Originally Posted By LPFan22 Yep. My eyes and sinuses aren't happy either. The smoke is bad enough in the Irving/Orange/Anaheim areas but my prayers really go out to those in the path of danger. So sad.
Originally Posted By LuLu >>I can't think of a time when Minnesota would ever have 250,000 people facing the threat of losing their homes.<< I don't think this has ever happened before, here either. I haven't seen any commentary on this, but this seems to be the worst firestorm ever. The threat has increased over the years as we've had drier weather. I do agree RT, hearing all this going on, it does seem unconscionable to want to live here. BUT - we live with "perfect" weather 300+ days a year. That's pretty hard to give up! I personally am having a hard time imagining moving to an area with heat waves, lots of rain, cold dreary days etc. It really has nothing to do with the "disaster factor" - I think 99% of people figure "it'll never happen to ME!" I hope and pray they get these fires under control soon. I know what you mean about burning eyes and sinuses! It's pretty clear here, right now, tho...
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<I do agree RT, hearing all this going on, it does seem unconscionable to want to live here.>> Oh, I can understand wanting to live there. I just can't imagine so many homes being threatened at once. Truth be told it wouldn't be the weather that would keep me out of Southern California. It would be the real estate prices.
Originally Posted By MOLLYSMOM I had a question about something I heard on the news this morning. I was watching the Today show, and Matt Lauer is speaking with a couple married 25 years that moved into their San Diego area home 4 years ago, only to have it burn to the ground last night...very heart wrenching as all these stories are. Anyway, he asks them about insurance, to which the husband replies, "We have no insurance." I about fell out of my chair. I have heard that in Florida, there is a need to purchase "hurricane insurance", and in other regions, you need to purchase "flood insurance." I have also heard that that particular type of insurance is extremely expensive. I'm getting to my question... When I heard that man's comment about insurance, it made me wonder if he was perhaps in a "wildfire prone" area and had no insurance to cover that particular, loss...or if he just had no insurance-period. I know there's a question in this somewhere. I guess I could not fathom why anyone would not carry insurance on their home...except if it were the extreme cost of insuring against a specific natural disaster such as fire or hurricane. Does anybody get where I'm going here? I'm looking at this couple's home that is burnt to the ground, and I'm thinking to myself, "they have to start ALL over, and they have not one penny of insurance to help them." There are no words to express that tragedy.
Originally Posted By friendofdd Certainly, in retrospect, it was very foolish to be uninsured. However, it seems that a good portion of the evacuated homes in the San Diego area would not normally be in a "wildfire area". Our insurance takes into account which natural disasters would be most prone to occur here. Still, it is heartbreaking to see the hundreds of homes that have been destroyed in these fires.
Originally Posted By SuzieQ A dozen years ago we lost 3,500 homes to one fire in the Berkeley Hills. I haven't heard anymore from my family that is evacuated and I'm not home today. I'll have to call my mom for news.
Originally Posted By avromark Every area has it's share of "disaster related problems", it's just scary when it's on a huge scale, or effects a lot of people. From fires, to tornadoes (hello Doobie and Rebekah!), to much smaller problems like black ice, to avalanches (How about those folks in Switzerland?), to Earthquakes (Kobe comes to mind). It's just devastating when it effects so many people (read any # of people). However I'm glad that even with such a huge area affected human life is being spared in the 100's of thousand. Ummm, <<"perfect" weather 300+ days a year>>, <<Truth be told it wouldn't be the weather that would keep me out of Southern California. It would be the real estate prices.>> Don't you mean 300+ days of way to hot weather, at least it isn't humid though. Temperature should be about 70 year round to be ideal
Originally Posted By DAR Again I hope everything is okay for everyone. And I agree with RT you pick the devil you know. I'll deal with the cold and snow storms that we get here. Where RT is they have to deal with tornoadoes slightly more than say me or vbdad55 would.
Originally Posted By Dave This LA Times map about sums it up with areas and numbers <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-102307-me-fire-g,0,494246.graphic?coll=la-home-center" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/news/lo cal/la-102307-me-fire-g,0,494246.graphic?coll=la-home-center</a>
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Best friend lives in newer section of Irvine. He was at of all places Club 33 yesterday when he got a call on his cell phone that there was fire in the hills right behind his house and they were going to evacuate. So he ran out from lunch with his family, and they headed home to get important papers and the cat packed up - and about 1/2 hour later the winds changed and the fire went another direction ! this AM he told me they arrested someone for starting that fire -- What sick people there are.
Originally Posted By iamsally This is just so sad; and the news is not good so far. My heartfelt symathy, empathy and prayers go out to all. We live in the Central Valley in NoCal and have a *special* earthquake policy.
Originally Posted By Ursula Yeah, we have earthquake insurance, too. I bet the couple on the news with no fire insurance probably weighed the odds and have flood and earthquake insurance only. If they lived in Malibu, they would be dumb to not have fire insurance, but then again, it is my understanding that fire insurance in Malibu is expensive and hard to get.
Originally Posted By MOLLYSMOM Thanks Ursula...that answers my question. Where I live, we have no such thing as earthquakes, flood, hurricane, etc., so my insurance doesn't have "riders" of any kind. We DID have the volcano blow off a while back, but my insurance covered all damages caused by it. Perhaps then, this couple could not get insurance, because, like you are thinking, "it is expensive and hard to get."
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Watching online TV at work here in Arizona (KNSD-San Diego) and trying not to freak. My 88 yr old mom's in an assisted living place in Escondido that hasn't been evacuated (yet) and my sister and her husband (currently receiving chemo) have received the reverse 911 call to evacuate from Valley Center and they haven't yet.....I sure hope they just get the heck out soon. My prayers are going to everyone out there and to the firefighters and police and volunteers...
Originally Posted By DJK9 >> You could definitely smell the smoke in DL last night. Haven't been out of the room yet, but the sky looks clear out the window, and its still very windy << Hello, fkurucz. Could you please drop me a line at Dominic714 (at) ca (dot) rr (dot) com? Thanks!! >> I have a friend in Escondido, and the fire is there now. He's waiting on word for evacuation. He sent me a pic of the skies near his house, and it's scary << I'm sorry to hear that, Pirate Princess My Dad lives there too. I called him yesterday as soon I found out from my Mom (who lives in Morro Bay) that there were fires in this area, mainly in Escondido. He said him and his friend packed most of their stuff in preparation to evacuate just in case, but said they were pretty safe for the most part. Oceanside has only had one fire I think, my friend said it burned down some homes already about 10 or 15 miles from here. And I cannot disagree with LuLu more! The smoke is just doing nasty things to the air and the sky! It used to be so nice and blue! I'm sure it'll return to form again soon. God be with everyone.
Originally Posted By MOLLYSMOM SoThisIsLove...I'm saying a prayer for you family members and for you as well, and I know I speak for all of us when I say that we will keep you in our prayers until we hear from you that all is well.
Originally Posted By DJK9 I am so sorry, SoThisIsLove, I didn't read your post I posted right beneath it too. No intent to disregard you, terribly sorry about that. Much love and prayers being sent your way, as stated by MollysMom. DJK9
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin We're about 3 miles from the Harris fire...lots of ash falling...ironically we were in Ramona when the Witch Creek fire started and were turned back at one point because although we could see the smoke we didn't know that where we were going would send us through the fire area...ended up having to go through Riverside Co. and out through Temecula to get to I-15 to get back to Spring Valley and Chula Vista...luckily we got home before the I-15 was shut down...all of that being said we were felt very blessed to make it home safe...with the grandchildren's pumpkins...
