We're burning up!
 

Hey everyone.....if you could please keep us San Diegans in your thoughts for the next few days....my parents got a call at 6 am from the City of Carlsbad informing them they may need to evacuate. I know many people who live out in Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Santa Fe....all of which are burning up as I type......and if you've never experienced a fire scare, there's nothing else like it ~ my family and I almost lost our house when I was 13.....in 1996......and here we go again. The Cedar Fire of 2003 caused all of San Diego to become a hazy orange color and dropped ash everywhere, but our house wasn't at risk that time........good lord this is scary!!

Oh I'm SOOO very sorry to hear this, and you and your family are definitely in my thoughts and prayers!

My parents live in Carlsbad too, but no evacuation call has been issued in their area. What area are your parents in?

wow. I'm so sorry. be careful and keep us posted.

It's horrible. Houses are burning down in a matter of minutes right now in Rancho Bernardo.

Last night my cousin had to evacuate from her home in Ramona. She had to load up 4 horses, two dogs and her 4 children by herself. She's all of 5' tall and the thought of her having to hitch the horse trailer and leave her home is hard to imagine. Her husband is a fireman about 30 miles away from their home but wasn't allowed to leave to go help her out. I still haven't heard from her this morning so I'm not sure where they ended up.

I'm only 2 blocks from the beach but the air quality is bad and the ash is flying everywhere. This fire is following the same path as the Cedar fire here in 2003. Everyone is saying this will be more destructive because the winds aren't supposed to die down until Wednesday. Hundreds of homes were destroyed in 2003 and if this is worse we can only pray that everyone gets out safely. Jamie (jkmaletic) is in North San Diego County I believe. I hope you are okay and safe!

Update: Over 250,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in San Diego. The wind is sending burning embers in every direction causing fires to start up. Evacuation locations are changing because original evacuation sites are now in the path of the fire. One of the local newscasters just reported that his house is on fire.

:distress:

This sort of thing makes you feel so helpless. I hope everyone stays safe.

Any more word on evacuations in Carlsbad? It didn't seem logical to me, considering the distance from Ramona area. My parents live in Carlsbad on the coast, but they've had no word to evacuate.

I have some siblings in Poway, & the kids called me this morning, coughing & wheezing from all the smoke. I told them, Hey, your uncle's eyes are burning too, since I'm 5 miles from the Irvine/Lake Forest fire -- which was set by a friggin' arsonist.

I haven't heard anything about Carlsbad. Surprisingly though they are evacuating parts of Solana Beach and Del Mar. You can't go any further west then that. The problem is that there are 8 separate fires right now in San Diego and fixed wing planes aren't able to fly and drop water on the fire because of the winds. I'm getting nervous because the most southern fire has now jumped Otay Lakes which is directly east of me. It's still 10+ miles away but the Santa Ana winds are blowing towards me. I am probably going to be taking in relatives tonight that have been evacuated from their homes. When this is all said and done, the number of destroyed homes will be staggering.

sending good thoughts that way. I just saw briefly on tv what's been going on, but we were so busy today at work I couldn't get any details. Such a horrible thing :(

I'm so sorry that this is happening to everybody. I hope that everyone gets out safe, and that they can get this under control soon :(

Sending you my thoughts, I have family throughout California, so I am concerned about these fires.

I am so scared for the people in the path of the fires. This is so terrible and frightening. My best friend lives in Cali and I am worried for her and her loved ones. Being in the Chicago area, fires are not an issue for us, but that all changes when you have people you care about deeply being affected. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

This is just terrible. Sending positive thoughts your way!!!!!

Hey All-

I (Jamie) actually live in La Mesa (just east of the city of San Diego). I am fine, although my partner and I have just gotten done packing 3 days worth of clothes, medications, pet food etc. in case we suddenly have to leave.
Today at around 3pm, I had to evacuate my workplace due to a fire being about 1 block away. I work in a radiology clinic and a patient spotted smoke across the street. After seeing it myself, we got all of our patients out of the building and gave them our cards to reschedule their appointments. After that, I RUSHED MY ASS home! That's when I started packing. So we are ready to go if we need to. One thing I learned - it's good to watch the news for updates, but you also gotta look out your windows too. I NEVER expected to see black smoke across the street from my workplace today, but there it was. :distress:

Thanks for all your kind words. You know, Stevie's house may also be in danger with the Malibu fire. She's safe in Chicago though. I hope her home is ok - can you imagine all the poetry and demos and ....I don't even wanna think about it. :distress:

Beachwood you stay safe too!

~jamie

^ Glad to hear you are okay Jamie! I thought you lived in Escondido and I got worried.

Terry

Where in CA, Brian?

Southern CA fires will continue to destroy homes every year because residential development itself spreads like a wildfire. I'm not anti-development by any means, but I'm just saying this sort of disaster is inevitable, given three inevitable things:

1. Low rainfall is typical -- not atypical -- for Southern CA. The result is that our coastal hills & valleys are covered with dry brush, like chaparral & scrub oak. It makes superb kindling.

2. The Santa Anas are a constant feature of our weather. They're warm & dry & very powerful & super-efficient at fanning flames & transporting cinders.

3. Each year, more & more areas that were once nothing but wilderness are turned into residential areas, with homes & schools & shopping centers. Take the Irvine/Foothill Ranch fire: Most of the development in that region is new. The huge tracts of homes along Portola & Sand Canyon, for example, were built only in the past five to seven years. I used to drive that way to the freeway (I-5) & I remember when it was a drive through fields of strawberries & a county dump.

scary stuff. my BF has taken in a couple from topanga canyon, and his family has a house in lake arrowhead. what scares me most are nutjobs that could light additonal fires and those idiots who toss cigs. stay safe everybody. thanks for checking in.

bet you miss that! ;)

Just saw the fires on the news and i/we were horrified by them.:distress:
I immediately thought of you Terry ,and turned the computer on to check.
I'm so glad to read you're still ok and i truly hope the wind will go down soon so no more homes get burned.
I'll keep a candle burning for all of you out there...

Hugs
Suzy

This is terrible. Stay safe, Cali Ledgies!

^^

It is terrible..it's scaring the **** out of me and it's just depressing - I feel so helpless and I can't get a hold of my friend in San Diego - I'm sure he's fine but I'd like to at least make contact.

Thanks for the well wishes Suzy and everyone. Reports today have over 1,000 homes destroyed in San Diego alone. I have 2 families that have been evacuated from their homes staying with me. It feels like the winds are starting to shift along the coast so hopefully it's gone as far west as it's going to. I still can't believe it has almost reached the coast near Del Mar. They are having voluntary evacuations right now at the edge of Chula Vista including the area where Coors Amphitheater is for those who have seen FM or Stevie at that venue. The helicopters are now able to fly in some areas dropping water on the flames and hopefully they will be joined today by fixed wing planes to do the same. There is ash everywhere and once this is all done the air quality will be nasty for the rest of the week if not longer.

thankfully winds aren't as bad today but the fires still rage. :(

I just want to say again how my thoughts and prayers are with you all in Cali. This is just a hellish situation and I just sit with my jaw open seeing the footage on CNN. Please be safe. And special hugs again to my best friend out there on the coast, I love you hun and hope you and your loved ones are OK!!!!!!

Hi, Jamie,

They've both passed on, but my grandparents used to live in Spring Valley off of Valencia St & Central Ave, I heard this morning that there was an out of control fire near Dictionary Hill & Mt Miguel. Any news from that area?

I can't watch the reports, it's so awful.
My prayers for everyone out there :(

I'm so glad you were able to pack your things- my heart really breaks for people who don't have time to try and gather at least *some* things together.

Jamie and Beachwood Mac (Terry, I think?) I'm glad you're both okay and please know that you're in our thoughts.

That fire is part of the "Harris Fire" and it is still burning. That is also the fire that would cause me to evacuate, so I'm keeping a close eye.

Thanks for your kind words. :) Yeah, I'm glad I packed some stuff to go - including a few Stevie things of course. :p

~jamie

Stay safe everyone. I can't imagine how awful this must be for everyone out there

I have no words. Literally.
I'm so sorry for everyone living through this. I just hope you all stay safe and relief comes quickly...

I can't either. And I hadn't seen my friend on IM so I was worried but he is in the stadium and safe. I don't know about his home though.

On edit: My friend is back in his home which is fine.

My heart goes out to all of you who have lost their homes in Southern California. I have lit a candle for you in prayer for good blessings to come to each and every one of you. May God Bless you and help keep you safe.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...sharon/z74.gif

This whole thing is so terrifying... I have many old friends, whom I haven't spoken with in ages but I still think of all the time, in southern Cali, so this hits pretty close to home. I still remember driving through the Malibu hills in October 1999 and just seeing parts that had already been burned in previous fires...I believe there were some fires going on at that time, but we weren't actually around them. I remember feeling pretty shaken just at seeing the sheer amount of burned brush and all...I'm from Toronto, we don't get stuff like that here. I know the fires in Malibu are nearby some of my friends, given that we drove past Pepperdine University on our way to meet up with them and I heard the other day that the fires were getting close to there...so yah, scary, scary stuff.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of you down there...I know it's just a part of living where y'all do, but that doesn't make it any less serious in my mind.

One of my best friends from college and his boyfriend live on Mission Beach. Currently they are OK but he said that outside it's just horrible. Ash is everywhere. Should I ever return, he said, it won't look the same. That breaks my heart, because San Diego is such a gorgeous place.

My prayers are with everyone in California right now.

rbs

The wind died waaaaay down in Orange & LA counties on Tuesday, so that's been great. In fact, it's been very still for several days, practically no breeze stirring. The temp is higher than what it was during the Santa Anas, so that's a bummer. But I was able yesterday to hose down the deck & the front walk. It's nice to be able to wash away the ashes & dead leaves so you can breathe again outside -- & get the vacuuming done inside. (When the wind is howling so fiercely, there's no point in cleaning or vacuuming inside or out because it won't last five minutes.)

All my best wishes to everyone going through this mess. Having been caught up in a small (and uncontrolable..until the brigade arrived) brush fire, years ago, I can't imagine, how bad it must be, in ahuge one.Try and stay strong.

The winds have started to shift in San Diego as well. The Harris fire that was directly east of me has now moved northeast and also south in to Mexico. I'm going to wait a few days to try to clean up the ash because it all comes back in a matter of hours. These fires have been indiscriminate in their path. My cousin in Ramona still can't get home but found out her house was spared. The houses on her side of the street are okay but almost every home across the street was completely burned to the ground. So far over 1300 homes in San Diego County have been lost.

I'm so sorry to hear what has been going on, and my condolences to those who have lost memories to the fire :(

I am glad that everyone here is safe, and that we can hope everyone you know and care about is as well.

I almost started crying in school the other day when this was brought up. I have never experienced this, and truely hope I never do, and can't imagine how hard this is on everyone.

Here is a photo essay of the San Diego fires in 4 parts taken from one of the San Diego road condition pilots and posted on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xff8yeeQWac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNqeP01Xxw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLBvzMip4LA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl-Uz1Cb7eg