Southern California Fires Affecting Battle at the Border

[Zyik]

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

[ChuckDickerson]

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.

[Jon Jack]

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.

[DanDon]

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

[AdamHeard]

Wow, any news on how it was started?

Good luck to all.

[Jeff K.]

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.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Wow, any news on how it was started?

Good luck to all.

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...

[Nica F.]

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.

[Jon Jack]

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

[Nica F.]

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.

[EricH]

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.

[Kyle]

Originally Posted by EricH

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.

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.

[Jon Jack]

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.

[indieFan]

Originally Posted by Kyle

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.

Kyle,

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

indieFan

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by EricH

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.

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.