Southern California Fires

[Another Reader]

I believe Souschef lives in Santa Paula, which was hit hard by the Thomas fire, and other members live in Ventura County or in other fire areas. Hope everyone is ok and that their homes and families are ok as well.

 

[ocean view]

I’ve been wondering about Souschef as I watched the news. Hopefully he and his wife hopped in the plane and flew to safety.

 

[MissMolly]

My sister-in-law just texted me and said she and my brother are being evacuated. They are in the Fall Brook area.

 

[cathy63]

My sister-in-law just texted me and said she and my brother are being evacuated. They are in the Fall Brook area.

The Lilac fire is the one that's affecting Fallbrook. All the local TV stations are covering it full time here today. It started just before noon, and in 3 hours has already grown to over 500 acres and is threatening over 1000 homes in the Escondido, Bonsall, Fallbrook area. Parts of I-15 and SR-76 have been closed off and on as the smoke and flames make it unsafe to drive through. I believe your Bro and SIL will have to go north towards Temecula as south would be taking them into the heart of the fire. Best wishes to them. I hope they are able to evacuate safely and that they are able to return to their home very soon.

It's quite scary here today. The winds in some parts of San Diego county hit 88 mph earlier, and everything is so dry. Our humidity here at the coast is down to 7% right now. Even I-8 was (maybe still is) closed due to the high winds. Usually they just close it to high profile vehicles, but today it was closed to cars as well.

 

[W2R]

Oh my gosh!! Cathy63, that is indeed scary and in fact utterly terrifying. I can't even imagine winds that strong in the San Diego area, and in fire conditions that is so dangerous. I lived in San Diego from 1977-1984, and know Escondido/Bonsall/Fallbrook area well. I-15 closed due to smoke? And I-8 closed even to cars? I don't remember ever seeing anything like that, back then. Hoping for the best for everyone out there.

 

[MissMolly]

The Lilac fire is the one that's affecting Fallbrook. All the local TV stations are covering it full time here today. It started just before noon, and in 3 hours has already grown to over 500 acres and is threatening over 1000 homes in the Escondido, Bonsall, Fallbrook area. Parts of I-15 and SR-76 have been closed off and on as the smoke and flames make it unsafe to drive through. I believe your Bro and SIL will have to go north towards Temecula as south would be taking them into the heart of the fire. Best wishes to them. I hope they are able to evacuate safely and that they are able to return to their home very soon.

It's quite scary here today. The winds in some parts of San Diego county hit 88 mph earlier, and everything is so dry. Our humidity here at the coast is down to 7% right now. Even I-8 was (maybe still is) closed due to the high winds. Usually they just close it to high profile vehicles, but today it was closed to cars as well.

Thanks for the info. They said they are headed to Carlsbad where a friend has offered them a place to stay. Although I have visited out there several times, I really don't know the area so don't know if this is possible for them to get to or not. My brother is a very calm, logical and reasonable person (engineer) so I am sure he will figure out a safe way for them to escape. They have a lovely home - I hope it doesn't get destroyed.

 

[Souschef]

Thank you

Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your concern. The area I live in was spared, but DW grew up in Ventura, and is familiar with some of the places that have burned.
I have attached a fire map to give you an idea of the extent of the fire. We live in the lower left of the map, and are safe.
Our hearts go our to all those who have lost their homes and property.

 

[W2R]

So glad that you two are OK, Souschef! It seems like a pretty scary situation, and my heart goes out to those affected by these fires.

 

[MissMolly]

What my brother sees right now from his backyard

 

[Accidental Retiree]

This big plane just flew over my backyard about an hour ago on its way to drop fire retardant.

I live a few miles NE of Fallbrook, but this plane was heading to another fire here in Murrieta, east of us.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

This was from my back yard in October.

Maybe it’s time to relocate. Fifty years of earthquakes and wildfires may be enough.

It may be time to find new natural disasters to worry about.

PS. REWahoo, I’ve already gotten your memo on TX.

 

[irishgal]

Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your concern. The area I live in was spared, but DW grew up in Ventura, and is familiar with some of the places that have burned.
I have attached a fire map to give you an idea of the extent of the fire. We live in the lower left of the map, and are safe.
Our hearts go our to all those who have lost their homes and property.

Thank you for that map! Very helpful.

 

[Scuba]

Hope everyone in areas affected stays safe and homes are not damaged. Very scary indeed!

 

[irishgal]

California is my home state although I did relocate a couple of years ago. A few friends have had to evacuate including those with horses. The horses are now at the Del Mar fairgrounds so they are safe. What is sad is I actually see people write (on social media) that California deserves to burn, thugs like “boo hoo more rich people lost their mansions” things like that. I’ve lost hope for society.

 

[Souschef]

California is my home state although I did relocate a couple of years ago. A few friends have had to evacuate including those with horses. The horses are now at the Del Mar fairgrounds so they are safe. What is sad is I actually see people write (on social media) that California deserves to burn, thugs like “boo hoo more rich people lost their mansions” things like that. I’ve lost hope for society.

That really steams me. I live right near the fire, and comments like that just show the stupidity of the posters. "You cannot fix stupid"
Yes, the Skirball fire burned 2 large homes in Bel Air. But what about the 450 plus homes lost in the Thomas fire? These were mostly middle and low income homes, not mansions.
I grew up in New York City, and to those people, anything west of the Hudson River was Terra Incognita.
My sister from New York was visiting Santa Barbara from a cruise, and saw a couple of ladies with Coach shopping bags. She could not believe that there were stores selling high end purses here.
My DW, bless her, said,"Yes we have Coach Bags here in the Wild West"

 

[irishgal]

That really steams me. I live right near the fire, and comments like that just show the stupidity of the posters. "You cannot fix stupid"
Yes, the Skirball fire burned 2 large homes in Bel Air. But what about the 450 plus homes lost in the Thomas fire? These were mostly middle and low income homes, not mansions.
I grew up in New York City, and to those people, anything west of the Hudson River was Terra Incognita.
My sister from New York was visiting Santa Barbara from a cruise, and saw a couple of ladies with Coach shopping bags. She could not believe that there were stores selling high end purses here.
My DW, bless her, said,"Yes we have Coach Bags here in the Wild West"

Well the people saying such things are the same ones who watch the Rose Parade with envy and only wish they could live in California.

As for your sister lol, tell her you have a “ER buddy” from Orange County who has a Hermes Birkin collection to die for ha!

 

[W2R]

California is my home state although I did relocate a couple of years ago. A few friends have had to evacuate including those with horses. The horses are now at the Del Mar fairgrounds so they are safe. What is sad is I actually see people write (on social media) that California deserves to burn, thugs like “boo hoo more rich people lost their mansions” things like that. I’ve lost hope for society.

Wow!!! That is just shocking that someone would post something like that. I am glad that I have not seen anyone saying anything like that online. Pretty disturbing. Who's to say that the owners of those mansions were rich, anyway? They could be borrowed to the hilt and very "house poor". Besides, even if the owners were wealthy (which they might not be), it doesn't change the fact that those houses were very beautiful and it is heartbreaking to see them burn down like that.

People can be such jerks sometimes. Or maybe they were posting while drunk as a skunk.

Glad your friend and their horses are safe.

 

[rodi]

You can smell the smoke in the air but the wind is much calmer today. That said there was a small 2nd fire in San Diego that started late morning today - near Alpine. Hoping the winds stay calm and they can contain the fires.

There was also visible smoke just south of the border yesterday - apparently a brush fire just east of Tijuana, between Tijuana and Tecate. Lots of people getting very nervous who live in Chula Vista/Otay Lakes areas. The father of one of my son's classmate works at the border and said the air quality was terrible down there... we could see the smoke from downtown yesterday afternoon. This was not mentioned in ANY of the local tv coverage.

 

[W2R]

You can smell the smoke in the air but the wind is much calmer today. That said there was a small 2nd fire in San Diego that started late morning today - near Alpine. Hoping the winds stay calm and they can contain the fires.

There was also visible smoke just south of the border yesterday - apparently a brush fire just east of Tijuana, between Tijuana and Tecate. Lots of people getting very nervous who live in Chula Vista/Otay Lakes areas. The father of one of my son's classmate works at the border and said the air quality was terrible down there... we could see the smoke from downtown yesterday afternoon. This was not mentioned in ANY of the local tv coverage.

Take care, rodi! This sounds pretty awful. Glad the winds have calmed down for now.

Sometimes I wonder if TV coverage soft pedals disasters at times, to prevent mass panic.

 

[Sunset]

.....

There was also visible smoke just south of the border yesterday - apparently a brush fire just east of Tijuana, between Tijuana and Tecate. Lots of people getting very nervous who live in Chula Vista/Otay Lakes areas. The father of one of my son's classmate works at the border and said the air quality was terrible down there... we could see the smoke from downtown yesterday afternoon. This was not mentioned in ANY of the local tv coverage.

It's the border, a magical line that makes folks oblivious to what is across it. We see the same thing on the local news channels here when doing the weather. The USA map is detailed, but it usually includes just a big blob above the USA for Canada.

I will admit they are getting better and now sometimes show about 8 major cities in Canada on the map. And last week instead of just blaming the "Cold air from Canada", They actually said it was a "Saskatchewan Screamer" responsible for the cold air in Chicago.

 

[Koogie]

It's the border, a magical line that makes folks oblivious to what is across it. We see the same thing on the local news channels here when doing the weather. The USA map is detailed, but it usually includes just a big blob above the USA for Canada.

I will admit they are getting better and now sometimes show about 8 major cities in Canada on the map. And last week instead of just blaming the "Cold air from Canada", They actually said it was a "Saskatchewan Screamer" responsible for the cold air in Chicago.

There was this girl from Regina.. oh, never mind. This is a family show..

 

[Scuba]

It's the border, a magical line that makes folks oblivious to what is across it. We see the same thing on the local news channels here when doing the weather. The USA map is detailed, but it usually includes just a big blob above the USA for Canada.

I will admit they are getting better and now sometimes show about 8 major cities in Canada on the map. And last week instead of just blaming the "Cold air from Canada", They actually said it was a "Saskatchewan Screamer" responsible for the cold air in Chicago.

Yes, even being USA but not on mainland typically leads to less or no media coverage. Hurricanes Irma & Maria devastated the US Virgin Islands but TX, FL and to some extent Puerto Rico got most of the media coverage.

 

[street]

My heart goes out to all these people that have lost there homes etc.. It is a wild 2017 for disaster.

 

[happy2bretired]

My sister from New York was visiting Santa Barbara from a cruise, and saw a couple of ladies with Coach shopping bags. She could not believe that there were stores selling high end purses here.
My DW, bless her, said,"Yes we have Coach Bags here in the Wild West"

[emoji23] Hey, we even have them in Nebraska.[emoji33]

 

[happy2bretired]

I too am very sad with the fires in the West. It could happen here too...anywhere. The horses brought tears to my eyes yesterday when I saw them running for safety.