Southern Cal on Fire AGAIN!

[ragswl4]

Once again we are experiencing many huge fires from Ventura County to San Diego County. These fires are expected to be worse than the fires of 2003. Many highways have been closed and there have been 250,000+ people evacuated in San Diego county.

The tanker planes that normally fight these fires have been grounded due to high, turbulent winds so it has become very difficult for the firefighters to make any progress against the fires. Helicopters are dropping water but only small amounts compared to what the fixed wing planes can drop. Winds are supposed to continue until Wednesday. Also the fires create their own wind which compounds the problem.

My daughter and her family were evacuated this morning as one of the major fires was only 2 miles from her home. I live 50 miles north of her and cannot get to her nor can she get to our home due to the highway closures. At least people are out of harms way.

While there are no fires in my area the sky is dark gray everywhere due to smoke and fine particles from the fires. Can't stay outside very long before breathing get a little tough and we are at least 50 miles from the closest fire. We hope the winds stop soon so the fires can be brought under control.

[Ed62]

There always seems to something going on in Cal. If it's not fires, it's something else. I'm hoping they will be able to contain the fires to areas not too close to homes. But they've got their hands full. I guess the most important thing is that there's no loss of life.

Ed

[scmhogg]

Rags,

We are safe, so far, here in Simi Valley. There are fires all around us though. It is very windy here. The house is rattling and whistling, while I type. The sky is clear at the moment, but the smell of smoke is still strong.

Yesterday, we were in the plume of smoke from the Castaic and Canyon Country fires. The sun was nearly blocked out and everything was a weird sepia color. The air was choking.

We don't expect too many problems here, as our mountain burned thoroughly in 2003. [See below] Now with the drought, there is very little left to burn. The fire captain at the 2003 fire said we won't have to worry for ten years.



This is from my backyard in 2003. The flames were 30 to 40 feet high when they crested the hill. The fire , eventually burned up to my property line, deliniated by the telephone pole and cable fence. We are required to have the fire resistant buffer zone between that fence and the wrought iron. [Note the brave fireman in the forground.]

I hope all SoCal members are safe.

Steve

[TB Roye]

I was involved in fighting some of those when I was in College in LA. October is a bad time of year and this year it is only worse. My cousin Sally and her family lost their house this morning. I was in the hills above San Diego, it was their dream house they built 10 years ago after building their Carpet and Flooring business from the ground up. They are insured and should be ok as far as rebuilding is concerned they and the pets all got out safely. The house was Stucco, Brick and with a tile roof and plenty of defensible space and landscape around it. The winds were so strong it blew embers into the spaces under and between the tiles on the roof and finially caught the roof deck (Plywood under the roofing felt and tile) on fire They had put out small fires on their deck and pool building and fencing but the wind got to strong and once the roof was burning it was all over. The had done planning years ago on what to do if this should happen and had their cars, pick up and motor home loaded and moved last night so all they did today was grab the dog and get in the one car there and go. We stayed there last May when we went down for my neices graduation from San Diego State and it was a beatiful home with a great view. Our niece is still living down there but is ok, she is a substitute teacher and all the schools were closed today so she is trying to stay out or get out of the smoke with out much luck. The fires and Santa Ana winds are the one reason I moved back to Northern Ca. after the service. It would not take much for alot more damage to be done there. Hope the winds die soon. Then you hope it rains but not to much so you don't get a lot of Mud Slides to finish things off. I am thinking of all our So Cal members and hope all is we.ll.

Tom

[Uncle Cracker]

Hopes and prayers go out to any who are having to cope with this catastrophe. Mother Nature can be a mean girl from time to time. I hope that better ways are someday devised to deal with this sort of thing.

[Scottydont]

My wife just taked to her Mom in San Diego and she said any of the fires are eight miles away from them. While she was on the phone she heard the call waiting beep and the caller advised her voluntarily evacuate. She said thay are going to get stuff packed and get ready if need be. She said that all of the Freeway traffic is going south and nothing is coming north. Kind of spooky.

Here is a link to a webpage showing articles, videos and maps of what's going on.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...echtopheds-hed

[ragswl4]

I was involved in fighting some of those when I was in College in LA. October is a bad time of year and this year it is only worse. My cousin Sally and her family lost their house this morning. I was in the hills above San Diego, it was their dream house they built 10 years ago after building their Carpet and Flooring business from the ground up. They are insured and should be ok as far as rebuilding is concerned they and the pets all got out safely. The house was Stucco, Brick and with a tile roof and plenty of defensible space and landscape around it. The winds were so strong it blew embers into the spaces under and between the tiles on the roof and finially caught the roof deck (Plywood under the roofing felt and tile) on fire They had put out small fires on their deck and pool building and fencing but the wind got to strong and once the roof was burning it was all over. The had done planning years ago on what to do if this should happen and had their cars, pick up and motor home loaded and moved last night so all they did today was grab the dog and get in the one car there and go. We stayed there last May when we went down for my neices graduation from San Diego State and it was a beatiful home with a great view. Our niece is still living down there but is ok, she is a substitute teacher and all the schools were closed today so she is trying to stay out or get out of the smoke with out much luck. The fires and Santa Ana winds are the one reason I moved back to Northern Ca. after the service. It would not take much for alot more damage to be done there. Hope the winds die soon. Then you hope it rains but not to much so you don't get a lot of Mud Slides to finish things off. I am thinking of all our So Cal members and hope all is we.ll.

Tom

Very sorry to hear about the loss of their home. It must be incredibly difficult for them. I can't imagine the agony of that, especially since it was their dream home. As you say they can rebuild and as they are all safe that's whats most important. Watching the news is very depressing seeing all the homes burn. At least no one has lost their life so far, lets hope that tally stays at zero.

[gwyneth]

One of my sisters lives in Carlsbad and I'm waiting for an update.

[ragswl4]

One of my sisters lives in Carlsbad and I'm waiting for an update.

I heard on TV about 30 minutes ago that the San Marcos fire is contained. San Marcos is east of Carlsbad so that's good news for Carlsbad. Hope all is well with your sister.

[Pakaderm]

I heard on TV about 30 minutes ago that the San Marcos fire is contained. San Marcos is east of Carlsbad so that's good news for Carlsbad. Hope all is well with your sister.

I evacuated from my house in Escondido to San Marcos. I'm staying with some friends now, and I think we'll be safe here. I do hope my house is still there when I check back.

-Pak

[JR]

Everything's ok at my place, or so LOML tells me. I'm on the east coast for a couple of days. It was pretty hard to leave in these conditions.


We flew up the San Gabriel valley on the way out of LAX. The fire at Lake Arrowhead was going pretty good by that point, which surprising because I hadn't even heard it reprorted as a fire before seeing it. That area burned to a crisp a couple of years ago, so hopefully it won't be a huge problem.

As Steve said, is was real smokey yesterday. Dusk at 3pm. Hard to breath.

The winds are the stiffest I remember. We were lucky to get about an inch of rain a week or two ago. It's a drop in the bucket, though, given how dry things are in SoCal.

Hopefully the winds will die tomorrow and things will settle down.

JR

[gwyneth]

I just heard on CNN that the overall fire direction is heading towards the ocean, so it's hard to tell. Apparently Palomar and the airport area are still ok.

Thankfully, my sister, her husband and the two kids left at home are in a better position to cope with disasters than many--they've lived in the house only a couple of years and he's a retired Marine officer who specialized in preparedness training with an emphasis on ground and landscape terrain. For years, he's run drills on the kids and their scout troops. She's been an advanced Girl Scout, then leader, most of her life--I believe her troop participated in a wide area disaster simulation last year.

Scotty, I hope your mother-in-law continues to be safe and TB, my thoughts are with your cousin and her family.

[mschrank]

At least no one has lost their life so far, lets hope that tally stays at zero.

Wish your comment was true:

AP....the wildfires that started Sunday claimed their only fatality to date: Thomas Varshock, 52, of Tecate, a town on the U.S. side of the border southeast of San Diego. His body was found Sunday afternoon, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said.

[gwyneth]

Cal Fire has a terrific information page with status reports, updates, maps, and more:

http://www.fire.ca.gov/

[mkel2000]

As of this afternoon, there was only one fire out of twelve here in San Diego with active flames. The rest are being mopped up, but it will likely take a week or more for them to be considered out.

I was called in to work on Monday along with every other local, state and federal law enforcement agency in San Diego County. There were several major staging areas for just law enforcement, with a minimum of 500 at the start of each shift. We've all been working 12 to 16 hours each day; I'm sure the fire units have been working longer. We started scaling back today, as most of those areas that had been evacuated were re-opened to residents. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be my last shift working the fires.

We've had fire units from all over the western US respond to help with fighting these fires. I saw a rig today from somewhere in Washington State.

I've been assigned to most of the areas in the county that were hit by the fires. It is amazing to see how the fire traveled; I've seen many homes that were surrounded by fire that survived untouched, while other homes well clear of brush or flammables were burnt to the ground. The winds were so strong they were described as "hurricane force" during the first several days. They were strong enough to snap tree trunks several feet thick like they were twigs. I've never seen anything like it before.

After the fires in 2003, San Diego County instituted a reverse 911 system to make evacuation notifications. This is the first time the system was employed and I'm sure it saved many lives. These notifications were supplemented by actually knocking on doors and telling people to leave. Unfortunately, many chose not to heed the warnings and we are slowly finding their remains.The death toll from this fire will likely go higher in the coming weeks.

Mark