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The most frustrating thing is that it's pitch-dark in NY and has been pouring for two days. Can't we wish the rain to go over there instead of here?
Ah well. I just thought I'd share.
I woke up Saturday morning to what looked like a red sky and snow falling. After going outside and catching a whiff of the air and looking at the sky, I knew something was on fire somewhere. I just didn't realize it was half the state!
The ash fallout has diminished to the point where most are doing cleanup right now. Those poor people who are directly involved in the fires need some help. From my understanding, there have been over 200 homes that have fallen prey to the wild fires.
Good luck to all of you who are directly involved. I support my local fire departments every year, those guys/gals do an outstanding job and deserve all the kudos they can get! :)
P.S. Many people here in Orange County walking around with medical masks to prevent the inhalation of the ash. I was in the pharmacy this morning and they had a well stocked rack of those masks sitting right by the door. The air quality here these past few days is horrid. They recommend not to go outside unless it is absolutely nescessary.
They ended up about 100 miles apart. Their house was still not burned as of about 10 hours ago but that is the last word they had and the fire was running right down their canyon at that time. We shall see. At least they are all safe.
Everyone else I know in San Diego is on the coast so they are okay except for respiratory problems.
<added> President Bush has already declared four counties as Disaster Areas...
Bush Declares California Disaster Areas [wireservice.wired.com]
The president's action makes federal money available for disaster-struck people in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties.
The total number of acres burned so far is around 260,000 last I saw on the news. There is ash and soot on everything and there is a haze of smoke all over; been that way since yesterday. It's not even 3 pm here, but the sky looks like its about 6 or so. It's freaky.
Also, all the major highways are closed -- I don't just mean little sections of them, but almost all of them. 15, 805, 8, 163, 94...it's only tiny sections of highway that are open!
All employers were asked by the mayor last night to allow employeees to stay home the next few days, and the Navy asked for only "essential and critical" personelle to report for duty.
Still have power where I am at, but there are like 26,000 homes without power in San Diego county. People are just camping in parking lots and such in alot of places where they have had evacuations.
Least we haven't sunk into the ocean yet, thank God.
Jordan
What a terrifying thought...
I just saw a really cool sattelite picture of the blackened areas and the smoke streaming out over the Pacific...
Oh, Fox6.com has some better maps up. Yeah, la Mesa's all right. But it's awful close for comfort.
Good luck everybody! Stay safe and don't breathe too much!
The Berkeley Hills fire [firewise.org] 12 years ago destroyed 2,449 homes, and 437 condominiums. It took the lives of 25 people including a firefighter and a police officer. The smoke was so intense it came across the bay and blocked the sun in San Francisco. Far more destructive, in human terms, than the San Diego fires.
Naturally when the southland fires broke out the first thing the media up north focused on was the wood shake roofs, which are a disaster waiting to happen. Who do you blame, the developers, architects, or those who are supposed to regulate such things?
It's not like the people in charge didn't know this could happen.
I feel terrible for those people because they lost so much of their lives, including their lives, on account of those who are paid to know better.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
My sister was having a baby shower for the wife of one of my cousins the night before the fire got to them. Everyone at the party ended up helping them evacuate. They were ordered to evacuate as the fire roared down their canyon.
They had to tear down and move her entire CPA office to be sure it would survive. My sister took all but one of her kids and drove West from < > yesterday.
Her oldest son was working at the local gas station, filling up the fire trucks as quickly as they came in. Her husband drove in to pick him up and as they were getting onto the freeway to go West, the freeway (I-8) was shut down and everyone was sent East, toward Arizona.
They ended up about 100 miles away from each other.
I had not heard from any of them until about an hour ago so I called my sister's cell phone. They are all back together now and at his mother's house. Their house was one of the few left standing in that canyon. They had done a lot of tree trimming and brush clearing and watered everything down before they left. It sounds like it ran up the canyon wiping out most everything in its path and
just skipped them.
Oh how lucky for them... Glad to hear everyone's all right so far.
I've been trying to imagine what I would bring if I had to evacuate my house. I don't even know where to start. I read a terrible story last spring about a fire in Yonkers (I live just by Yonkers, and they had a lot of fires this spring including one that left over 100 people homeless)-- an old woman who'd lived in the same apartment about fifty years went out to get some groceries, and came back and her apartment had burned down. The only things she had left were the clothes she was wearing, and her handbag, which was decorated with her most favorite pictures. She was glad to have that handbag, because it was all that was left.
You can't really have off-site backups of your old photo albums unless you're *really* organized...
Haven't heard anything so far today but I'm hoping that in this age of instant communication, no news means they're asleep in bed, because we'd presumably have heard otherwise. :/
I found a really good, recent-looking PDF map of the fires, here [latimes.com]... I think they live somewhere near the O in San Diego, so it looks like they're all right. The map says it's from today, so... It's close, but they're OK.
So far, only 16 confirmed dead, but they expect the toll to rise as they go into burned areas and probably find more people.
Most upsetting of all, they're guessing that most of the fires were probably set by arsonists.
Some fires have started across the border in Mexico, but I have no idea how that's going. It's not a wealthy area...
So anyhow, everyone I know is all right, but I feel awful for those who weren't so lucky. I read a very moving story on the san diego newspaper's site about a man coming home to his neighborhood to find it entirely flattened but his house miraculously untouched-- and his terrible survivor's guilt over it. There's a lot of healing that's going to have to happen, and a lot of questions that are going to have to be answered.
My parents' house was close to the Simi Valley fire, but it looks like the fire started moving off in a different direction. Luckily, there doesn't appear to be a threat to their house now, as they're on a cruise and they wouldn't be able to get any valuables out of the house.
My aunt and uncle used to live at Lake Arrowhead, but fortunately moved to N. California a few years ago. It was such a gorgeous place and I can't believe that it'll be decimated so quickly. :(
