San Diego besieged by fire

[Sonart]

.
Over 250,000 residents in San Diego county have been evacuated in advance of at least 7 wildfires, with over 150 homes destroyed so far, including homes in such wealthy enclaves as Rancho Santa Fe, the infamous former home of Congressman Duke Cunningham.

Fierce Santa Anna winds have blown fires in the remote north east into giant fire storms that are racing southwest, straight through the massive suburban sprawl of north eastern San Diego. Romona, Fallbrook, San Marcos, Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Rancho Penasquitos, and other thriving, crowded communities recieved mandatory evacuation orders, including all the way to the coast in Solana Beach. Many folks are seeking refuge in San Diego Charger's Qualcomm stadium.

So far only one fatality has been reported, but many injuries, both among civilians and firefighters.

From this board, Myself and, hopefully, Isherwood are ensconsed safely in greater San Diego and should have no worries. Dieval and his family, however, live in Rancho Bernardo and have been evacuated. We've exchanged private messages and with luck, his home will survive, although winds, which were earlier though to be subsiding, have picked back up.

My brother, his wife, daughter, four dogs, four cats, a horse and a rescued desert burro live in Fallbrook, which has been ordered to evacuate. I have yet to be able to get in touch with them. I have another close friend, who, along with his wife and two young kids, were evacuated from the Rancho Penasquitos area, and is now staying with his in-laws.

Returning from the dog park this afternoon, I stopped at a neighborhood 7/11. As one of the regular counter help rang me up, I thought to make conversion by asking, "So, all your love ones clear of the fires?", thinking it would be a rhetorical pleasantry. Apparently not... his in-laws had been evacuated and were all staying at his house, which, with his being a 7/11 counter-person, probably wasn't all that roomy to begin with.

Here's a map of the San Diego county fire situation.

Add to this there's another half dozen fires raging all the way north to Santa Barbara, including a devastating fire in Malibu.

My fingers and toes are crossed for Dieval, my friends and my brother's family. Anyone else in the region care to check in???

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[Jack]

I'm certainly glad to hear both you and Dieval are OK, though Dieval may yet have to deal with this fire more than we will. It's really affected a lot of people. My co-worker called in today as he and his family were being evacuated from Encinitas.

I'm so glad I don't live out in the county at times like this. As much as I hate the city at times, knowing I'm surrounded by several miles of concrete is an oddly comforting thought tonight.

All the soot and ash in the air is driving my sinuses crazy and making my eyes burn, but I think I can live with that.

[Sonart]

Fires in Southern California

[Milton Bradley]

This is absolutely terrible for our West Coast friends.


Hope you all get to dodge the proverbial bullet.


Perhaps nothing is as scary as fire running loose.

[Sonart]

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Evacuees filing into the Home of the Charger's, Qualcomm Stadium.



More pictures...

My best friend and fellow art director was evacuated yesterday and moved in with his wife's parents... until they too were evacuated, and all of them are now staying on our bosses boat in San Diego Bay. Another co-worker was evacuated from Del Mar, on the Coast, and is staying with in-laws.

Del Mar fer'crissakes!! Californian's are used ot earthquakes and fires, but this is completely unprecedented in San Diego's history.

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[Osborn F Enready]

I wish the best of luck to our West Coast members and friends.

[Dieval]

Well, I'm still alive and kicking...I've been under a mandatory evacuation for my area for a couple of days now and not sure when I'll be able to go back. HOPEFULLY everything is intact, but I know that within a mile or so of where I live, there were quite a few houses destroyed. I hope everyone else from SD is doing good as well! Good luck!

[Praxius]

From looking into the information in the last few days, I certainly hope that wind dies down, because if not, it's just going to clear straight west and across the state. The concentration of each fire will almost be enough to keep it going until all fuel is spent at this point.

Yesterday it was all mostly on the East side of California and now it's getting closer to the coast.

Actually listening to the news now, There are additional water bombers on the way from British Columbia, I imagine further news will come tomorrow about assistance.

[The Decider]

Sonart or Dieval,

What is the situation in my old hometown of Oceanside? I heard that the Marines in nearby Camp Pendleton have evacuated. Is that area under threat now?

I'm also very concerned about some friends in Rancho Bernardo. They lived on the crest of a beautiful, but heavily overgrown, ravine. Did that entire community burn, or just pockets?

What about the towns of Vista and San Marcos?

I also heard news that the Santa Ana winds have died down a bit. Is that true?

I wish y'all the very best during this emergency. As a native Californian, I know first hand how scary and devastating these autumn fires can be. I once helped my family hose down our shake roof at 4:00 am in the morning as burning embers rained down upon us.

I'll take an earthquake over a brush fire any day. They are truly awesome and scary things to behold.

[Jack]

In San Diego County, authorities placed evacuation calls to 346,000 homes, said Luis Monteagudo, a spokesman for the county's emergency effort. The county estimates, based on census data, that about 513,000 people were ordered to leave. In Rancho Santa Fe, a suburb north of San Diego, houses burned just yards from where fire crews fought to contain flames engulfing other properties. Fire crews were especially concerned about dense eucalyptus groves in Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe, fearing the highly flammable trees could turn neighborhoods prized for their secluded serenity into potential tinderboxes. In Rancho Santa Fe, neighbors tried to protect a friend's home with a garden hose Monday night as flames raced up a ridge directly behind the house. Yards away, an engine crew kept watch as another home, already fully engulfed, burned to the ground.

FOXNews.com - More Than 350,000 Homes Evacuated in as Wildfires Bear Down on California - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

San Diego Fires - Information

[rmnunez]

Firemen from Mexico rushed to offer assistance, but had to turn back when the raging fires swept towards Tijuana.

[Dieval]

Quote by: Praxius From looking into the information in the last few days, I certainly hope that wind dies down, because if not, it's just going to clear straight west and across the state. The concentration of each fire will almost be enough to keep it going until all fuel is spent at this point. Yesterday it was all mostly on the East side of California and now it's getting closer to the coast.

We had the santa anna winds blowing east to west, and that's what caused the really big fire to spread extremely fast. Ramona, about 25ish miles east of me up in the hills started Sunday afternoon and by Monday morning, it had covered that distance and was burning just north(maybe 1/2 to 1 mile) of me and other fires are starting up all over because the winds have been knocking down power lines and lighting the brush on fire. FORTUNATELY, the winds are dying down and they're starting to blow west to east and have halted the advance towards the sea, of course this brings other dangers for fireman fighting the fire.

Quote by: The Decider Sonart or Dieval, What is the situation in my old hometown of Oceanside? I heard that the Marines in nearby Camp Pendleton have evacuated. Is that area under threat now?

I've heard that pendalton has some fires a ways up north of Oceanside, but haven't heard anything about Oceanside specifically.

Quote by: The Decider I'm also very concerned about some friends in Rancho Bernardo. They lived on the crest of a beautiful, but heavily overgrown, ravine. Did that entire community burn, or just pockets?

I've heard about 300 houses in RB were destroyed, but the fire jumped around a lot and it would get a group of houses here, one over there, 2 over there, etc, etc, so it'd be hard to say. I provided a link to the areas that have burned at the bottom of this post. I'm in the very southern part of RB myself, and it seems to be fairly untouched, by just north of here, it's pretty bad. I'm not TECHNICALLY supposed to be back, we're still under mandatory evacuation, but the major damage seems to be done in RB..it's up in Escondido right now, right by Lake Hodges/Del Dios area.

Quote by: The Decider What about the towns of Vista and San Marcos?

SM had a pretty good size fire, right by CSUSM, but it was quite small by comparison to the rest. Haven't heard anything about Vista.

Quote by: The Decider I also heard news that the Santa Ana winds have died down a bit. Is that true?

YES, thankfully! But it will be Thursday before they expect them to totally be gone. From Sunday night to Monday morning, the winds didn't die down at night, as they usually do, which just showered MILES and MILES with embers and it just spread uncontrollably.
There was also a fire at the wild animal park, which burned part of the grounds but I believe they caught that one pretty quick...I'd hate to have to move a Rhino out of the fire area.

Quote by: The Decider I wish y'all the very best during this emergency. As a native Californian, I know first hand how scary and devastating these autumn fires can be. I once helped my family hose down our shake roof at 4:00 am in the morning as burning embers rained down upon us.

That's scary, and I know that since the cedar fire in 2003, I don't believe that you can even get a shake roof any more, but even the houses with tile roofs were burning in RB....supposedly it was from openings under the eves where the embers went in to...

Quote by: The Decider I'll take an earthquake over a brush fire any day. They are truly awesome and scary things to behold.

With all the fires, smoke, ash around here now, I'll buy that. They're calling this the worst fire in SD history and I'll buy that as well.

This seems to be a fairly accurate map of the fire - Google Maps (looks like Isher posted very similar map to this one)

[Dieval]

Quote by: rmnunez Firemen from Mexico rushed to offer assistance, but had to turn back when the raging fires swept towards Tijuana.

What I heard was that 60 firefighters came across at Tacate and were helping out, but had to go back when fire broke out down there... One of the commanders in SD mentioned that the TJ chief said he'd supply trucks to help out, which I assuming happened, but haven't heard anything specific other than that.

Mexico is also supplying like 10% of SD's power...our one and only 500k volt line was damaged in the fires...they're looking at 72hours before that can be repaired..

Appreciate the help

[Sonart]

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Quote by: Decider What is the situation in my old hometown of Oceanside? I heard that the Marines in nearby Camp Pendleton have evacuated. Is that area under threat now?

To my knowledge, no, Oceanside is safely out of the way. The only reference to Camp Pendleton Marines I've heard has been their valiant efforts to help evacuate the folks in the Fallbrook area. Since most of the major freeways east and south have been closed, Marines were helping folks navigate through backroads to the northwest, through camp Pendleton itself, and from there to Oceanside.

Quote by: Decider I'm also very concerned about some friends in Rancho Bernardo. They lived on the crest of a beautiful, but heavily overgrown, ravine. Did that entire community burn, or just pockets?

I know for a fact that Rancho Bernardo was evacuated early on, and from this map, it doesn't look particularly good. As in a direct hit. As far as what burned or didn't, I suspect that developments that bordered open land or looked out over canyons were probably hit pretty hard. Those areas surrounded by other development were probably less or unaffected. We're still talking about hundreds of homes, though.

Quote by: Decider What about the towns of Vista and San Marcos?

I'm pretty sure San Marcos, and certainly Vista, were well north of the large Guajitos and Coronado Hills fires.

Quote by: Decider I also heard news that the Santa Ana winds have died down a bit. Is that true?

Last I heard, indeed the Santa Ana winds have died down, although the firefighters were seeing that as a good news/bad news situation. While the hot, dry southwesterly Santa Ana wind whipped the fire into a massive fury, the firefighters knew exactly where it was headed. Now, winds are still blowing, but they can change direction in an instant, which puts the fire crews in greater danger.

Quote by: Decider I'll take an earthquake over a brush fire any day. They are truly awesome and scary things to behold.

LOL... yeah, most earthquakes are kinda fun. Rollin' around. These fires suck, and even if we're not near them, the air downwind is just filled with ash and smoke. My lungs feel like they did when I was a kid, back in the bad 'ol days when really bad LA smog used to drift south.

Quote by: rmnunez Firemen from Mexico rushed to offer assistance, but had to turn back when the raging fires swept towards Tijuana.

Yeah, the second largest of the fires, the Harris fire, is right on the border, crossing Hwy 94 at Tecate, and, like the others, is moving west and south.

.

[Jack]

Another member of WebSanDiego just sent this around our mailing list. I'll post it here for anyone that might need it:

I created a free communications forum for displaced victims. Please pass around. It is not pretty, but what do you expect in 2 hours?! I'll tweak it a bit and add a link to your site. Disaster Communications US

also

SanDiegoFires.info was created by two SD atheists for assistance to the fire victims. Please send this out to the organization as a way to communicate. Please help to promote the us of this site in any way possible. Information is key in this situations.

[The Decider]

Thanks Sonart, Dieval, and Isherwood for the information and links.

How many of the fires-if any-are suspected as arson-related?

[Dieval]

Quote by: The Decider Thanks Sonart, Dieval, and Isherwood for the information and links. How many of the fires-if any-are suspected as arson-related?

I've only heard arson mentioned once, and it was for one of the LA area ones...Everything that's been mentioned about the ones here is that they were caused by the winds knocking down powerlines, scattering embers, etc, etc..

[Always2L8]

Thanks for the Google Map, Dieval!

[Dieval]

Now it looks like Pendleton is burning...they're starting to evac some of the buildings there and the surrounding towns: Bonsall, san luis rey, winterwarm, and fallbrook(which has been evac'd for a while now).

[tinybear]

Are Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe badly hit? I e-mailed friends living in those areas, but so far no reply.