SAN DIEGO -- The massive wildfires that spread destruction across wide swaths of Southern California last month and early this month severely disrupted operations at many coach companies and, at the same time, failed to produce much new activity as natural disasters oft-times do.

Tours, charters and school trips of every description were cancelled, while other bus services also were interrupted. One operator likened the fires impact to a major terrorist attack.

Todd Way of Balboa Transportation Services in San Diego said major tourist attractions, like the casinos and aquarium, were closed. Way said his company had a group of Russian visitors who just decided to pack it in half way through their stay. Balboa also lost out on a field trip because the campground they were going to "has been erased."

American Transportation Systems in Los Angeles reported it had to deal with numerous location changes as destinations became unavailable. The company handles a lot of trips to Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake and those recreation areas were closed due to the fires.

Pacific Coachways Trailways in Garden Grove essentially lost a whole week due to cancelled camping trips, trips to the Palomar Observatory and Lake Arrowhead, and cancelled tours of San Diego.

General Manager Richard Thomas said they were definitely upside down for the week. Thomas noted that company drivers were among those particularly hard hit because they dont get paid if they dont have work.

And Elaine Fickett of H & L Charter in Rancho Cucamonga observed that all operators lost business due to school closures. "Customers are canceling left and right," she reported.

Schools nix activities

Even in areas unscathed by fire, schools were closed because of smoke and bad air. Schools that remained open did not allow students to go outside, which eliminated field trips and athletic events.

Thomas of Pacific Coachways said some of the business might reschedule, but its hard to see how schools are going to work in two football games in a week, he noted.

At last report, no operators lost buildings or buses to the wildfires, although some operators and their drivers had to evacuate their own homes.

On the flip side, the coach industry was only marginally involved in the widespread evacuations because of Californias world-famous automobile culture. Virtually all evacuees escaped in their own cars.

That meant the disaster, with its massive destruction of property and evacuations, was no Katrina-type disaster. There was no dense urban population stranded in a specific location like there was in New Orleans in late September 2005.

No evacuations, just movement

The wildfires were extremely erratic because of shifting Santa Ana winds. While evacuation orders were being issued for some neighborhoods, other orders were lifted and people returned home.

Rather than a mass exodus, the wildfires produced a population in flux.

And while at least 21 separate fires were recorded in the southern half of the state -- from just north of Los Angeles to the Mexican border, most of the state was untouched.

There seemed to be plenty of open roads and plenty of places to go -- and plenty of cars to go in.

As one operator put it: "This is California. When they were told to leave, they drove two cars away and left the third one to burn."

Even nursing homes were able to orchestrate their own evacuations to some degree simply by calling family members of ambulatory residents and asking them to come get their relatives. The facilities then used vans and ambulances to move the others to safety.

According to James Seaton of Sundance Stage Lines in San Diego, some school buses with wheelchair lifts were put to use to evacuate Pomerado Hospital in northern San Diego County, but regular highway coaches are not really suited for that kind of work.

Small bits of work

Sundance was able to get some locally organized "reverse removal" work,

moving senior citizens back home from Qualcomm Stadium/Arena where many had taken refuge. With the urgency gone, it was easier to sort out those able to ride in motorcoaches.

Other operators were hired to provide standby buses at some locations. And, there was some charter work taking crews to fight fires and bringing them back out.

But there was no demand for buses to handle mass evacuations. Had there been, the California Bus Association was prepared to assist. Former CBA president Mike Waters was put in charge of compiling a resource list for evacuations.