California is on fire again.

[RICHARD]

My sis and her hubby, sister and my niece, her husband and two kids are right near the fire burning in Canyon Country.

The helicopters should be coming home to roost in about 10 minutes....I went outside to look at the sunset and there is no sunset......it's all smoke.

The wind picked up and there is a slight hint of smoke.

Holy Crap.


They just announced that there is a forced evac from that area..and there are 4,000 homes in the way.

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Just heard that everyone is ok but on the move.

[ramanth]

Many prayers for all of those affected. So horrible.

[gini]

The sunset this evening was unbelievable - but it was not natural beauty - it was totally unnatural beauty - reds, oranges caused only by the fires that are burning out of control.

The only good news is that this fire was caused by downed power lines - not by a human set upon destruction.

[pnance]

Hi everyone....it's been awhile since I've had the chance to post, but thought I'd chime in here since it looks like there are also 2 fires in the San Diego area. I'm in Montanca on business, and got a phone call from a friend asking if I and the pets were alright...freaked me out a bit, since last time it was like this back in 2003, about 85% of the home in my are were destroyed. From what I can gather my area isn't threatened at the moment, I'm just hoping it stays that way! I could definately use some good wishes since the winds are supposed to really pick up tonight.

Richard I hope you sis and her family are ok.

[RICHARD]

Thanks for the thoughts.


I heard the one of the SD fires was off the 78 freeway...I was down there about two weeks ago for work-in San Marcos..


I have heard that one of my sisters and niece cannot evac, even if they wanted.

There are too may people on the road trying to get out. Most of housing tracts are are located off of two or four laned roads.
The way they built is a recipe for tragedy.

Look at it this way.... You have a two laned road that leads into a valley.

The construction company makes a road off to the side and starts to contour the hillside. They cut "steps" into the dirt and start to build. They build right up to the top of a hill and the sides butt up against the brush and plants that
define the development.

The road in to the development is like a branch off a tree-but in some places the "branch" is the only way in and out of the area- When you have 10 or 12 branches that empty onto these small valley roads it's way too crazy to get out.

The cops have to keep one lane open for the fire crews.

It's a bad story and the new reports say that it could be a 5 day fire!

[cassiesmom]

I just came to see if the Calif. PT'ers had checked in. I heard about these fires on the news and wanted to make sure you're OK. Please be careful. Fingers and paws crossed and prayers said.

[gini]

I am alright and I think I can speak for Richard as well, knowing where he lives.

But I am worried about pnance (see her post earlier) and Richard's sister.

[Edwina's Secretary]

There is also a fire in Orange County -- just outside Irvine. The smell, the dust! I feel like my mouth is full of grit...when I stop sneezing.

My husband just called and can see the fire from his office. It is "contained" but he had detours on the way to work.

Question for other SoCals? Are your cats agitated? Both the Es and ESPECIALLY Eddie are very agitated.

[cmayer31]

The San Diego ones are pretty hellish right now. The area two miles south of me is on fire right now, and about 3 miles east is on fire. The power is out and we're on evacuation notice. Luckily the generator and power converters are working right now.

The Witch fire is closest and is coming down from Ramona through San Pasquel Valley near the wild animal park. It jumped the 15 earlier and is burning through Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Del Dios, Lake Hodges, and moving down the Del Dios toward Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, and is trying to make it's way toward the coast.

Unfortunately the evacuation centers closest to here are full or are being moved, so I think staying in the house is safest. I've never seen wind likes this There is 0 containment on any of the 7 fires and they won't let any aircraft into the air, so there's no way to fight it right now. It's mostly evacuate and try to protect structures, but no suppression attempts yet.

The radio stations that were 100% reporting on the fire lost power, so there's not a lot of new info coming in right now. I have the dogs and birds ready to go if the fire decided to move any closer than it is now.

I haven't taken many pictures, but here a some quick snaps.

The street out of my neighborhood:


This was the sun around 9 am over the neighbors house:


This was the sun a few minutes later as the fire came closer:


These fires are way worse in North County than the ones in 2003 which were the worst in San Diego history. It's going to be some long, long days ahead of us.

**UPDATE**

We just got told that it is time to go. I'll update the next chance that I get.

[Randi]

OMG, it's so scary!! It sounds like quite a few fires spread across CA. I really hope you all will be safe, and the animals in the Wild Animal Park too.

Sara, and everyone, stay inside and keep the doors closed, you don't need any more dust! And poor kitties, they can't understand what's going on.

I bet these guys are busy.

[Edwina's Secretary]

**UPDATE**

We just got told that it is time to go. I'll update the next chance that I get.

You could come up here. So far, we are not threatened by fire.

I am working from home today but just went to San Juan Capistrano on a errand. Right where you are, with the sun shining there is an odd orange/yellow color to the light. You cannot see very far though. Beyond the immediate area is a curtain of dust. Gritty dust everywhere. I cannot even see the hills about a mile away.

Yuck.

[gini]

It is so strange to be in the heart of Los Angeles looking at blue skies and have all of this destruction around me.

If there is any way that I can help a fellow Pet Talker who might be in the line of this fire - just send me a quick pm and I will respond immediately.

[RICHARD]

CM,

Your pics remind me of some fires a few years back. For three days it "snowed" ashes for three days and the sun looked the same.

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Sara, If you have a humidifier - Plug that sucker in! The wind will dry you out.


I have two sisters, two BIL's, a niece, her husband and her two kidlets.


ONe sister has checked in and is OK.....I was at my mom's when she called.

Mom: "Are you guys OK? You didn't burn?"
Sis: "NO we are OK..."
Mom: "So you got toasted?"
Sis: "ALMOST!"


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Randi,

One report from FOX NEWS said that the Firemen were too busy trying to get people to evacuate to get to the fires.

Earlier their was a report about LAFD Station 70-They were parked next to the station, fighting flames that were threatening the station.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Mercy, everyone stay safe.
I remember watching the helicopters when our downtown burned a few years ago. It looked like the end of the world.

All fingers and paws crossed here for all of you!

[RICHARD]

The guys flying the air support are the ones that work really hard.

There was a film clip of one of the Super Scooper aircraft flying some 30-40 feet above the fire before a drop....THAT gave me goosebumps.

The Super Scooper is a plane that skims/lands on a body of water. The pilot opens up the vents on the belly of the plane and that fills up the tanks.
He takes off, flies over the fire and drops the water.

We also have three different kinds of helicopters.

The Firehawk in the pic above and the older Huey/UH1 kind of copter.

The Huey can either land and get the tank filled or use a basket hung under neath to dip and fill from any body of water.

The last copter is called the Ericsson Sky crane.

That is a heavy lifting copter that is used in construction, logging and firefighting.

It looks like and insect and has a long tube it can drop into a body of water and fill up it's tank.

That is the funniest looking craft of all. The tube is located halfway back of the craft and does not retract- so as it flies around it looks like it's dragging something!



We also have strike crews - they are low level prisoners who volunteer to do fire fighting duties for credit on their sentences.