California is on fire again.

**Tubby & Peanut's Mom** · 10-23-2007, 11:12 PM

Just thought I'd check in to make sure everyone one here was safe. Glad to hear, so far, everyone is well.

We were in a campground in Aquanga, CA, which is a teeny tiny town North of San Diego, about 15 miles East of Hwy 15. We arrived there yesterday (Monday) after being told there had been a fire across the street the day before, but it was 100% out and only burned 5 acres - so we decided to go.

This morning we woke up to hear a new fire had broken out near Palomar Mountain, which was just over the mountain from us. When I heard this, I looked out the window and saw nothing. Turned out we had some business to tend to in Indio, CA, so I called the front desk to see if I could leave the keys for the motorhome with them, so in case a fire started nearby and the park needed to be evacuated, someone could come in and get the cats. I was told "Oh sure, that's no problem. We'll make sure they're safe." I was thrilled and very grateful for such a warm response. I told them we'd have all important papers and such with us in the car, they would just need to get the cats.

We were getting ready to go and I happened to turn around....and to my complete surprise and horror, I saw smoke billowing over the mountain! (first picture) Terry was on his cell phone, so I snapped a few pics and a video. You could see the smoke cloud growing and changing shape by the second! I was horrified and told him there was no way I was leaving without the cats. If he wanted to go himself, I would stay and watch the cats and the motorhome. He wouldn't do that, so we talked to the front desk and they agreed to give us a credit and we left.

By the time we left, the wind had started taking the billowing smoke and spreading it out. (see second pic) As we started leaving, I was on the phone making sure no roads were closed in the direction we were headed. Fortunately, all roads were open. We had to take I-15 to I-215. I-15 was closed Southbound, but open Northbound - Whew!

The 3rd picture was taken when we were about 30 miles North, and the smoke is still a significant obstacle on the horizon.

We are now safe in Indio, CA, where the wind speed was about 3 mph when we arrived this afternoon. Can you imagine - three (3) mph! We couldn't believe things could be so dramatically different in such a short distance.

It's all so sad - so many people loosing so much property, and so much loss of wildlife.

**wolf_Q** · 10-24-2007, 12:12 AM

I'm thinking of all the California PTers, I'm glad to hear that everyone is ok. This is just awful.

I've seen the mountains on fire a few times, but I've never had a fire close enough to threaten our home...I can't even imagine.

**krazyaboutkatz** · 10-24-2007, 12:46 AM

I found out that my brother and his family had to evacuate on Monday and now they're staying at my parents house in San Clemente. My brother told my mom that it smelled like a campfire at their home in San Diego. They hope to be able to return home sometime tomorrow.

My SIL's brother has a friend who lost his home in the fire while he was away on a business trip. His wife and kids had to evacuate and now they have nothing to return to.

My SIL's parents live in the Fallbrook area and they know a lot of people there that have lost their homes.

My brother lives in the Rancho Bernardo area and hopefully everything there is okay.

Many more prayers are going out to everyone in San Diego and the other areas that are involved in the fire.

**Barbara** · 10-24-2007, 02:49 AM

My thoughts go out to all of you - you just cannot believe it from here. Knowing people who actually have to deal with this catastrophy makes quite a difference... it is not just a story on paper.
Hope you all stay safe.

**RICHARD** · 10-24-2007, 05:02 AM

It's a quiet night.

No sounds of engines, no aircraft running overhead.

Yesterday there was a thick smoke cover with just a small band of blue sky between the mountains and the haze.

T&P,

Welcome to Hell.
That is a small taste of what our autumns hold for us. I am really amazed that the hills to the north of us haven't caught yet....there is still that chance that some accident or screwed up person will test the firefighters in the near future.

It is pretty amazing how a fire can get so big, so fast.

Barbara,

Not too many people payed attention to a fire that started on July 4 and burned for more than one month this year....

Sadly enough, we only pay attention when we get singed.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=25190

The Zaca fire burned from 7/4/2007 PAST 08/24/2007-220,000 acres burned.

More info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaca_Fire

And no one payed attention.

--------

Here's a little trivia about the huge DC 10 airplane you see flying over and dropping the red phos check stuff.

That plane was damaged in an accident fighting another fire.

How?

It hit a tree.

It was flying low over a fire and a downdraft forced the tail to hit some tree tops, damaging the tail and raising some questions about a large plane being used to fight fires!