[Ferretlover]

Blazes are threatening homes across Southern California
SAN DIEGO - Fast-moving wildfires forced officials to order the evacuations of nearly 250,000 people in San Diego County on Monday, including hundreds of patients from a hospital and nursing homes.
More than a dozen wildfires have engulfed Southern California, from San Diego up to Santa Barbara County. Fanned by fierce desert winds, the fires have killed at least one person and are threatening tens of thousands of homes. …
"We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them," said San Diego Fire Captain Lisa Blake. "A lot of people are going to lose their homes today." ...
link

[Plantagenet]

SOME say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

--Robert Frost

[Cobra_Strike]

Flee the urban areas...and go forth my zombies.

[PenultimateManStanding]

My mother lives just outside a mandatory evacuation area. They are issuing new evacuation orders by the hour, the winds are picking up strength and the fires are growing. The evacuations must be well over 300,000 by now. Jato and his family are in or very close to the burning areas. Let's wish him well. This is turning out to be worse than the monster firestorm that hit this week 4 years ago.

[holmes]

lets hope he gets out of there ok..

[PenultimateManStanding]

They're still quoting 250,000 evacuees. But they've been quoting that number since noon and new announcements have been made since then. So far the smoke in my area is nowhere near as bad as it was in 2003. I'm guessing tomorrow will be bad with stinking polluted air. The spooky thing is that it's already a record breaking firestorm and it's still growing uncontrolled. The winds are expected to remain strong until Wednesday.

[PenultimateManStanding]

My brother and his wife live in the east county. He called me and said that flames are not far away. This is a nightmare.

[WildRose]

I've been watching the TV coverage. It's an awful situation. My thoughts are with you all, PMS and all your family, Jato and family, that you may all come out of this unscathed. When so many people in an area are threatened by something like this, usually everyone knows someone who was affected.

[PenultimateManStanding]

There's no danger in my area. At least not now. But the fire is not anywhere contained. I live pretty close to the coast. The fire is burning up everything that wasn't burned in 2003. This is crazy. I've lived in this area for 53 years and I've never seen anything like this.

[Plantagenet]

Good luck and God bless, PMS. Stay safe.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'G')ood luck and God bless, PMS. Stay safe.

[roccman]

I fought forest fires for about 5 years while with the Forest Service.

Manzanita and Oak fires are the worst.

These species have oily leaves and the bush/tree literally explodes into flames...very hot very fast buring fires.

And the story will not end when the fires are dead...

Then the mudslides begin.

[PenultimateManStanding]

My brother has asked me for shelter. He's seen the flames advancing. This is so ugly.

[TT]

Please everyone in the affected areas keep safe and well. Get out in good time and protect yourself.

My thoughts are with you.

[Ferretlover]

Cnn has updated the number of evacues to 265,000! Holy cow!

I, too, hope that you are all safe. Keep us informed if and when you have time.

[jato]

Here are some pics from today. All of these were taken south of Lake Wohlford, just east of the Escondido City limits. I was on Recon.

These houses in the Hidden Trails area of Escondido are threatened. These homes are in the patch of the pictures below:


Incoming fire and my Department Chaplain ride-along.



Me standing on a junk pile watching the fire approach Escondido. The goggles came in handy with winds gusting to 50 MPH. Lots of dirt and debris were being kicked up!


The fire lines themselves are hard to see. They are being hidden by gobs of thick smoke.



The main fire (there are many fingers) is moving out of my area now. I will try and get some more shots for later....

5 PM


South of Valley Center, fire already came through.

Thanks for the warm fuzzies everyone! My house and family are in a good spot. We should be fine.

[emersonbiggins]

Amazing photos. Stay safe!

[wisconsin_cur]

I hope what I have to say is not taken to discount the suffering that real people are facing.

Would this fire be getting as much coverage if it were happening in the midwest?

Would the flame retardant be coming out so quick if the firefighters were defending the homes of mechanics and school cooks instead of the homes of stars and movie executives?

I feel for the ordinary people being evacuated but even the photos that I see are not of the "ordinary" 250,000 but of the top 1%.

Looking at the sattilite photo fires are burning in Western Mexico, do we care? How many have died there? How many have needed to evacuate? We don't know because we do not care about them. They are not California.

I confess I have turned into a mis-elite in my middle age and am extremely cynical about the media, even when it comes to the weather.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', 'W')ould this fire be getting as much coverage if it were happening in the midwest?

[idomar]

I was reading one of the free newspapers that are handed out here in London yesterday, the strap line was along the lines of

'Stars Homes under threat from fires'

It then gave a nice little list of the 'stars' that have had to evacuate, including head shots, just in case we didn't know that they are important people.

Then it concluded along the lines of..............and approximately 250,000 others have needed to be evacuated.

This obsession with celebrity makes me hurl.

But to all those 'ordinaries' out there that are affected by this, take care.