Originally Posted By LuLu Some updates... The Buckweed (Canyon Country) fire is burning towards Magic Mountain, and I see that another fire has broken out near Magic Mountain Parkway. 250,000 were asked to evacuate in San Diego county, here's a quote: "We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them," San Diego Fire Capt. Lisa Blake said. "A lot of people are going to lose their homes today." This is just way bad...
Originally Posted By LuLu Oh, and we no longer have blue sky here, which may mean the winds have shifted. I hope that's a good thing.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip ^^^ Thanks for the info. I'm not familiar enough with the SoCal geography to know which of those areas would be hills and canyons and which would not. I just know fire scares the heck out of me and I just cannot imagine what it must be like to live with the threat. As I said before, I hope everyone gets out of this physically safe. The property that has been lost so far is enough of a tragedy without compounding it with loss of life.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice And a twist of sad irony... a coworker of mine who was vacationing in San Diego this weekend and making his way home today was turned back due to the fires in the San Bernardino Mountains. I posted on the Arrowhead thread that my folks had left their home (I got their answering machine awhile ago and assumed they'd evacuated). Dad called... They haven't yet received the 'mandatory,' so they're still up in Crestline. RT, you'd have to live in California to understand, I think... It really is a wonderful place in so many, many ways - normally. We're safe from all kinds of natural disasters here in LV, but I'd trade it all to live at the ocean. Some would wonder why people choose to live in the below-freezing temps of MN... with the treacherous black-ice roads in winter... segue'ing into flooding and the threat of tornadoes. ;-)
Originally Posted By EdisYoda I am still safe. We're in San Marcos, and not in immediate danger. Four fires are in my area, all but 1 of which are moving away from us. That one is about 10 to 15 miles away, but could easily move our direction depending on wind. Also another one about 20 miles north of us could head this way if the wind changes.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice My point on the road closures... I just want my folks to be able to head north on I-15 if they have to go. Otherwise, Crestline evacuees are being sent to the Orange County Fairgrounds... My mom on a cot in a crowd - not good.
Originally Posted By FaMulan What sucks, is this time of year (Santa Ana Winds time) tends to bring out those who like to start fires. The Santiago Canyon fire in Orange County is an arson fire.
Originally Posted By friendofdd I park my motorhome in a lot on the edge of civilization in OC. Actually very near the canyons of which Santiago is one of the largest. The lot was evacuated mid-day today. When I got there, I found a charred area about ten feet from my motorhome. It was small, perhaps 20 sq ft, and there were no other signs of fire nearby. I was grateful for the fire engine sitting there while the property was evacuated. We aren't allowed to park RVs more than two nights in our complex, but I'm sure my neighbors will understand for a few days.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice << I was grateful for the fire engine sitting there while the property was evacuated. >> Glad to know you're safe, fodd... *HUGS*
Originally Posted By SuzieQ Edisyoda, thanks so much for checking in. One of my cousins is in San Marcos as well. She's taken the kids to her mom's in Oceanside, but her husband stayed behind with the dogs for now. WonderingAlice, you said it well regarding why folks choose to live here. I've lived in So. and No. California for 41 years. In the hills, in the canyons, near the beach, you name it. Never once have I been threatened by fire or mudslides. Come to think of it, neither have my parents and they've been in California 70 years! Now the thought of tornado country....
Originally Posted By LuLu I know, it seems funny to us, there are *millions* of homes here, it's definitely not a question of "when" all of them will burn down... or even be threatened. My heart goes out to all of you affected, with friends or family affected... take care, and know my prayers are with you. The story on our friends' neighbors' house: a tree was blown over and downed a power line, that's how the fire started. My daughter's friend literally saved the day - the owners of the home are an elderly couple, husband nearly deaf, wife in a wheelchair. After the husband helped carry his wife out, he ran back in b/c he "forgot his hearing aid." DD's friend quickly went and grabbed him and pulled him out, and the house burst into flame. We really don't need any more of this excitement!
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Exactly SuzieQ... It's not too hard to put a finger on the biggest cause of these fires and those that threatened my folks (for the first times in the 15 years they've owned a home up there) - drought. Mudslides have never been an issue up there that I'm aware of (though we're all familiar with the problems they've faced in Malibu and some other areas). When I was a child in Torrance, we used to get tons of rain in California and we seldom heard of wildfires. Things have changed somehow and the lack of rain has been catastrophic. So sad. Thankfully, people usually have pretty good advanced notice to evacuate when fires strike. It's definitely more predictible than tornadoes.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Re: Post 53... I left out part of the sentence... My folks had to evacuate in October 2005. If they leave this time, it'll be the second time in 15 concurrent years (we vacationed in Crestline almost every summer when I lived in CA - with no incident).
Originally Posted By Tinkeroon Wishing the best to all affected by the fires and praying you all stay safe.
Originally Posted By iamsally Have been keeping an eye on the news. This is just terrible. My daughter-in-law's father is a fire fighter in San Diego; so I am sure he is busy. Still saying prayers for everyone affected by this.
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Our nephew and his wife (and cats) are in a voluntary evac. area in the San Diego area. Last I heard they were packed up and ready to go. I'm sending good thoughts for the firefighters and everyone in the area of the fires.
Originally Posted By DlandJB San Diego looks dreadful. UC San Diego was closed today. I'm glad to hear San Marcos hasn't been evacuated because I have a friend there, but Escondido was hit and that is awfully close to San Marcos. The Santiago Canyon fire came about 5 miles from our house - now it has moved more toward Foothill Ranch and Lake Forest - very close to our church. A very good friend who is 9 months pregnant and her husband had to leave their home in Foothill Ranch today. She is handling it well, considering. They have gone to her in-laws. More than 15,000 acres burned so far in Orange County - and they believe it was deliberately set. The air is really lousy, although it seemed a little better tonight. My eyes won't stop burning though.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Some would wonder why people choose to live in the below-freezing temps of MN... with the treacherous black-ice roads in winter... segue'ing into flooding and the threat of tornadoes.>> I guess it is a case of being more comfortable with the devil you know than the devil you don't know. I probably also see the threats we face as less frightening. Cold weather causes auto accidents but doesn't destroy houses. If you don't want to be in an auto accident, stay off the freeway. We have a modest number of tornados, but they are very rarely ranked higher than F2. We just don't get the big killers they have in the south. Floods. That's easy. Stay out of the 100 year floodplain and you're gonna be OK. Does every river flood every year? No, but you never know in advance which one will. Why take the chance? On the other hand; wildfires, hurricanes and earthquakes scare the heck out of me... probably because such large areas are destroyed at once. I can't think of a time when Minnesota would ever have 250,000 people facing the threat of losing their homes. That is just absolutely beyond my comprehension... it is so horrible I can't even get my mind around it. Like I say... I suppose it is all what you are used to. I just pray the winds die down and home loss is minimized to whatever extent possible.
