Let's hear it for the firefighters!
Ok so they're getting a lot of flack from unhappy people for how they handled these fires. Maybe its just because I'm only in the thick of smoke, not the fires itself, but I give them mad props for how they've handled this given their limited resources. The people who should be slapped are the politicians that threaten to close down fire house after fire house due to their not being a budget.
So here hear to the fire fighters!
And thank you Canada for sending in this puppy
Words really can't describe this. Right now I sit in my office and look outside the window and at first glance you think "Gee its over cast" but then you notice the orange tint to everything. The walls, the tree's, the cars, and you remember... this isn't fog, this isn't haze, this is smoke. Pure smoke. Driving to work today the valley Riverside sits in was like a filling for a sandwhich. There was white haze nestling the ground, hugging the trees and circling around houses. And the sky was a thick thick brownish white haze of smoke. The tops of the mountains were invisible. My eyes are burning, my nose is running, my throat is hurting and I still have no voice and this is in an area where there is no fire. I go outside and my car is just covered in dust and ash. Again there is no fire in Riverside! None! The closest fire is 30 miles to Lake Arrowhead, 50-60 miles to Irvine (which was 50% contained) and I don't know how far it is from San Diego. I'm going to say another 50-60 miles.
They found the man they think cause the Irvine fire (I believe they're calling it the Santiago fire) and he's been killed so they can't even confirm he's the one that caused it! Just that he was a suspect and fled the scene and was then shot by cops (I have yet to confirm this story, just heard it from my co-worker) Then there was another guy that was actually caught in the act of setting a fire in Hesperia! Thankfully for that town (predominantly seniors) he was caught by people driving by and they stomped out the fire. Its still not known what caused the Lake Arrowhead fire but San Diego is believed to be caused by a down power line.
Probably the scariest part of this whole thing, neither Lake Arrowhead nor San Diego are even 30% contained. I believe San Diego last stood at about 10% and they were worried it would jump the fire line for a third time and spread towards Temecula (which is heading my direction)
And the even worst part.... the Santa Anna's are said to be returning tomorrow! Not sure of the area but if its even remotly as bad as we saw Sunday and Monday... good god. The fire fighters from all over have been bateling for 5 days straight and it could get worse before it gets better.
One BILLION in damage has been caused in San Diego ALONE. ONE BILLION! 500,000 people have been evacuated and if they have to evacuate Temecula like they're concerned about doing that number is going to go up and up.
Seriously, I have never seen it this bad. EVER. I don't even think the 03' fires were this bad and that killed 22 people. This one, so far, the death has only been about 8 (most were caused by smoke and respritory failure)
I'm not even in direct line of the flames (although if it reaches Temecula thats getting fairly damn close, but the chances of the fire sweeping through Temecula with Lake Elsenore sitting right there are slim to none. And even then there's still a good 3 or 4 cities it would have to get through before it even touches the banks of Riverside) but I want to flee the state. I want to go some place with fresh air so I can breath again. I'm probably going to call my dad and see what the air quality is like in Yucaipa. Maybe I can crash there for the weekend just to escape here for a bit if its any better. Not sure if it will be or not. I know its a higher altitude but its at the base of Big Bear, which is close to getting hit by the Lake Arrowhead fire, so it really might not be anybetter.
Nov 3rd and my trip to Phoenix can't come soon enough. Even with as miserable as my lungs feel I do admit I'm gratefull this is the worst I'll get. My trailer wont be burned down, my brother (so far) is safe. I should probably check in with my friend DJ again but he said he'd let me know if his situation changed.
Its just scary. Flat out scray. People who don't live here are wondering why we weren't more prepared and are criticizing us for being devistated by whats happening because we knew the risks, yadi yadi yadi, but here's the thing... we WERE prepared. We've known for months that drought conditions meant fire hazards were up. People had been clearing dry brush for months. What we couldn't be prepared for is simply how fast these things moved and the 100MPH winds that hit certain areas. 100MPH winds means NO air support. Its kinda like a hurricane or Tornado. You can prepare for it till you turn blue in the face. What you can't prepare for is the sheer devisation it will cause. I don't think anybody predicted that there would be 110 MPH winds in freaking SAN DIEGO.
So here hear to the fire fighters!
And thank you Canada for sending in this puppy
Words really can't describe this. Right now I sit in my office and look outside the window and at first glance you think "Gee its over cast" but then you notice the orange tint to everything. The walls, the tree's, the cars, and you remember... this isn't fog, this isn't haze, this is smoke. Pure smoke. Driving to work today the valley Riverside sits in was like a filling for a sandwhich. There was white haze nestling the ground, hugging the trees and circling around houses. And the sky was a thick thick brownish white haze of smoke. The tops of the mountains were invisible. My eyes are burning, my nose is running, my throat is hurting and I still have no voice and this is in an area where there is no fire. I go outside and my car is just covered in dust and ash. Again there is no fire in Riverside! None! The closest fire is 30 miles to Lake Arrowhead, 50-60 miles to Irvine (which was 50% contained) and I don't know how far it is from San Diego. I'm going to say another 50-60 miles.
They found the man they think cause the Irvine fire (I believe they're calling it the Santiago fire) and he's been killed so they can't even confirm he's the one that caused it! Just that he was a suspect and fled the scene and was then shot by cops (I have yet to confirm this story, just heard it from my co-worker) Then there was another guy that was actually caught in the act of setting a fire in Hesperia! Thankfully for that town (predominantly seniors) he was caught by people driving by and they stomped out the fire. Its still not known what caused the Lake Arrowhead fire but San Diego is believed to be caused by a down power line.
Probably the scariest part of this whole thing, neither Lake Arrowhead nor San Diego are even 30% contained. I believe San Diego last stood at about 10% and they were worried it would jump the fire line for a third time and spread towards Temecula (which is heading my direction)
And the even worst part.... the Santa Anna's are said to be returning tomorrow! Not sure of the area but if its even remotly as bad as we saw Sunday and Monday... good god. The fire fighters from all over have been bateling for 5 days straight and it could get worse before it gets better.
One BILLION in damage has been caused in San Diego ALONE. ONE BILLION! 500,000 people have been evacuated and if they have to evacuate Temecula like they're concerned about doing that number is going to go up and up.
Seriously, I have never seen it this bad. EVER. I don't even think the 03' fires were this bad and that killed 22 people. This one, so far, the death has only been about 8 (most were caused by smoke and respritory failure)
I'm not even in direct line of the flames (although if it reaches Temecula thats getting fairly damn close, but the chances of the fire sweeping through Temecula with Lake Elsenore sitting right there are slim to none. And even then there's still a good 3 or 4 cities it would have to get through before it even touches the banks of Riverside) but I want to flee the state. I want to go some place with fresh air so I can breath again. I'm probably going to call my dad and see what the air quality is like in Yucaipa. Maybe I can crash there for the weekend just to escape here for a bit if its any better. Not sure if it will be or not. I know its a higher altitude but its at the base of Big Bear, which is close to getting hit by the Lake Arrowhead fire, so it really might not be anybetter.
Nov 3rd and my trip to Phoenix can't come soon enough. Even with as miserable as my lungs feel I do admit I'm gratefull this is the worst I'll get. My trailer wont be burned down, my brother (so far) is safe. I should probably check in with my friend DJ again but he said he'd let me know if his situation changed.
Its just scary. Flat out scray. People who don't live here are wondering why we weren't more prepared and are criticizing us for being devistated by whats happening because we knew the risks, yadi yadi yadi, but here's the thing... we WERE prepared. We've known for months that drought conditions meant fire hazards were up. People had been clearing dry brush for months. What we couldn't be prepared for is simply how fast these things moved and the 100MPH winds that hit certain areas. 100MPH winds means NO air support. Its kinda like a hurricane or Tornado. You can prepare for it till you turn blue in the face. What you can't prepare for is the sheer devisation it will cause. I don't think anybody predicted that there would be 110 MPH winds in freaking SAN DIEGO.