All figures updated as of 5 p.m. PST on Tuesday, Oct. 23
A follow-up blog–written today, Thursday, Oct. 25–is here.
As you probably know, much of Southern California is burning. San Diego (where I live) sure is. The fire has so far consumed some 250,000 acres in the mountains and rural areas immediately east of the city proper. It’s pretty effectively shut down the whole city. Highways and main roads throughout the county are closed. 1,250 homes have been destroyed or damaged. 500,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes. Qualcomm Stadium (where the San Diego Chargers play) is now/still an evacuation center — one of many throughout the county. (About 10,000 people are now living outside at Qualcomm stadium. Amazing.) No one’s supposed to go outdoors–or even use their cell phones, if they can help it. Just about every government employee who can move has been called in to help fight the fire.
And it’s [still] going to get worse before it gets better, because what’s [still] fueling the fires (what started Sunday as 10 or more fires have now become two, named the Witch Creek Fire and the Harris Fire) are the mighty Santa Ana winds, which are [still] these huge, hot, ferocious winds that sometimes sweep through Southern California and wreak all kinds of havoc with the temperature and people’s allergies and so on. They’re nasty. And they’re going to keep blowing for a couple of days. And that’s … well, how you keep a fire going.
I live on the coast, about half a mile from the beach. Our air here is as clean as it is anywhere in San Diego. The sun is completely blocked by the smoke: it’s just a dark pink ball you can stare right at. Everything is covered by a layer of grey soot: it’s basically snowing fine ash. The air is so thick with ash it muffles sound, so outside the air has that heavy quietness that comes with snowfall. [Update: The air out here is actually now pretty clear. The sky is still white/gray, and the outside still smells like a cigar butt jammed up each nostril, but at least you don't feel like it's an eclipse during Armegedon, which I feel pretty sure I just misspelled.]
Everything’s pale with ash. The light is this eeerie grey-red. Nobody’s outside. If we go outside, we’re supposed to wear breathing masks. [Which the drugstore was out of. So I was forced to buy some Haagan-Das ice cream bars instead.]
My wife Cat and I woke up this morning to learn that we now live within an Advisory Evacuation area, meaning we dang sure better get ready to evacuate our place. But to where? The end of the land is a bicycle drive away.
So we’ve now got tote bags jammed with Evacuation Vitals waiting by our door. Change of clothes. Water. Flashlights. Box of Vanilla Wafers. We’re set. [Update: Evacuation line getting closer. Not good, because I've already munched pretty heavily on some of our evacuation supply food, which we had to buy at a drug store so it's all canned peanuts, and dried fruit, and Wheat Thins, and how am I supposed to stay cooped up inside this place for two days without at least nibbling on our Emergency Vanilla Wafers?]
When the end of the world comes, it’s hard to imagine that it won’t look, feel, and smell just like this.
![John Shore on The Huffington Post](http://johnshore.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/huffpost.jpg?w=120 "John Shore on The Huffington Post\")
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Wow, what a bummer! I’m sorry you all are having to experience such a dramatic thing as those fires in your area. In substance, anyway, it reminds me of when the Lord sees bad habits and attitudes “eating” up our soul, that he comes to the rescue with his words to help us see and understand – so we might get changed to a new mindset. New growth in understanding comes forth as the “water” of the word enriches our very being. Just a little anecdote but I sure am sad to hear of your fires down there. May the God of peace preserve you all and show those who have lost alot, a way to come up and go forth in peace of mind and encouragement. Amen
Yeah, this fire is (obviously) exceptional. Just about everyone we know has been evacuated from their home; and everyone who hasn’t been is definitely packed, and waiting. I don’t think we’re going to have to evacuate–and if we DO, the evacuation center they’ll use is, like, right across the street from our house.
So we’ll just, like, sleep overnight here at our house, and then go to the evacuation center in the mornings. And then come back to our house for lunch…
Meanwhile, I’ve got this BOOK I’m working on that’s due in a month. Yikes! NOBODY in San Diego (including moi) is sleeping, because you’re worried, and you’re trying to stay in touch with local friends, and you have to close all your windows and doors and its so hot you feel like you’re stuffed into an oven–none of which, for me, is conducive (condusive?) to work.
On the plus side, Cat (wife) is home from work for second day. But she stay busy tracking her employees: who’s been evacuated, whose house is threatened, etc.
Anyway. It’s a trip. As usual in any situation like this, we’re all, again, struck by the quality of character constantly being evinced by firefighters. Those men and women are incredible.
You certainly maintain a sense of humor as raging fires close in on you! I dropped by your site one other time when you were writing to and conversing amiably and respectfully with atheists. I appreciated your thoughts, attitude and style.
So when I saw you on the WordPress Dashboard, I clicked over to see what's happening and get your perspective on being trapped.
I wish I could share my graham crackers and M&Ms with you and your family. If you can worm your way out of town and about 2 days' nonstop drive across country, you're welcome here in the Midwest. Can't say you won't have to deal with a tornado after you get here, however….
Hi John! My own “Hunky Hubby” and I, as well as my parents and friends, live here in Santa Clarita. I had the same scary musing yesterday (Monday)… this looks like the end of the world. I’ve lived here for almost 24 years, and I can’t remember such terror in people. We were unsettled by the Malibu fires in ’93, disoriented by the earthquake in ’94, and tense and irritated by the fires in ’03 (although my students weren’t so irritated, with 2 free days of no school). But these raging fires seem different… they’re encroaching upon every community in the Santa Clarita Valley. I wondered last night where Santa Claritans are going to evacuate to, if it comes to the point where we can’t just “evacuate” to another part of the City (I heard of family friends yesterday who evacuated their neighborhood only to return later with the family members to whose home they fled, because that “safe” place was surrounded by fire). And I feel like that passage from Romans 8:26 ~ I don’t know “how to pray as I ought.”
If there are prayer warriors out there, please pray for us… I can’t even explain how. I guess at this point, my prayer request is that no more lives are lost (I think we’ve had 1 fatality statewide so far), and that God’s glory and mercy are revealed in this tragedy. Also, that those of us whose homes are spared will open our homes and our hearts in a way we never have before. Thank you for your intercessions. God bless you.
Hey, John! I used to live in San Clemente and in Upland, so I understand the devastating effects fire can have…I told my husband that the last time I remember fires being that bad (and these new ones are probably much worse) was in 2003. My parent’s house was two blocks away from other homes that were being evacuated…I had just had my baby girl, and I loaded my trunk up to within an inch of its ability just in case we had to evacuate, too. I have to say that though wildfires aren’t pleasant, they make some pretty spectacular scenes, don’t they? The sun is the most eerie…makes me think of the last days.
I know of the Santa Ana winds… I grew up in Orange County (ironically, where the city of Santa Ana is), and know the kind of havoc they can cause when it is especially dry. No campfires, no cookouts, and don't even think of smoking! Half the fires that are caused in California are from people who throw cigarette butts out their car window and they land or are windblown into dry areas.
I hope that if you have to evacuate, that your home is spared. I can't imagine living minute to minute, waiting for the call to get out. Where I lived in Orange County was never in any danger of fires the 20 or so years I lived there. There's always a first time…
(ps: I live in Oklahoma where we have to be on the look out for tornadoes every spring).
I have many friends in San Diego. You’re all in my prayers.
I hope these winds die down really soon. My dad lives in SD and he was evacuated yesterday. The weather has to improve soon. I'm worried about all the firefighters too. I hope everyone is ok.
John,
May God cause His abundant showers of mercy to fall on you all down there in San Diego. I pray that you and your loved ones are safe and spared from the devastation tied to this horrible rage.
Please be safe and keep us posted about further developments as they unfold.
The positive thing is they are using lessons learned from the Cedar Fire. The reverse 911 has been a good tool in getting people out of areas in danger safely.
Have a friend who lost her house in the Cedar fire who got evacuated from Harbison Canyon yesterday & then evacuated from her daughter's house in Spring Valley at 3 am today due to the fires. (so far their houses are OK.)
Keeping everyone in our prayers. Hopefully no one that lost their houses in the Cedar fire have lost their houses in this year's firestorms. (today is the 4th anniversary of the Cedar fire).
God will take care of very one. And just get out of there move some place safe. Things are not important, only human lives, take your pets, with you and get out. you can always replace, things but not human lives, or your pets.
Let the fire fighters handle it, they know what they are doing.
A home can be replaced, cars, but as I said not a human life, nor your animals.
Definitely conducive. I guess not exactly like conductive, and not at all like caboosive, which is a word I made up…
John,
My heart goes out to all of you there. You are in our prayers.
In case you're reading this comment chain: With comment #18, just above, we're at Tuesday morning. Everything above that was written throughout the day yesterday.
Thanks, all. Some crazy stuff happening out here. This morning, it might have been a stretch to say San Diego is on fire; tonight, there is virtually no other way to say it. A quarter of a million people forced from their homes! It’s insane.
John – Hunky Hubby and I will be keeping you guys in prayer… Stay safe… and remember, stuff can be replaced… people can’t.
Unlike one of the other comments on here, I want to say that the title “San Diego Is On Fire” is very accurate. This is worse than the Cedar fire. With the recent cuts in the city’s resources, along with the natural forces that are fanning these flames, this is going to get worse before it gets better. John Shore, you have it right-on. Thank you for sharing this.
Here’s the lead from a fresh AP story:
SAN DIEGO – Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds forced the evacuations of nearly 250,000 people Monday in San Diego County, including hundreds who were being moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes.
More than a dozen wildfires had engulfed Southern California, killing at least one person, injuring dozens more and threatening scores of structures.
The fires have burned about 100,000 acres in San Diego County, said county Supervisor Ron Roberts. “This is a major emergency,” he said.
[BEN: Wow. Our prayers to your family. Please keep us up with what happens with your house.]
Blessings to you all during this dangerous time.
Yeah, it’s all about the winds.
Here’s a fresh quote from the San Diego Union-Tribune: “The fires ravaging San Diego County are expected to get much worse before they get better. ‘This fire will probably be the worst this county has ever seen – worse than the Cedar fire,’ Sheriff Bill Kolender said.”
I was there in the 2003 fires and experienced the ash falling from the sky and the red ball that is the sun in the sky and school closure. I'm in Seattle now, only wish we could blow some of our rain clouds your way. I hope those winds die down abit. Good luck & stay safe.
I'm in Rancho Penasquitos, not much visible ash on things yet but you can smell it even with the windows closed. Lucky I'm far enough away to not need to be evacuated but families literally only a mile away across the 56 have been ordered to move. Stay safe everyone, get everything together as soon as you can; family albums, documents, valuables. Prepare for the worse and get out as soon as you've been told to.
I'm up at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo as a Freshmen, but I'm from Rancho Bernardo. My family called me to let me know that they had evacuated at around 6am this morning. Chances don't look good for us, the fire was 2 miles to the east of our house and a little under a mile north.
All I wanted to say is good luck to everyone down there.
I live in Santee and work at MCAS Miramar. Too dark to see anything when I left for work this morning (0545) but could smell (faintly) the smoke from "somewhere."
I don't think it's as bad as the last major fires we had, but it hasn't had as much time to get really going yet either.
Been in and out our building quite a bit this morning and the smell is stronger here than at home but still no ash or anything like last time.
As far as "San Diego is on Fire" I think that's a bt extreme. Gives a false impression especially for family/friends out of the state and loads the phone lines with some unecessary worried calls; especially if we're supposed to keep the lines free.
We do have some activities that are limited and some offices are closed but many (like mine) are still business as usual.
Not to say that there aren't some areas that are truely on fire but I'm not one of them (Knock on wood.)
Good luck to all.
I think the winds are the major contributor of your local conditions. Sometimes it's darker than at other times
I'm in Carlsbad, no ash yet but the sky…wow. I got up late cause when I first woke I thought it was sunrise due to the color of the sun in the windows…crazyness. That wind last night was no joke either. Stay safe all.
I know what you mean. I'm north of you in Chino Hills. I lost a 40-foot tree last night from the 60 mph wind gusts. Thankfully, the tree landed in the street and not on my house.
Yeah, we've all been wondering when/if they're going to start evacuating the animals at the Wild Animal Park. Awful.
yeah im in Vista, north county san diego and the wild animal park some miles away is in danger of a fire… i just went outside right now cuz the power went out briefly and saw a cloud of black brown smoke coming my way. Its crazy, the other bad fire we had back in what was it 2003 i believe, i was living in the south bay. Couldnt even go to work today at rancho bernardo.
Yeah, my wife's a photographer, and she keeps going, "This is so awful! But it's so great!"
Isn't it weird, how dark it is, at 9:50 in the morning?
Yeah, I'm up northeast a little (Santee/El Cajon area), and while it's not quite snowing ash yet, the sky is that kind of weird color that make you feel just… odd. It's great lighting to photograph in, but other than that… just, weird looking.
Keep upwind…! And stay safe.
-Raeliyah
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