Southern California Fires Affecting Battle at the Border
 

As I'm sure many of you are already aware there are several major fires burning in Southern California.

San Diego is being hit very hard by several of these fires. So far teams 1622 (Team Spyder from Poway, CA), 2029 (Team Sevnet from Ramona, CA) and two other 'pre-rookie' teams from Ramona are in areas that have been affected by these fires. Two (I-8 and I-15) of the three (I-5, I-8, and I-15) major interstates in San Diego have been closed, and a chance that the third could be closed by the end of the week. Having two interstates closed will make it difficult for teams to come to Battle at the Border and if the third were to close while the event is going on it would essentially trap all the traveling teams in San Diego indefinitely.

I have to say sadly that if the conditions continue to worsen we will have to postpone and possibly cancel the event. We will make a final decision Wednesday night as to the future of Battle at the Border 2007.

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Good luck down there. I've been watching the KNSD news feed all day and it's just a mess all over southern California. Nobody is going to sweat the loss of the event.

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Here's another update for all interested:

We have heard from one family on 1622 and they have been evacuated and are safe. We haven't heard from the others. No word from any of our Ramona teams, but Ramona was hit very hard last night and early this morning.

There has been a voluntary evacuation for an area just 2-5 miles from 1527's school. The voluntary evacuation could turn into a mandatory evacuation at any time.

As for my team (1538) we have fair pretty well considering our members are scattered all over San Diego County. So far we know of only two members (one of our drivers and one of our directors) that have had to be evacuated. From what we've heard our and his family are safe and their home is still standing. As for one of our directors, she is in Indiana and her family had to be evacuated. They do not know the status of their house.

Right now there are about 7-8 teams being threatened by these fires. In total there are 8 fires burning in San Diego County. We've only heard from the team's I've listed above.

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That's awful. Praying your conditions get better. You gotta do what you gotta do...

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I have family down there that has evacuated. I hope none of you are hurt. Good luck with your event.

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Please continue to keep us all informed when possible. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Please stay safe. I dare say the event is the least of your worries.

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To all,

Still no new word from the teams north in Poway and Ramona. Some of the video coming out of that area is not looking good. It has just been reported that several new structures have just caught fire in these areas. Let's hope for the best all those in that area.

As for my team... The director who is in Indiana still does not know the status of her house. Last I heard from her, the fire is directly closing in on her house in three directions. Our driver and his family are safe and some other members who live in the outlying areas of San Diego County are safe, but they could be evacuated by the end of the night or morning. We also have another mentor and close friend of mine lives in an area that is being closed in by the evacuation calls.

Several members of team 1527 have been evacuated, I have no new information from them.

We will be having a meeting tomorrow morning around 8:30 PST to discuss the future of Battle at the Border. I would not expect that the event happen this year. Perhaps we can postpone it, we shall see.

The major fire in the area, the 'Witch Fire' has burned over 145,000 acres and has destroyed over 600 homes and hundreds of commercial buildings. In total there are 12 fires covering over 512 square miles. All schools, colleges and universities are closed. The Mayor has asked that no one go to work and everyone stay off the roads whenever possible just to keep the roads clear for emergency workers. Over 250,000 people have been evacuated, that is roughly 20% of the population of San Diego County. All city services have been shutdown until further notice.

On a personal note, a friend of the family is a Captain for a local fire department and mother to twins. She went on her 24 hour shift at 6am Sunday morning. The fires started around 11am-12pm Sunday and shortly after the fires started it was reported that a female fire captain was severely burned and that she was put in an induced coma at a local hospital. We have no update from her since she went on duty. We are anxiously waiting for word from her or her family.

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Jon, thank you for keeping us all up-to-date. It is greatly appreciated. My thoughts and prayers are with your family friend and everyone in the area.

Looking forward to more updates,
--dan

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Wow, any news on how it was started?

Good luck to all.

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San Diego is being hit the hardest, and good and you're still okay Jon.
They're not exactly sure how they started, but it could be just from the wind as the root of different events, and it also being one of the driest years doesn't help. These started around Saturday and could be from the Santa Ana winds. They were overall pretty intense, some hurricane status winds. Last time I checked though there are 17 fires, 21 including the 4 that were contained. These go from a bit north of Santa Barbara down to the border and from the ocean to San Bernardino.

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Depends on what fire. Reading the news, Malibu was downed power lines (suspected), one of the others (OC?) may have been set, a car fire started another...

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The fires are scattered throughout Southern California. There were at least 14 fires burning in the SoCal area.

Here's a map of the fires


For more information, you can go to http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_295010422.html

Hope you all are doing okay, and hopefully things will get better for the lock in.

Re: Southern California Fires Affecting Battle at the Border
 

That map doesn't even show the 'Witch Fire' burning down here.

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i figured because for the 14 fires they speak of, there aren't that many being represented on the map. I just assumed they were general areas.

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I don't get why Castaic is burning again. I'd have thought the Day Fire last year would have cleared that area out. The same goes for Malibu last winter.

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New growth starts quick, roots and such, also people plant new tress and stuff that a fire would just rip through. Wild Fire's are THE worst type of fire because they can travel by wind or even under ground by the root structure of plants so even if you put the fire out on the surface you have to dig up all the area and make sure that everything is out, thats why it takes so long for these fires to be placed under control.

To Jon Jack:
As a fellow Fire Fighter I am praying for your friend who might be burned and the families of the other 6 known fire fighter deaths so far.

Once this fire reaches a certain level of fire service need there is a chance that I can fly out there and help out, I hope that it doesn't get that bad.

Good luck to all who are being effected.

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I've had a long night. I just woke up from a two hour nap.

My dad is the manager of the San Diego County Sheriff's Printshop which is located down by the border, and at the heart of the fire storm. He got a call at 11:30PM last night from one of this deputies who asked him to print some documents to support the National Guard troops arriving to day. They needed the documents by 7am this morning so he left right away and I went with him.

By the time we got to his shop there was an orange glow off in the horizon. There is a hill that was 50-60 yards from the door of his shop and the flames were right on the top of the hill. The smoke was think and the ash burned the eyes. Periodically throughout the night we'd check the ridge to make sure the fire wasn't coming down the hill. After 2 hours we got the job done and quickly left the area. As we were coming down off the mesa where his shop is located, we saw the entire side of the mesa on fire.

When we got back to the street I live on you could see flames maybe 10-15 miles east of us.

We've heard from more of the members and mentors of team 1622 from Poway, CA. As of yet no one from their team has lost a home. We've only heard from one mentor from one of our Ramona teams. He said his home was fine and that he hadn't heard from anyone else in the area.

As for our family friend... Her station is right next to my dad's shop. When we arrived at the shop her car and fire engine was there and the commanding officers said that they had seen her and that she was safe and sound.

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I'm not sure if this one does, but it is a great (not that there is anything good about this) representation of this....

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My heart also goes out to all affected by the fire, some of my friends live in Malibu and they are going through the same thing. All I can say is I hope that these fires will be out as soon as possible and that these winds stay calm.

As for the Battle at the Border, whats the word??? I hope that you will be able to postpone it by a few weeks, or a month or whatever is necessary.

Good luck to all that are being affected by the fires, and god bless.

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This map -- (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...e9ca465cefeeed) -- is being updated much more frequently and accurately than anything I've seen on the news.

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Shortly after my last post we (myself and the three other people who are running this competition) had an 'emergency' meeting the discuss the future of Battle at the Border. We're sorry to regret that we are canceling the event. I've sent this email to all team leads:

Battle at the Border Participants,

We hope this email finds you, your family, and the members of your team safe and in good health. Unfortunately, due to the fires burning out of control in San Diego and throughout Southern California, we have found it necessary to cancel the Team San Diego Battle at the Border FIRST Robotics Competition scheduled for October 27th. Although we regret the late notice informing you of our decision, like you, we kept hoping our local situation would have changed for the better – it hasn’t and it doesn’t look like it will before Saturday. Many concerns have brought us to this decision: 300,000 plus people evacuated; very poor air quality; loss of major power lines; school closures; the Mayor of San Diego’s request to avoid travel as much as possible in order to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles; the uncertainty of where the fires will burn and when they will be contained; and most importantly, the safety of you and your team members.

Due to other FIRST events and school holidays, we will not be able to hold the Battle @ the Border before the start of the FRC season. We are, however, planning on holding the event next fall. We would like to thank all of the 24 teams for their outstanding support and understanding and look forward to competing with all the teams in the upcoming season. Upon the reopening of our schools, Team San Diego will be notifying each team to discuss the best method for refunds. Please be safe.

Sincerely,
Team San Diego

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Good luck to everyone is being affected by these fires.

Luckily, the worst weather New England has been with as far as I know is snow (although the ice storm last year was pretty rough). A wildfire is a possiblility and, especially at this time of year, if one picked up, we'd be toast (no pun intended).

My brother and mother were watching the story downstairs and one of the first things I thought of was "I wonder if anyone has posted about this on CD." This seems to be my news feed.

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I'm from California too, currently in Israel, wishing you guys to be safe as possbile.:(

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Kyle,

So far, only 2 deaths are being reported. One in San Diego, and one in Santa Clarita.

indieFan

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i am down in point loma, ca and i can see and smell smoke cars are covered in soot and ash. many navy familes that have been evacuated in the area are coming to my base. I was underway monday and the smoke blowing off the coast was restricting visibility to less than 1/2 mile. my craft was around san clemente island when we got the call that some of the guys on the boat, homes were being evacuated. and we immediately headed back to san diego. everyone got out safe but no updates on their homes as of yet.

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That dose not account for the Fire Truck that flipped over and killed 4 fire fighters last week while responding to one of the fires. Not directly killed by the flames but the situation.

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Old google maps link won't work for me anymore. This does for now.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...79739.htmlpage

Glad the Santa Clarita fire moved, was right next to my cousins house.

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I would not be supprised if the fires burned to mexico and the sea, the question, though, is what will happen then??

just hope all of you that are being directly effected by the fire are ok...

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I heard that the Castaic fire started just south of the Day Fire burn area. Had the wind been blowing from the ocean, the fire would have quickly run into the burn area and died out, because it hasn't regrown very much yet. But of course with the Santa Ana winds blowing from the north/east, the fire has been blown further into unburned areas.

As for Malibu, it has a very long coast line. When winds are from the north, the fire blows from the hills down to the sea. As I recall, only about eight homes were burned last winter, which is less than a city block. This week's fire started in a different section of Malibu.

The fact is that, even though there are so many fires right now, and they are so big, the unburned areas of the state are many times bigger. We will always have fires.

Which is why our recent news sounds like a rerun.

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HI Jon,

We at Team 60 are sorry to hear about the fires and hope all is well with everyone in the San Diego area. After some discussion, we would like to donate out registration fees to any FIRST team or FIRST family in the San Diego area. We will leave this to your discretion. We hope you all survive well and God Bless, Team 60.

Have fun soon.
Geo

p.s. Next Year?:]

Re: Southern California Fires Affecting Battle at the Border
 

A little off topic, but...

Does anyone know if the fires effect the Northridge Workshop? Don't want to go down there just to get in the way...

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I live in Northridge and about 5 minutes from CSUN, and we're pretty clear from the fire, I would just expect traffic. I haven't heard about them canceling the CSUN Workshops, lets just hope things get better for the rest of California instead of worse.

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Didnt they say that a couple of these fires were attributed to an arson?

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Santiago Fire (Orange County) for sure. They suspect that more were arson, but I can't remember which ones. The cops busted a couple guys who were suspected of arson or attempted arson, though.

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I tell you, the stupidity of some people.. Their lame action has cause millions (if not billions) of dollars in damage so far. And the worst part is even if they get convicted, that won't help the people who lost everything (even if they were told to pay them back in a monetary form).
How could anyone possibly pay back that much? ::sigh::

Makes me just want to punch the people who started it.
Not very GP, and it wouldn't solve anything or be effective in any way possible, I realize that...but...aye... sometimes...
::voice trails off:: :mad:

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I'm not sure if insurance policies differentiate between wildfires and regular fires, but I imagine most people down there are covered through their insurance.

Clearly that's not much of a reassurance for people who have lost everything though. Even if they dont have to pay for their houses to be rebuilt, you can't put a value on memories and things that were important to you that were destroyed in the fire.

Unfortunately these fires will always be a way of life in California, even without arsonists. We can only pray that we manage to keep them from destroying anymore homes.

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From the FIRST website today:

To our friends in California,

Our thoughts and prayers are with the FIRST community and all affected by the fires in Southern California. We are attempting to contact our teams and Partners in the area, and would appreciate hearing from anyone who has news regarding any member of the FIRST Community. Please call us at 800.871.8326 ext: 0.

Sincerely,

Paul Gudonis,
FIRST President, and the entire FIRST Staff

Re: Southern California Fires Affecting Battle at the Border
 

We speak often of impact. Of how one person can make a difference.
This is evidence of that. In a negative way. The 'lame action' taken has caused much of this heartache, devastation, and expense.

Impact, attitude, respect for others, and self respect/self control - these aren't hollow principles or empty words. They are very real.

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My best goes out to everyone affected. Hope you're all doing well, and keep us here on CD in the know! We're praying for you.

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I heard only two were caused by arsons, the car fire and other ones were accidental, and the rest were just nature. It's good they are getting a handle on the fires now, with conditions improving. The Malibu and Santa Clarita fire around us are pretty much out. The wind changed direction though, bringing all the smoke over our school.

Doing anything to the arsons now though won't really do anything. It's like when teenagers get killed in a car accident, the families of the passengers sue those of the driver, as if money will bring back their child...

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There is evidence that some of the Southern California fires have been caused by arson, a serious crime. In California, arson resulting in death is a capital crime. A number of people have been caught for starting fires, and others are being investigated. These people deserve no more, and no less, than the full measure of the law applied in their individual cases.

Eugene

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Caught...or shot. A few days ago, officers stopped a guy for suspicion of starting a fire/attmpting to start one. He backed his car into a cruiser. An officer opened fire. The man was killed. I'm not sure why he was shot at.

On a lighter note, the firefighters are starting to make progress in a big way, but they still have a long ways to go.

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Once a person uses a car to move towards a police officer, it is deemed to be the use of a "weapon". Depending on the severity of how he actually hit the cruiser, and whether he clearly intended to continue moving, the officer(s) could have believed that their lives were endangered.

indieFan

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George,

Thanks for leaving the money to be donated. We will make sure it gets in good hands.

The future of Battle at the Border is certain... The event would have gone on had there not been a major natural disaster. When we met last Tuesday about canceling the event we also decided that we will have the event next year around the same time, maybe a little earlier. Hopefully we'll have details posted sometime around Championships.

As for the cause of some of the fires down here in San Diego. The biggest fire the 'Witch (Creek) Fire' was started by two transmission lines touching and arcing over a field of dry brush. The 'Rice Fire' started by a house fire burning out of control because most of the fire fighters in the county were fighting the wild fires. I believe one or two of the other fires were started by arson, but I'm not positive.