The bustling winter resort of Big Bear took on the appearance of a ghost town Thursday as surveillance aircraft buzzed overhead and police in tactical gear and carrying rifles patrolled mountain roads in convoys of SUVs, while others stood guard along major intersections. 
 
 Even before authorities had confirmed that the torched pickup truck discovered on a quiet forest road belonged to suspected gunman Christopher Dorner, 33, officials had ordered an emergency lockdown of local businesses, homes and the town's popular ski resorts. Parents were told to pick up their children from school, as rolling yellow buses might pose a target to an unpredictable fugitive on the run. 
 
 By nightfall, many residents had barricaded their doors as they prepared for a long, anxious evening. 
 
 PHOTOS: A tense manhunt amid tragic deaths 
 
 "We're all just stressed," said Andrea Burtons as she stocked up on provisions at a convenience store. "I have to go pick up my brother and get him home where we're safe." 
 
 Police ordered the lockdown about 9:30 a.m. as authorities throughout Southern California launched an immense manhunt for the former lawman, who is accused of killing three people as part of a long-standing grudge against the LAPD. Dorner is believed to have penned a long, angry manifesto on Facebook saying that he was unfairly fired from the force and was now seeking vengeance. 
 
 Big Bear manhunt: In the Feb. 8 LATExtra section, an article about the manhunt for ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner said that Big Bear has roughly 400 homes, and that authorities guessed that only 40% are occupied year-round. In fact, authorities planned to search 400 homes, of which 40% are vacation homes not occupied year-round. Big Bear Lake, where the search is taking place, has about 9,000 homes, according to the 2010 Census 
 
 Forest lands surrounding Big Bear Lake are cross-hatched with fire roads and trails leading in all directions, and the snow-capped mountains can provide both cover and extreme challenges to a fugitive on foot. It was unclear whether Dorner was prepared for such rugged terrain. 
 
 Footprints were found leading from Dorner's burned pickup truck into the snow off Forest Road 2N10 and Club View Drive in Big Bear Lake. 
 
 San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said that although authorities had deployed 125 officers for tracking and door-to-door searches, officers had to be mindful that the suspect may have set a trap. 
 
 "Certainly. There's always that concern and we're extremely careful and we're worried about this individual," McMahon said. "We're taking every precaution we can." 
 
 PHOTOS: A fugitive's life on Facebook 
 
 Big Bear has roughly 400 homes, but authorities guessed that only 40% are occupied year-round. 
 
 The search will probably play out with the backdrop of a winter storm that is expected to hit the area after midnight. 
 
 Up to 6 inches of snow could blanket local mountains, the National Weather Service said. 
 
 FULL COVERAGE: Sweeping manhunt for rampaging ex-cop 
 
 Gusts up to 50 mph could hit the region, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Moede, creating a wind-chill factor of 15 to 20 degrees. 
 
 Extra patrols were brought in to check vehicles coming and going from Big Bear, McMahon said, but no vehicles had been reported stolen. ||||| Cops fired incendiary tear gas into a suspected killer’s hideout, igniting an inferno that helped end one of the most intense manhunts in California history, officials said today. 
 
 Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, and pursuing San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies were in a fierce gun battle yesterday when the accused killer took shelter inside a cabin near Big Bear Lake. 
 
 Dorner allegedly shot two deputies — one who later died — before SWAT officers surrounded the cabin. 
 
 Sheriff John McMahon insisted the flammable tear gas wasn’t fired to set a deadly fire. 
 
 “I can tell you, it was not on purpose,” McMahon said today. “We did not intentionally burn down that cabin to get Mr. Dorner out.” 
 
 The fallen deputy was identified today as 35-year-old Jeremiah MacKay, according to the Inland Empire Emerald Society — a non-profit that supports survivors of cops killed in duty. 
 
 Det. MacKay was on an early patrol this past Saturday morning when he told The Associated Press that Dorner could be anywhere. 
 
 “This one you just never know if the guy’s going to pop out, or where he’s going to pop out,” MacKay said. 
 
 “We’re hoping this comes to a close without more casualties. The best thing would be for him to give up.” 
 
 A SWAT team then came on the scene and was met with a “constant barrage of gunfire” from Dorner, a law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times. 
 
 Cops first fired traditional tear gas into the cabin, but that didn’t immediately bring a surrender, officials said. 
 
 That’s when they opted for the more powerful CS gas canisters, which can severely irritate a target’s eyes and create an extreme choking feeling. The gas also has a much high chance to ignite flames. 
 
 “He put himself in that position,” the lawman said, explaining the cops’ decision to use flammable gas. “There weren’t a lot of options.” 
 
 The cabin burned down and police recovered remains believed to be Dorner’s. 
 
 Investigators also found Dorner’s California driver’s license, further bolstering their belief the suspected killer is dead. 
 
 As the cabin went up in smoke, one gunshot was heard from inside. No one was spotted leaving the cabin. 
 
 “There’s a reasonable belief it’s the body of Christopher Dorner,” LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told CNN today. 
 
 Dorner, 33, had said in a lengthy manifesto that he expected to die in one final, violent confrontation with cops. And if the body discovered in that charred cabin is him, then that’s exactly what happened. 
 
 “This is really not a celebration,” LAPD Lt. Andrew Neiman said this morning, explaining the relief cops feel about Dorner’s apparent end. 
 
 LAPD officers used the Internet to monitor radio chatter during the firefight. 
 
 “It was horrifying to listen to that firefight and to hear those words. ‘Officer down’ is the most gut-wrenching experience that you can have as a police officer,” Neiman said. 
 
 Throughout the search for Dorner, LA police stood guard around the homes of 50 potential targets of the rogue officer. 
 
 By this morning, that protection detail had been reduced to about a dozen families, police said. 
 
 “Those [protection details] will remain in place … until that investigation in San Bernardino is concluded and we have a type of positive identification,” Neiman said. “We still have some individuals in this department in great fear.” 
 
 The apparent end came very close to where his trail went cold six days earlier when his burning pickup truck — with guns and camping gear inside — was abandoned with a broken axle on a fire road in the San Bernardino National Forest near the ski resort town of Big Bear Lake. 
 
 His footprints led away from the truck and vanished on frozen soil. 
 
 With no sign of him and few leads, police offered a $1 million reward to bring him to justice and end a “reign of terror.” 
 
 In his manifesto, Dorner had promised to bring “warfare” to the LAPD and their kin. 
 
 Just a few hours after police announced Tuesday that they had fielded more than 1,000 tips with no sign of Dorner, word came that a man matching his description had tied up two people in a Big Bear Lake cabin, stole their car and fled. 
 
 California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens, who were part of the search detail, spotted the purple Nissan that had been reported stolen going in the opposite direction and gave chase, department spokesman Lt. Patrick Foy said. 
 
 The driver looked like Dorner. 
 
 They lost the purple car after it passed a school bus and turned onto a side road, but two other Fish and Wildlife patrols turned up that road a short time later, and saw a white pickup truck speeding erratically toward them. 
 
 “He took a close look at the driver and realized it was the suspect,” Foy said. 
 
 It’s believed Dorner had just carjacked Rick Heltebrake, who escaped with his life and dog. 
 
 ” `I don’t want to hurt you. Start walking and take your dog,’ ” Heltebrake quoted Dorner as saying. 
 
 Heltebrake grabbed his 3-year-old Dalmatian Suni and let Dorner take the truck. He heard gunfire moments later. 
 
 The carjacking victim said he and Dorner were both remarkably collected during the brief, tense face-off. 
 
 “He wasn’t wild-eyed, just almost professional,” he said. “He was on a mission.” 
 
 “It was clear I wasn’t part of his agenda and there were other people down the road that were part of his agenda,” Heltebrake added. 
 
 Once in Heltebrake’s truck, Dorner allegedly rolled down a window and opened fire, striking a warden’s truck more than a dozen times. 
 
 One of the wardens returned fire as Dorner rounded a curve in the road. It’s unclear if Dorner was wounded, but the stolen pickup careened off the road and crashed in a snow bank. 
 
 Dorner then ran to the cabin where he barricaded himself and shot it out with San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies. 
 
 The firefight with deputies happened shortly after 1:30 p.m. PST, and a local CBS news crew just happened to be near that final showdown. 
 
 The crew recorded audio of gunfire and these apparent screams from deputies: 
 
 “Burn it down!” 
 
 “Shoot the gas!” 
 
 “Get the gas!” 
 
 “Burning gas, burning gas!” 
 
 Until yesterday, authorities weren’t sure Dorner was still in Big Bear Lake, where his pickup was found within walking distance from the cabin where he hid. 
 
 Even door-to-door searches failed to turn up any trace of him in the quiet, bucolic neighborhood where children were playing in the snow last night. 
 
 With many searchers leaving town amid speculation he was long gone, the command center across the street was taken down Monday. 
 
 Ron Erickson, whose house is only about quarter mile away, said officers interrogated him to make sure he wasn’t being held hostage. Erickson himself had been keeping a nervous watch on his neighborhood, but he never saw the hulking Dorner. 
 
 “I looked at all the cabins that backed the national forest and I just didn’t think to look at the one across from the command post,” he said. “It didn’t cross my mind. It just didn’t.” 
 
 Police said Dorner began his run on Feb. 6 after they connected the slayings of a former police captain’s daughter and her fiance with his angry manifesto. 
 
 Dorner blamed LAPD Capt. Randal Quan for providing poor representation before the police disciplinary board that fired him for filing a false report. 
 
 Dorner, who is black, claimed in his online rant that he was the subject of racism by the department and was targeted for doing the right thing. 
 
 LAPD chief Charlie Beck, who initially dismissed Dorner’s allegations, said he would reopen the investigation into his firing — not to appease the ex-officer, but to restore confidence in the black community, which had a long fractured relationship with police that has improved in recent years. 
 
 Dorner vowed to get even with those who had wronged him as part of his plan to reclaim his good name. 
 
 “You’re going to see what a whistleblower can do when you take everything from him especially his NAME!!!” the rant said. “You have awoken a sleeping giant.” 
 
 Dorner allegedly killed Capt. Quan’s daughter, Cal State Fullerton assistant women’s basketball coach Monica Quan, and her fiancee Keith Lawrence on Feb. 3. 
 
 The couple was found fatally shot inside their car in Irvine, Calif. 
 
 Dorner was named as a suspect the night of Feb. 6 and hours later, the 6-foot, 270-pounder former cop — described as armed and “extremely dangerous” — tried unsuccessfully to steal a boat in San Diego to flee to Mexico. 
 
 After leaving a trail of evidence, Dorner headed north where he opened fire on two patrol cars in Riverside County, shooting three cops, authorities said. 
 
 He allegedly killed Riverside police officer Michael Crain, who was in his squad car stopped at a red light. 
 
 Police in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and along the US-Mexico border went on high alert looking for the former officer. 
 
 Several hours after Crain’s slaying, Dorner’s burning truck was found in the rugged Big Bear mountains, about 80 miles east of LA. 
 
 Only a short distance from the truck, he spent his final days with a front-row seat to the search mobilized right outside. 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| The hunt for Christopher Dorner in the snow-covered San Bernardino Mountains is expected to resume at daybreak Saturday, when authorities hope clearer skies will allow airplanes to help them in their search. 
 
 Members on the California Highway Patrol search a truck for Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles police officer accused of carrying out a killing spree because he felt he was unfairly fired from his... (Associated Press) 
 
 This undated photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer. Dorner, who was fired from the LAPD in 2008 for making false statements,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police investigators take away evidence from the home of the mother of fugitive suspect former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner, in La Palma, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Police agencies... (Associated Press) 
 
 A digital billboard along Santa Monica Boulevard on the west side of Los Angeles shows a "wanted" alert for former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Dorner is suspected... (Associated Press) 
 
 A San Bernardino County Sheriff SWAT team returns to the command post at Bear Mountain near Big Bear Lake, Calif. after searching for Christopher Jordan Dorner on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Search conditions... (Associated Press) 
 
 A San Bernardino County Sheriff SWAT team returns to the command post at Bear Mountain near Big Bear Lake, Calif. after searching for Christopher Jordan Dorner on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Search conditions... (Associated Press) 
 
 A San Bernardino County Sheriff SWAT team returns to the command post at Bear Mountain near Big Bear Lake, Calif. after searching for Christopher Jordan Dorner on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Search conditions... (Associated Press) 
 
 ADDS DATE VIDEO WAS TAKEN - This image provided by the Irvine Police Department shows Christopher Dorner from Jan. 28, 2013 surveillance video at an Orange County, Calif., hotel. More than 100 officers,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relentless snowfall on Friday grounded helicopters with heat-sensing technology and hampered their effort to find the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a deadly rampage to get back at those he blamed for ending his career. 
 
 After they found his burned-out pickup truck near at this ski resort town Thursday afternoon, SWAT teams in camouflage started scouring the mountains, aware to the reality they could be walking into a trap set by the well-trained former Navy reservist who knows their tactics and strategies as well as they do. 
 
 "He can be behind every tree," said T. Gregory Hall, a retired tactical supervisor for a special emergency response team for the Pennsylvania State Police. "He can try to draw them into an ambush area where he backtracks." 
 
 As authorities weathered heavy snow and freezing temperatures in the mountains, thousands of heavily armed police remained on the lookout throughout California, Nevada, Arizona and northern Mexico for a suspect bent on revenge and willing to die. 
 
 Police said officers still were guarding more than 40 people mentioned as targets in a rant they said Dorner posted on Facebook. He vowed to use "every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance and survival training I've been given" to bring "warfare" to the LAPD and its families. 
 
 The manhunt had Southern California residents on edge. Unconfirmed sightings were reported near Barstow, about 60 miles north of the mountain search, and in downtown Los Angeles. 
 
 Some law enforcement officials said he appeared to be everywhere and nowhere, and speculated that he was trying to spread out their resources. 
 
 For the time being, their focus was on the mountains 80 miles east of Los Angeles _ a snowy wilderness, filled with thick forests and jagged peaks, that creates peril as much for Dorner as the officers hunting him. 
 
 The small army hunting him has the advantage of strength in numbers and access to resources, such as special weapons, to bring him in. 
 
 In his online rant, Dorner baited authorities. 
 
 "Any threat assessments you generate will be useless," it read. "I have the strength and benefits of being unpredictable, unconventional, and unforgiving." 
 
 Without the numbers that authorities have, Dorner holds one advantage: the element of surprise. 
 
 Authorities said they do not know how long Dorner had been planning the rampage or why he drove to the San Bernardino Mountains. Property records show his mother owns undeveloped land nearby, but a search of the area found no sign of him. 
 
 It was not clear if he had provisions, clothing or weapons stockpiled in the area. Even with training, days of cold and snow can be punishing. 
 
 "Unless he is an expert in living in the California mountains in this time of year, he is going to be hurting," said former Navy SEAL Clint Sparks, who now works in tactical training and security. "Cold is a huge stress factor. ... Not everybody is survivor-man." 
 
 Jamie Usera, an attorney in Salem, Ore., who befriended Dorner when they were students and football teammates at Southern Utah University, said he introduced him to the outdoors. Originally from Alaska, Usera said, he taught Dorner about hunting and other outdoor activities. 
 
 "Of all the people I hung out with in college, he is the last guy I would have expected to be in this kind of situation," Usera, who had lost touch with Dorner is recent years, told the Los Angeles Times. 
 
 Others saw Dorner differently. Court documents obtained by The Associated Press on Friday show an ex-girlfriend of Dorner's called him "severely emotionally and mentally disturbed" after the two split in 2006. 
 
 Dorner served in the Navy, earning a rifle marksman ribbon and pistol expert medal. He was assigned to a naval undersea warfare unit and various aviation training units, according to military records. He took leave from the LAPD for a six-month deployment to Bahrain in 2006 and 2007. 
 
 Last Friday was his last day with the Navy and also the day CNN's Anderson Cooper received a package that contained a note on it that read, in part, "I never lied." A coin riddled with bullet holes that former Chief William Bratton gave out as a souvenir was also in the package. 
 
 Police said it was a sign of planning by Dorner before the killing began. 
 
 On Sunday, police say Dorner shot and killed a couple in a parking garage at their condominium in Irvine. The woman was the daughter of a retired police captain who had represented Dorner in the disciplinary proceedings that led to his firing. 
 
 Dorner wrote in his manifesto that he believed the retired captain had represented the interests of the department over his. 
 
 Hours after authorities identified Dorner as a suspect in the double murder, police believe Dorner shot and grazed an LAPD officer in Corona and then used a rifle to ambush two Riverside police officers early Thursday, killing one and seriously wounding the other. 
 
 The incident led police to believe he was armed with multiple weapons, including an assault-type rifle. That detail concerned officers whose bullet-proof vests can be penetrated by such high-powered weapons, said LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese. 
 
 As a result, all LAPD officers have been required to work in pairs to ensure "a greater likelihood of coming out on top if there is an ambush," Albanese said. "We have no officers alone right now." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers contributing to this report include Michael Blood and John Antczak in Los Angeles and Julie Watson in San Diego. 
 
 Risling reported from Big Bear Lake and Abdollah reported from Los Angeles. She can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/LATams
– The California resort town of Big Bear Lake has had a rough night. Los Angeles police officers have visited more than half the area's homes as they search for ex-cop Christopher Dorner; they're telling locals not to answer their doors unless they're sure who's knocking, ABC News reports. Meanwhile, surveillance aircraft are patrolling the skies and fleets of SUVs are keeping watch on the roads as the town is in lockdown, the Los Angeles Times reports. Police say they found Dorner's pickup truck torched on a forest road, with footprints trailing away through the snow. That snow could help hide Dorner, but could also make any movements on foot difficult, the Times notes. More details about Dorner's past are emerging: While longtime acquaintances recalled a "typical guy" who was "never disgruntled," police had long been concerned about him. Four years ago, when he faced a disciplinary hearing the day he was fired from the department, armed guards were on hand, the Times adds. "It was clear ... that he was wound way too tight," an officer says. Click to read about the bizarre package Dorner reportedly sent Anderson Cooper.