[Beachwood Mac]

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.