Coffee offered along with free massages and reflexology sessions

SAN DIEGO — At Qualcomm Stadium, where thousands of evacuees took refuge Monday to escape approaching fires, hazy and acrid air pinched the throat.

The stadium, normally home to the NFL's San Diego Chargers, is the county's largest evacuation center.

Hundreds of volunteers and city workers stacked up towers of pizza boxes, water bottles and blankets. Steaming cups of Starbucks coffee were offered along with free massages and reflexology sessions.

Many families sat in the bleachers all day watching ceiling-mounted televisions for reports of their neighborhoods.

"I saw a live video of our apartment complex burning," said Raj Panandian, a 26-year-old software engineer.

"I had just settled down there six months ago," said Panandian, an Indian citizen. "I had bought furniture, and everything. The only thing I managed to save was my passport and my H-1 work visa. I think everything else is gone."

Yuan Ling, 43, a chemical engineer, rents a home across the street from the apartments,

"We were one of the last in our neighborhood to leave; we were hoping it would improve," Ling said. Carl DeMaio, 33, evacuated his home at dawn, drove straight to Qualcomm and started organizing volunteers who arrived even before city officials did. DeMaio, president of a non-partisan government watchdog organization, organized at least 400 volunteers and tons of donated food, mattresses, blankets and other gifts.

DeMaio owns three houses, and two of them -- including his home -- were in burn zones.

"From everything I've heard, it's probably gone," DeMaio said of his home. "But you know what? I really can't think of that right now."