San Diego County is on fire

Bonnie M. · October 22, 2007, 08:28:55 AM

Oh, my goodness! You can't imagine how bad this fire is! Towns are being evacuated, blackening smoke is everwhere, all of the schools are closed, probably all of the meetings are cancelled, my daughter and her family in Valley Center just received the order to evacuate their home, this is a terrible fire.

The wind just "howled" all night, the humidity continues to be in the single digits, please add us to your prayers. The Wild Animal Park is in the line of the fire, "they" are trying to do what they can to protect all of the thousands of animals/birds.

The southern part of Escondido is being evacuated, and we live in the northern part.

I'm noticing that a good portion of the National News is covering the Malibu fire, so just thought I'd let you know that literally thousands of acres have burned here in San Diego County, the fire is 0 % contained, and so many homes have burned that they don't have a count, due to the black smoke and strong winds.

Cathy, Harvey and Michael will be here soon, we need to get some breakfast ready for them. The Highways are jammed, of course.

Floods, fires, neither are what we wish for!

Judy Harder · October 22, 2007, 08:48:46 AM

Bonnie,
I am so sorry you must go through this again. I just know I would rather duck tornado's than California wild fires and earthquakes.

I will keep you all in my prayers and hope you all will be safe.
Isn't Michael a senior this year? Will he still be able to get to school?

Hang in there, Hugs and God Bless and keep you.
Judy

Wilma · October 22, 2007, 09:01:34 AM

Hold on, Bonnie, and if you need a place to evacuate to, remember that Elk County is far away from the fires. I hope things stay OK for you.

frawin · October 22, 2007, 09:11:43 AM

So sorry you are in the line of fire. I talked to our daughter last night. She lives in Long Beach (Signal Hill). Said no orders to evacuate yet, but the smoke and haze was terrible. We will keep all of you in our prayers.

Myrna

Bonnie M. · October 22, 2007, 09:45:29 AM

Thanks for your prayers and concern.

Myrna, I hope your daughter stays safe.

We have 8 or 9 separate fires burning in different areas of San Diego County. The wind is just "blowing a gale!" The fire fighting capability is greatly dimished due to the high winds. The usual bomber and helicopter support used to fight the fires can't be utilized, because of the high winds.

Our daughter, Cathy, works in a Community Health Clinic as a Nurse Practitioner, here in Escondido, and she did go on to work. The places designated as shelters are pretty full, and they keep moving them further west! (I'm wondering if they have a lot of boats/ships on standby, as the Ocean is 20 miles west of us!)

It's "eerie" to see pictures of Highway 15 being closed! And Highway 78 is closed. Both highways are usually packed, with the normal traffic.

Three points they're stressing, stay off the roads unless it's an emergency, don't use your cell phones only for emergencies, and when given the order to evacuate immediately, GET OUT!

The three responsibilities I had today are all cancelled, so I may as well get busy cleaning house, or something!

Diane Amberg · October 22, 2007, 01:34:44 PM

We've been watching it too. Please stay safe! Prayers for all in harms way. You just can't believe how fast those fires can move. Keep in touch if you can.

Bonnie M. · October 22, 2007, 02:12:12 PM

It's 1:00 p.m. out this way. The winds are still howling, and the fires are still burning. About the time they think the fires have "blown through" an area, they turn around and there's another home burning. There's 100,000 acres in San Diego County that have either burned or are now burning, and there's been 250,000 people evacuated from their homes.

It's kind of interesting, we're still not seeing much of anything about the fire in San Diego County, the national news coverage is primarily about Malibu!

There hasn't been any assessment yet of how many homes have burned, as the smoke is still so bad, and people, for the most part, haven't been able to return to their areas where the fire has gone through, since there's still so many fires burning.

In my opinion, looters should be shot, but they're not announcing that's their method, yet! However, we are hearing about some people who obviously have looting on their minds.

The home of at least one our newscasters burned, a big house, of course. He watched it burn from a distance, and the homes of most of his neighbors also burned. Those homes were over in the Rancho Santa Fe area. Another of the newscasters is saying, "now the fire is getting close to my house."

We're staying in the house, as "instructed." The air quality is bad, bad! ALL of the schools in San Diego County are scheduled to be closed tomorrow.

Judy Harder · October 22, 2007, 04:39:48 PM

Bonnie, How is Bob doing with his breathing problems?

I remember how smokey it got when the whole area of the Flint Hills were on fire and Longton and each town was just as smokey as it could be and that is too bad for people with breathing problems..
Did Cathy and Harvey get to you?
Keep us informed.
Hugs and God bless and keep you safe.
Judy

Bonnie M. · October 22, 2007, 05:02:49 PM

Judy, Bob is just staying in the house, and avoiding the smoke in the outside air.

Cathy and Harvey were able to get back to their place, and at this point, anyway, they don't have a fire heading their way. However, we had the call from the Police Department to "be prepared to evacuate," I guess there's some fires east of us, and with the winds the way they are, no one can tell which way the fires will burn. Homes just keep catching on fire! The winds haven't died down. We have some things ready to go, if need be. Our evacuation center would be at the Escondido High School, which, fortunately for us, is maybe a couple of miles west of us, it's almost a "straight shot" from here. Cathy said we could go out there, but I thought that would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire! A friend called who lives at Vista and said we should come to her house. Most of our friends live in the fire area, and many have already been evacuated. But, until we are "requested" to leave, we will just stay here at home. I have the "Heirloom Quilt" ready to go that Karen made and gave to me, and I have income tax papers and Insurance papers, a listing of financial accounts, our check book, (I need to get out some of the cash that we "keep on hand" for emergencies!) and some pictures and if we had to leave, I'll take some of the family dishes that had been Mother's. You're right about the smoke, it pretty much blocks out everything. I'm thinking that we surely won't have to leave, but, I'll let you know!

Diane Amberg · October 23, 2007, 10:06:37 AM

I've been able to keep up with San Diego county on our fire service web site. The sheriff has declared it the worst San Diego Co. has ever seen. The firefighting strike forces have been increased. 750 more engine companies have been called for. Any news on the animals? I have friends who live on Canyon Country Rd near Brea, and I have no idea where they are in relation to the fires. I haven't seen much on the Escondido area today. If the air is sooty don't hesitate to wear a mask. Prayers to all.