Four years ago, we had the Cedar Fire here in San Diego. The last few days we have been dealing with an even more massive fire storm. There are at least three major fires burning across our county, most of which are almost completely out of control. Fortunately, the county has done an incredible job of handling the situation.
Currently, more than 950K people have been evacuated from their neighborhoods and more than 250K acres have burned. At least 1500 homes have been completely destroyed with hundreds of businesses also entirely gone. Entire cities are being, or have been evacuated. In the last few hours, some evacuees have been told they can go home, thankfully. The news is all a bit sketchy since the fires are so sporadic and random in their burn patterns. We've had Santa Ana winds gusting up to hurricane force winds over the last few days, funneling the flames through the canyons and up/over/around the mountains here. The low humidity and high heat combination... There is a reason we call these Santa Anas "Devil Winds". There are many, many fires raging through Southern California right now, so we are not alone in this emergency.
Our family is in Escondido (North East SD) and we are waiting to hear if we are to be evacuated. The largest of the fires (Witch Creek, currently 1% of 240K acres contained) is burning relatively close to where we live. That fire is on the verge of merging with another large fire (Poomacha fire) north of us. On the west of us, Del Dios and Rancho Santa Fe are dealing with sporadic and very intense fires. Much of the vegetation through Del Dios/Rancho Santa Fe all the way out to the coast (Del Mar) has not burned in decades, so the fuel capacity for these flames is just immense. The area also is home to multi-million dollar estates (Bill Gates and Janet Jackson, for instance, have homes in Rancho Santa Fe).
At this time, residents who are not being told to prep for evac or who haven't received reverse 911 calls to evac have been asked to remain in their homes (including us). If the winds shift, we will be most likely be told to go... we are packed and ready with the most important things, but leaving furniture and other things behind is pretty damn scary to think about.
Here are a couple of links that show what is burning where in San Diego:
Google Map of San Diego Fires
NBC San Diego
Please check on your friends and family here in SoCal. Try not to use cell phone numbers for calling, text messaging is strongly requested. We've been asked to use text messaging for cell phone correspondence as the emergency crews have had problems with communications. I'll post up more information as often as I can...
Currently, more than 950K people have been evacuated from their neighborhoods and more than 250K acres have burned. At least 1500 homes have been completely destroyed with hundreds of businesses also entirely gone. Entire cities are being, or have been evacuated. In the last few hours, some evacuees have been told they can go home, thankfully. The news is all a bit sketchy since the fires are so sporadic and random in their burn patterns. We've had Santa Ana winds gusting up to hurricane force winds over the last few days, funneling the flames through the canyons and up/over/around the mountains here. The low humidity and high heat combination... There is a reason we call these Santa Anas "Devil Winds". There are many, many fires raging through Southern California right now, so we are not alone in this emergency.
Our family is in Escondido (North East SD) and we are waiting to hear if we are to be evacuated. The largest of the fires (Witch Creek, currently 1% of 240K acres contained) is burning relatively close to where we live. That fire is on the verge of merging with another large fire (Poomacha fire) north of us. On the west of us, Del Dios and Rancho Santa Fe are dealing with sporadic and very intense fires. Much of the vegetation through Del Dios/Rancho Santa Fe all the way out to the coast (Del Mar) has not burned in decades, so the fuel capacity for these flames is just immense. The area also is home to multi-million dollar estates (Bill Gates and Janet Jackson, for instance, have homes in Rancho Santa Fe).
At this time, residents who are not being told to prep for evac or who haven't received reverse 911 calls to evac have been asked to remain in their homes (including us). If the winds shift, we will be most likely be told to go... we are packed and ready with the most important things, but leaving furniture and other things behind is pretty damn scary to think about.
Here are a couple of links that show what is burning where in San Diego:
Google Map of San Diego Fires
NBC San Diego
Please check on your friends and family here in SoCal. Try not to use cell phone numbers for calling, text messaging is strongly requested. We've been asked to use text messaging for cell phone correspondence as the emergency crews have had problems with communications. I'll post up more information as often as I can...
