Pardon Me For Not Returning Your Call/Email — But San Diego’s On Fire
By: Jeff Brown,
BawldGuy.com,
Post Archive,
RSS FeedPosted: Monday, October 22nd, 2007, 8:15 pm MST
Category: General, Real Estate
Geez, another fire, no, two of the nasty boogers. Santa Ana’s suck. What’s a Santa Ana you ask? It’s when desert winds from the northeast come swooping down into So Cal, bringing super low humidity, and winds blowing the wrong way. It also brings mid-80’s temperatures in late October.
When a few years of dry weather come one after the other, this is never good for San Diego. Add to the mix all kinds of dry dead wood for fuel, and you have the formula for what’s on the news the last few days.
As I write this it’s now too dark to see the more southern of the two fires. I have a southeasterly facing balcony with a gorgeous view in San Diego’s East County. As recently as an 45 minutes ago I could clearly see the Potrero fire’s smoke plume. It appears we’re winning that one. From about 4 PM until 6:30 or so, it was losing size, and depth of color. A great sign, based on my experience with these huge fires.
The ‘Witch’ fire is another story altogether. It’s not looking good. As of yesterday, it had already burned over 8,000 acres. Personally, my home isn’t in danger. My aunt and uncle, plus a cousin and his wife, living in La Costa (North San Diego County) have fled to Dana Point. Mom, who lives near me, has been my ’stringer’, reporting on all the affected family members. My sister and her husband almost left their La Costa home, but when, at the last minute the order to leave was downgraded to voluntary they stayed. My brother-in-law is prone to severe asthma, so traveling to their downtown condo through all the muck was deemed far too risky.
Brian Brady, a good friend and almost neighbor, was the gracious host for five families from a community nearby his coastal home, which is close to Del Mar. They were from the Carmel Valley area, which was under mandatory orders to get outa Dodge.
I spoke to Brian an hour ago, finding him in the parking lot, J-3 to be specific, of Qualcom Stadium, which is located in the Mission Valley area of San Diego. He said he was heartened by the uninterrupted trolley schedule, as the bright red cars kept coming and going as if it was just another day.
A local restaurant brought them some chicken, which when added to the wine and good company, Brian’s making the very best out of a scary situation. But then that’s quintessential Brian.
His wife Deborah, and his five year old daughter, have headed to a downtown hotel, along with Deborah’s mom. They left there coastal home he said, because the air quality was nearly non-existent.
The fires now have taken far in excess of 20,000 acres. They’ve also, tragically, taken a life, and sent 15 people to our state of the art burn center at UCSD. Many, many homes, condos, and apartments have been lost already. One of the firefighters was put into an induced coma to assist her recovery.
In my conversation with Brian, he was encouraged and inspired by the, as he put it, ‘fraternal atmosphere’ of the stadium parking lot. Many of the now 10,000 folks in that lot are there without knowing if their home is still their home.
I’m watching, again as I’m writing this, a home burning down, engulfed in flames and a total loss. Brian said he chose the stadium parking lot because he heard the Governator was to show up later, which indeed he has. There’s a band playing too. That’s what Brian was talking about — folks refusing to lose spirit when circumstances dictate otherwise. But again, that’s Brian.
I also spoke with our resident Blog Princess, Ms. Berg. Found her in her home — ahem, which neighborhood has been, ah, kinda sorta evacuated. She was enjoying her Chardonnay, and making, of all things egg rolls. She’s also been told their cabin in Arrowhead is also at high fire risk, and in fact, may already be history. She doesn’t know though. Her outlook? ‘I’ve been wanting to rebuild that thing for awhile anyway.’ Geez — I guess that’s the Princess being cool in stressful times.
I was just happy to find she and Steve well, and unharmed. In the last fire, back in ‘03, she was taking cell pics of a neighbor’s property burning, while our former Governor played the lead part in a remake of The Keystone Kops.
Ramona, a vibrant town in the northeast part of the county, is now a virtual ghost town, as everybody has been evacuated. This could turn out to be monstrous in scope.
I ask you, as a San Diego resident to add us to your prayers. From what I’m seeing in real time on my TV, it looks like without Devine intervention, this could get way ugly with a capital U.
June 15th marked my 40th year here. These fires could prove to be the most devastating natural disaster in all those years. Pray for us.
More updates on the San Diego County fires:
- San Diego Fires: I… Wanna Hear… From a Chargers Fan
- Like a Good Neighbor - Will Our Insurance Companies Be There?
- San Diego Fire Update: Email from Jeff Brown
- Safe in SoCal
- Healing
- San Diego Fire Update: Podcast with Brian Brady — Big Mother? Who needs her?
- San Diego Fire Update: Podcast with Kris Berg — staring down disaster with a lithe sense of humor and a glass of Chardonay
- San Diego Fire Update: Podcast with Jeff Brown discussing today’s events
- My Buddy Brian Brady At The ‘Q’ — Already On the Move to A Different Neighborhood
- Scripps ranch under evacuation orders
- San Diego Fire Update — The Calvary Has Arrived — Air Attacks Have Started!! — Radio Link
- More news about the fires in San Diego . . .
- San Diego Fire Update — It’s Now Approaching Historical — 10% of Population Evacuated
- Pardon Me For Not Returning Your Call/Email — But San Diego’s On Fire
- If you’re wondering about the fires in San Diego . . .
- Our Office Will be Closed Today
- Combustion
Bookmark this to: del.icio.us • Digg it • StumbleUpon • Subscribe to RSS feed
Related posts:20 Comments so far
Thanks for letting us know what’s going on, Jeff.
Jeff - Thanks for the kind words. You know Kris. There’s evacuation and then there’s EVACUATE. If/when the time comes, we are ready to bail. Daughters Emily and Becky are already at the beach with Grandma so we are left to defend the homestead until we really have to go. When we do maybe we will head down to the Q to see Brian. Either way I think I’m pullin’ an all-nighter.
It’s getting worse.
500 homes and 100 businesses have been burned to the ground. One of our longest tenured TV reporters had to stand by and watch his own home go up in smoke.
The worst new is this: As of 10 minutes ago, the northern San Diego fire is now 0% contained.
[...] Pardon Me For Not Returning Your Call/Email — But San Diego’s On Fire [...]
Egg rolls and wine — works for me. Keep us posted, will ya?
Hiya Jeff ~
You okay?
Spoke with Kris @ dinnertime and she was trying to calm Steve down.
Anything new?
Phil - I am in “Chill City” for the moment. But that may change. We will keep you posted.
No, not yet. Because of the high winds, planes and helicopters can’t deliver water and the well known, (in So Cal) orange flame retardant powder.
If they can’t start that by dawn, this could rank as one of the worst disasters in California history. 0% containment after three days doesn’t bode well for the good guys.
This year, homeowners within ~25 miles of anywhere on the eastern coastline saw their insurance policies double, even triple. Why? Katrina payouts, alleged the insurers.
Well, what’s this got to do with wildfires?
This seemed like a very busy wildfire year. Has anyone examined what’s going to happen to insurance prices for homes in or near high wildfire risk areas?
The egg rolls were the unfortunate result of my too-late realization that no pizza place is delivering tonight - The cupboards were bare. The chardonnay, however, is a staple and one of the four food groups at my house. All is well here. The winds seem to be relenting. Steve is still wanting to evacuate “in a hurry”, but it is only his stupid guy attempt to distract me and make me leave the cat behind. I think Brian is eating better at the Q tonight than we are. I am sleeping on the couch tonight, but not because I am in trouble. The couch is closer to the door.
The San Diego sense of community is blowing me away.
The authorities have just asked folks to stop donating food to the evacuees at the Q’s parking lot — which is our football stadium. Seems they now have so much food, they’ve run out of refrigerated storage to keep it fresh — for tomorrow. They’re now asking for anyone with refrigerated trailers/trucks to call them.
Wow — we’re comin’ through for each other.
Though the winds are beginning to wane a bit, the latest weather report says it is just as likely as not to pick up again in the morning.
Robert - these fires have been a regular thing in So Cal for as long as I can remember. We haven’t, at least so far, seen any huge jump in premiums.
This one might be different. Of course, that’s what we thought back in ‘03 too.
Hi Jeff,
I have been heartwarmed by the cooperation and community spirit.
My favorite: WY sent planes, so did the military and they sent them before the request was filled out. “We can take care of that later”, they said. Now ,WHY can’t every town do this. Send the help, get the major’s signature LATER.
I also couldn’t get over that HD gave their new building and parking lot in El Cajon for a shelter for people and large animals. Normally, those corporations worry about liability. It was refreshing to see a few “rules” broken here and corporations and government just get to the task at hand.
I’m glad they interviewed the positive things at the stadium. Hopefully this won’t decend into a media circus of pointing fingers. But for now, it has stayed positive.
I’ve been in San Diego since 1953 and I’ve never seen anything like this. The sight from our deck is spectacular. It is all along at the top of the mountain and huge!
I woke early this a.m. on the East Coast to the horror in So Cal airing on Fox News.
It was so encouraging to see here your positive spirits!
I’m in FL and we’re giving thanks for being spared this hurricane season. We know all about outrageous property insurance hikes! Hopefully your Governator will protect you from greedy insurance companies as well as Jeb Bush and Gov Charlie Crist are protecting
us!
Keep your spirits up-this, too, shall pass.
You’re in my prayers, and I’ll keep watch for your updates.
God bless you all and your loved ones.
Jeff- You don’t how helpful these posts are to those of us with family in the area- Scripp’s Ranch, in fact. We call, but don’t want to be in the way. We listen to the tone of their voice as they give us news, but they do not want to give too much news… It’s frustrating for everyone. Hearing news from the belly of the beast is at least something.
Prayers? Out here in the Bible Belt, we can do that.
Thanks Jeanne, keep it up.
Teri - I’ve not heard anything new about Scripps Ranch. I’ll be posting an update shortly.
Jeff, you know Lani and I are standing by for you guys, we feel rather helpless at the moment- our prayers are with you, and your communities, and if there is a need we can somehow fill, please just let us know. You, the Bergs, and Brian know the number. Otherwise we’ll just be here on prayer patrol.
Jeff,
I am glad that you are safe, and you and the entire San Diego area will most certainly be in our prayers.
We knew you guys were there for us, Benn - thanks.
[...] Pardon Me For Not Returning Your Call/Email — But San Diego’s On Fire [...]