a burned truck snakes down the driveway of a destroyed home in Modjeska Canyon. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter sleeps in Irvine Regional Park after a 20-hour shift fighting the blaze in Modjeska Canyon. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Southern California Edison crews install new power lines along Santiago Canyon Road in Orange County. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

National Guard Spc. Michael Bird talks to a motorist at a checkpoint in Rancho Bernardo on Thursday morning. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Jason Halopoff, left, and Gary Forrester of Southern California Gas Co. use wrenches attached to poles to shut off a gas line in Green Valley Lake. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters line up for breakfast at Snow Valley Ski Resort, which has been turned into a base camp for crews fighting the wildfires in the San Bernadino Mountains. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)