A co-worker eveacuated his family before coming to work the other day (as a precaution).
Me? My area is not threatened by the fires (fairly urban area). But my car is covered with ash every morning.
Here are the latest stats.
14 dead
300,000 acres (121,500 hectares) burned
800 homes burned
24,000 homes threatened
Jeffwc, I’m in Serra Mesa, too, and I swear we’ve got the worst air quality ever.
I didn’t realize we had so many SD dopers - I’m safe, but if you’re not, or are in danger, I’m so very worried for you. This has been really scary.
And I’m sitting here at work with really smoky air, getting ready to go back home. We’ve been shut down for the day (because the air filters aren’t working anymore).
But I of course had to come here, the Unaboard and LJ to let everyone know I was alive! 
Hey, spooge, my little brother’s in Long Beach, living on a sailboat in one of the marinas off Henry Ford. Glad to hear you guys are OK. He used to live in Rancho Cucamonga, and I remember marvelling at how dry it was out there, and that was before drought and beetles.
The San Diego branch of my international company is closed, “at the request of the local government”.
We have too many bodies of water and a different climate here, so we’re not often subject to these sorts of fires, which is a good thing considering the population density. But it does happen. I remember when I lived in Boston and a giant fire in Quebec made the sky brownish, everything smell like smoke, and gave us amazing sunsets for a week. I can’t imagine being close to a fire like this.
Good vibes and prayers from the East Coast Dopers, but if you need to disconnect the CPU and bundle it into the car, don’t hesitate. Touch base when you can.
scout1222, thanks, my situation is still fine safety-wise.
Sending my thoughts and prayers to Southern California. I don’t know if there is anything more terrifying than a wildfire.
Please stay safe, everyone!
Speaking of terror, a friend of mine says that the people responsible (including the bonehead who fired the flare) should be charged with terrorism.
My folks called me yesterday. They live Rancho Penasquitos. They’re close to the fires, but they’re not in danger. Scary as hell though. They told me the freeways are closed.
I’m not in any danger myself. Although I must say that L.A has an apocolyptic feel to it today. Well, for the last few days. Just with all the smoke…Maybe it’s just me.
This is freaking surreal. It feels like the entirety of southern California is on fire. Air quality is better by the beach today, but my eyes and nose are still burning somewhat. At least the burning smell has dissipated.
If any Dopers are directly affected by the fires, please try to make your way at least to a public internet terminal (at a library or cafe) and let us know if there’s anything you need. Spiny Norman and I don’t have space to put people up (we just have a small one bedroom apartment), but we could certainly find plenty of “stuff” to contribute to replace things that may have been damaged or destroyed.
Everybody stay safe!
Hi Shayna. I responded to your VM by e-mail.
How’d the firefighting training go? Or was it delayed because resources were needed elsewhere?
Excellent idea Shayna! We have things that can be donated too and I’d have to talk with Rico, but we do have another bedroom. We’re still not all unpacked, mostly because we have to much stuff and not enough room to put it away, so it’s not the ritz here, but would be better then nowhere.
Kathy
Thanks, hon – I’m glad you’re ok.
The refresher drills were good overall, though it did feel weird still holding them with all these fires burning here. However, not every firefighter in the entire city is (or can be) assigned to work the wildfires – there still has to be a crew to respond to local emergencies. Spirits were high and everyone seemed very light-hearted, but this was early Saturday, before anyone realized the full extent of how these fires were going to play out. We could see the gigantic billows of black smoke from the Simi Valley fire from the Sherman Oaks station right off the 405 and it was utterly creepy. And even creepier to actually be starting fires for the purpose of practicing using the hoses to put them out.
It’s frustrating, though, to be trained to assist in just this kind of emergency, but not be able to really do anything. The city has a “phone tree” they use to call CERT volunteers out as needed, and I know they’re utilizing the CERT people in the affected areas, but there’s really no need for us from down here in the beach communities. Still, I want to be there helping instead of sitting here in my office. I’m debating being more proactive and calling the affected stations to see if they could use some more trained hands at the staging areas. I’ll keep you posted.
Hi, Kathy!
Just checking in to let you all know that me and my town (Encinitas) are ok so far. The fire is well east of us. The smoke is very uncomfortable here at the coast, but I suspect it is nothing like the smoke near the fire zone. The mayor of San Diego asked employers to keep people home today. Unfortunately, my employer didn’t think that applied to us, so here I am. The streets were empty coming down the coast this morning. Very spooky. I am heading home soon. If any San Diego area dopers need a place to stay or a large yard for their pets let me know (760) 753-6147.
Oh, I forgot, check out this animated satelite view of SoCal from NOAA. Freaking awesome!
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/animation.san.1km.vis.html
So glad to hear you’re ok, Encinitas. I’m getting anxious not hearing from some of our other San Diego posters, such as Esprix, The Stranger, Edwardina, jkusters, thomasm, MonkeyMensch and I know there are lots of others, but darned if I can think of their names right now.
I just called the Simi Valley Emergency Services Coordinator and they’re utilizing their CERT team, but don’t think they need any additional hands at this point. They took all our numbers and said they’d call in the event they need to expand their resources.
For anyone who may not have filter masks to breathe through yet: Try your local Home Depot and ask at the customer service counter.
I don’t know all the local Home Depot’s are doing this, but the one I checked at this morning was offering them (only at the customer service counter) in a 5-pack for $1.98.
Just checking in… I’m up in Pasadena so we’re pretty far away from any of the fires. If anybody needs any help, clothes, food, whatever, send me an email. Unfortunately my place is too small to invite anybody over, but let me know about anything else. This is pretty freaky.
A couple days ago (Friday, I think) I started a light-hearted thread that sank pretty quickly about the “snow” that fell in Pasadena. Feeling kind of guilty about it now. Who knew these fires were going to take off like they did, and the ash that’s falling now might be from somebody’s house. Keep safe, everybody.
Here’s some links:
View from space
Awwww…at first I thought they were being shallow with moving the NFL game tonight from San Diego to Tempe (just cancel the thing!) but according to SI.com:
"Tickets to the game on the campus of Arizona State University will be free, but people will be asked to make a donation to the San Diego Wildfire Relief Fund.
“People can come through, get their ticket and then make a donation,” Cardinals vice president and general counsel Michael Bidwill said. "I would just encourage everyone in the Phoenix area to come out and support this.
“Many of us visit San Diego. Obviously it’s a neighboring community that’s got some real problems. We can all raise a little bit of money … and try to help out our friends over in San Diego.”
Classy.
Stay safe, folks.
My brother was allowed to return to his home in San Bernardino today.
His home was spared, but his neighbors, a block away, weren’t so fortunate.
Well, regarding the MNF game, the cynic in me is thinking that they’re giving away free tickets just to fill the stadium for a prime time audience. But the request for donations is definitely good-hearted.
Incidentally, the event got moved because Qualcomm Stadium in S.D. is being used as an evacuation center.
Latest stats = 400,000 acres (and rising), 1100 homes lost. Whoa, that beats 10/93 hands down.
Oh yeah…when Gov. Gray Davis gave his first press conference, I totally expected him to say something like…“What the hell do you want ME to do about this? You jerks RECALLED my ass!! Go chase yourself!”
Well, that’s what I would’ve said. 