S. CA fires

[sandy]

Hello S. Ca,
How is everyone?

I've packed and I think we're just about ready to evacuate. We're in Scripps Ranch smack in the middle of fires all around us except from the west...at this point. I hear on the news they're expecting the fires to eventually go all the way to the coast.

We still have had no air support fighting the fires because the Santa Anna's are blowing too much. Super low humidities, the winds, and super high temps (uppper 90's/low 100's) are expected through Wednesday. This is crazy.

We evacuated and lived through the Cedar Fire here in '03 and until then, that was the worst we had ever seen here. This one is worse because we have 8 fires nearby (7 now as two have merged) and the winds are worse this time around.

I hope everyone stays safe.

[kara]

Thinking about all you SoCal folks. A friend of mine was evacuated today. Houses on each end of his street were on fire, and it was a mandatory evac. They packed the SUV and were able to reserve a hotel room in Burbank. Hope you all are safe and sound.

Kara

[julie f]

Oh my gosh Sandy!

I'm my inlaws right now (central CA) but Andy is home and says it's awful. I have to turn on the news right now, I had only heard about the Malibu and Ventura County fires.

You have my numbers right, I'll email you again.

[caryn]

Sandy, I'm thinking about you all.

The Rodeo-Chedeski fire here in AZ was the summer before Oscar was born, and I remember how scary it all is.

I'm hoping everyone stays safe. We need a wet winter, but I'm doubtful we'll get one.

[mommy1st]

My Aunt and Cousins live in Rancho Bernardo and they were evacuated from their house this morning and are staying in Mira Mesa and think they might be able to get back to their house in a couple of days. So far it looks like thier house hadn't caught fire but who knows, this is REALLY bad!

You all are in my prayers and thoughts! Stay safe everyone!!

[annegarrett]

Keep safe. We're all thinking of you. Email me if there is anything I can do.

[sarab]

Sandy and others,

I'm thinking of you guys and keeping you in my prayers. What a terrifying thing - I can't even imagine.

[Dawn D]

caught this post, and wanted to say that I am thinking of everyone too and hoping that you all remain safe! I'm sure it is so frightening...!

[sandy]

Thank you for the thoughts, everyone. I'm waiting to hear about our Scripps Ranch area home. The area was devastated by the Cedar fire back in 2003; families lost about 350 homes then, I believe. We were lucky that time. I have hope we'll be lucky again this time around.

We were forced to evacuate around 2:30pm yesterday with a "reverse 9-1-1" call to our home, and headed to Qualcomm Stadium for an hour or two until we could figure out where to stay the night. I'm staying in touch with friends via e-mail...one of which is a surrogate for another friend and is about to deliver their twins at any moment. She had to evacuate her home at 4am yesterday with her little ones and husband (I had just brought them dinner hours before as she is nearing the end of the pregnancy and with her own little ones, was getting exhausted); I see one home on her street has burned so far. She's had picture-perfect pregnancies so is having these twins for a friend...it's a long story, but I'm just amazed at how well pregnancies can go from watching her.

We ended up last night at the home of a very nice person who opened it to us. Today we'll be looking for things to do for the girls because they need to play and trying to stay indoors because the air quality is really poor :).

Yesterday at Qualcomm on my cell-phone I had a AAA travel agent call around for us...there were NO hotel rooms available in SD County. A playgroup friend of mine has an aunt who works the front desk at a hotel around here...she received a cancellation and held it for me to call in...so we'll be at a hotel tonight and tomorrow night. :) My mom has been visiting from out of town and she's been an amazing help through all of this. We almost stayed in another friend's family church which was being opened up for evacuees, so that is an option if we need to stay away longer than the 2 nights I have lined up for the hotel.

So we're safe. And I got the most important things from our home. So far I hear from the news our home is still safe. (Among the things I grabbed was my blue PF wristband from the '07 WAT here in May. I've been wearing it since we left home.)

I hear Katie Couric will be broadcasting from Qualcomm Stadium sometime today.

Take care, everyone.

[josiah1112]

How awful!I'm thinking of you all...I hope your homes will be okay.