Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Brush Fires burning east of Ramona

I lived in San Diego for fifteen years up until almost ten years ago, so fortunately I missed both of the last two huge fires. Unfortunately, I have a lot of friends and family who still live there. Only half an hour ago, I got a call from my sister who lives in Sorrento Valley (just south of Del Mar and west of Mira Mesa). Her family is being evacuated after being called through a reverse-911. She's escaping to Los Angeles instead of heading for QUALCOMM Stadium where she was told to go. My father-in-law lives in La Jolla and shouldn't be affected.

Several of my other friends have also been evacuated. Just from the tenor of things they are telling me, this one could easily be far worse than the 2003 fires. As of now, they've just announced mandatory evacuations for areas on the west coast, previously untouched in the last fires. If the fires head south, they could go through some of the densest populated areas in North County. While lives are fortunately being saved by the extra-cautious evacuations, property damage may end up being enormous.

Fortunately I heard that the winds from the Santa Anas are finally dying down, though humidity is still at an appalling 7%.

It looks like people in Nan's area have not been allowed to return yet. Just a FYI most of the news stations out there are pretty much worthless for news on this fire. It is still really bad there. Here is some news about Nan's area:

Three local assistance offices to open
Posted @ 12:43 PM

San Diego County officials are preparing to open three local assistance centers in areas affected by the fires. They will be in the communities of Fallbrook, Ramona, and Rancho San Diego.

Opening dates, locations and hours of operation will be announced once areas are deemed safe for reentry, officials said.

-- Jen Steele, staff writer

Thanks, JoJo. I've been looking for info but not being familiar with the area...

Carol

If you are interested and don't mind wading through a bit of snark I can show you where I have been getting mine. www.fark.com is keeping current threads open about the situation. Most of the comments are from people who live in the area or are in touch with others. They are constantly posting up new information all day long. The threads are usually titled: California Fires discussion thread.

Once it gets to about 1000 posts they start a new one. They are on #10 I think now so you can see how much this is effecting people.

Link: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3158041

Hi, everyone! We just managed to get to the Poway Library and thought we should let you know our status. We (Tara(me!), my husband and kids, my parents, brother and uncle) were evacuated on Sunday. Initially we went up to Valley Center with my Husband's grandmother, but then yesterday we were evacuated from there to the local high school.

The air quality there was horrible, so we left as soon as we could and headed to Poway, which we had been told had pretty good air quality. We are currently staying at the Poway Community Park, where they have a shelter set up. We have all of my parents cats, dogs and parakeet, plus my cat, which are all very unhappy, but healthy.

We currently have no idea when we'll be able to get back to Ramona, but have been in contact with my mother-in-law who managed somehow to get back there that my parents house is fine and central Ramona wasn't hit too badly. There are sporadic fires cropping up there, but they're being put out almost as fast as they show up.

The kids are going nuts, of course (they're 1 1/2 and 3 1/2) but are doing better now that we're at the community center.

The people at the evacuation center are the best, and we've been provided with food, showers, shelter and clean clothes. We didn't manage to take much with us, as you might imagine, but anything we forgot has been provided. One of the things I managed to pack was my notebook computer which I'm using right now. Hey, I packed the things I really wanted to keep safe! I can't live without my computer!

Anyway, thanks for all the positive thoughts!

Tara

Tara - that's good news! We'll continue to keep your family [as well as the rest] in our prayers.

Let your Mom know would ya?

Glad you got the computer out !
Carol

We logged in a few days ago just to check on y'all. When we didn't hear from you, we assumed you'd been evacuated and started praying for you. God can care for you regardless of your address--or lack thereof. You're in our thoughts, hearts and prayers.

James and Elisabeth and Family

That's good news, Tara! I hope you can get back soon to your homes.

Take care!

Does anyone in the San Diego area know what might have happened to the Wild Animal Park? Last I heard, which was about two days ago, the fires were almost certain to burn out the entire park but that the animals were being evacuated. Does anyone know if the area is okay and whether the animals were safely evacuated?

My sister's family made it up to their other house in Whittier so they're safe. I understand that the winds have died down somewhat and have shifted to the southeast so the coastal areas are now deemed safe to return. That means Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Del Mar, and other areas are now safe from the fires. That's a relief.

From the park's website:

Due to the fire conditions in the Inland areas of San Diego, the Wild Animal Park is closed today (Wednesday, October 24). The current plan is to re-open on Thursday, October 25.

I'm guessing that means that all is, or will be, well .
Carol

Roger, although I don't live in San Diego anymore , I was there for several years and have friends in the area, so I've been glued to various internet sites and the KUSI live feed over the past few days. My understanding is that only the birds and maybe some small animals were evacuated to the zoo. There was never talk about evacuating any of the large animals - officials said that they all had ponds in their enclosures and that there were firebreaks around the enclosures to prevent fire from entering. I believe that the only damage to the park was an empty condor breeding building.

We used to live in Carmel Valley (just inland from Del Mar) and I totally freaked out on Monday when I learned they were evacuating the area. That never even was a remote possibility during the Cedar Fire in 2003. So I went totally crazy Monday and Tuesday looking for news. I'm thrilled all is well there, although many homes remain in danger. The Witch fire is still totally out of control, the Harris only slightly more so. And the fire at Lake Arrowhead is also running rampant - it's so incredibly scary.

Kathy

Thanks for the update, Tara! I'm glad that so far everything is safe, and I hope it stays that way!

I sure hope that the fires end soon...

because not only the state of California is at stake you know.....


every year for a number of years now the NSW fire brigade (and other state-based fire services across Australia) have borrowed both man-power and equipment (especially Elvis the helicopter) to put out fires here...
Granted that we have had a relatively quiet first month, but fire season lasts till the end of February, and peaks in December... so I guess if you guys are still burning then where will we get our help from....


sorry, this post was not intended to belittle anyone in either country, neither fire services nor the men in charge... forgive me?

Here are the google maps of SD and what is currently going on with each fire:

See the google map.

If you click on each fire it tells you how contained it is as well as shelters and such. It also shows the burn paths on the map.

For those wanting to contribute in helping those who have lost their homes or are still evacuated, the American Red Cross has set up a fund for the California Wildfires.

Here is the link: American Red Cross - California Wildfires

Thanks, everyone, for keeping us updated. This is so incredibly scary and sad. I'm glad to hear that the shelters are being managed competently, but I hope everyone can soon return to (mostly) undamaged homes. We get hurricanes here (inland) and it's not good to have a tree crash through your roof, but that's a lot more fixable than fire.

I'll keep praying for y'all.

PJ

According to Google Maps

Evacuation Partial Lifted
Last Updated by KPBS Online 9 hours ago

Ramona: returning residents may enter only under the premise that will not run any municipal water, nor drink any water

Corridor from Ramona to Lakeside open for repopulation.

Ramona residents will be allowed to return to their homes as of 7:15 p.m. today, via the following routes of reentry only:

That's wonderful news!

Thanks, James!
Carol