Tuesday Evening Update

Despite the rapid spread of fire that we saw all over San Diego county today, Nick and I are still very safe and at no risk from the existing fires. I've been glued to the TV all day, watching our local networks' 24-hour coverage of the fires. Given the heavy smoke, the ability of CalFire to assess the movement of the fire has been limited to reports from people on the ground: aerial visual assessment has been minimal. A good source of up-to-date information was actually local talk radio programs, where Average Joes have been calling in to give updates about the fire danger/damage in evacuated areas as well as dispelling rumors that unfortunately were propagated by the local TV news outlets. Not that I fault them - the anchors are having updates thrust into their hands, and in trying to field and address the pleas for information from desperate callers inundating the news stations, unconfirmed information gets on the air and is then interpreted as fact. Thankfully, most of the mistakes have erred on the side of caution.

Here is an updated map (the drag-around-the-screen kind again) of the fires. I recommend clicking on the blue link at the bottom to see a larger version so that you can see more detail. Nick and I live within the triangle formed by I-8 to the South, Rte163 to the West, and I-805 to the East. As you can see, we're out of harm's way!

View Larger Map

The Witch Creek Fire (Witch Fire) moved into Rancho Santa Fe and burned somewhere around 40 homes, but the fire crews seem to have made a stand as there has been no appreciable advance in the last 4 hours.

The Harris Fire has split into two fingers: one heading due West, wrapping around the Otay Lakes and being fueled by still intense Santa Anas, and the other finger is heading North, causing evacuation of Spring Valley and parts of Chula Vista. This finger is also pushing forward and the total evacuations in San Diego county are over 500,000 and climbing. The fire climbed over Mt San Miguel in the early hours of the morning, at a time when the aircraft were grounded (they can't safely fly in the dark) but would have been most useful against the fire, given that the ground crews are (rightfully) focused on saving structures and not fighting the brush fires.

This is a picture of the fire coming over Mt San Miguel last night/early this morning:

A fire that started on the La Jolla Indian Reservation (near Palomar Mountain, not anywhere near La Jolla itself) had, as of noon today, burned 3,000 acres. This has increased to over 23,000 by 5 pm today, and the changing winds have actually pushed the front edge of the fire to the East toward Palomar Mountain, which is now burning. (Ed note: This fire is called the Poomacha Fire, and it is now within 1 mile of the Witch Fire. They are expected to merge overnight ... apparently, when they are that close to one another the heat from each draws them toward the other.)

Somehow, the death toll has remained very low. The man who died in the Harris fire in the early stages was identified as a rancher from Tecate. 4 others have died as a result of evacuations: all were elderly and died from medical complications or, in one case, an accidental fall. And the amazing thing, told over and over on the TV news and radio, is the fact that in evacuation centers all over the county, spirits are high and there is a very strong sense of community. This may have something to do with the fact that almost every shelter has facilities to take care of peoples' animals, allowing the evacuees to be there with their entire family, 2- or 4-legged as they may be. Believe it or not, there are actually more people out there wanting to help and volunteer than there are places for them to fill ... shelters are asking people who want to help to bring things like personal hygeine products or are asking companies to donate pet food, cots and pillows, etc. And the needs are being met just as soon as the word gets out. I dare say that right now, I'm pretty proud to be a San Diegan.

Nick and I continue to have unreasonably good air quality at our place. Looking out from USD, the university just up the street from us, on a clear day we can see all of downtown (all the way down to Tijuana, basically) to the South, Point Loma to the West, and La Jolla to the Northwest. Today, when we looked straight up or directly West, we saw blue sky. To the South, the buildings of downtown were all completely obscured by smoke. La Jolla and Mount Soledad to the North were not visible either. Walking outside, we cannot smell smoke or sense any particulates in the air ... we are so so so so lucky and we know it! All it takes is a shift in the wind for that all to change, so we're definitely not taking it for granted. The wind is predicted to shift to more of an on-shore (West to East) flow in the next day or so, which will be very helpful for the firefighters and will help bring some humidity and lower temperatures. Fingers crossed.

Thank you all so much for your phone calls and emails. A note on the satellite photo from the last post: the four small fires that are East of Malibu are actually burning up at Lake Arrowhead, and thankfully today they got much of the air support that they dearly needed. Less than 100 homes have burned so far up there, but because the area is hard to reach by road, thousands upon thousands of homes are at risk up there. Also, the Santa Clarita fires (I found out today that it's four distinct fires that are in danger of merging), though they are not making the news, are highly dangerous and have threatened and burned many many structures. One of Nick's college roommates has a house right in the middle of the burn zone, and we've not been able to get in touch with him, so we're keeping him in our thoughts and hoping they have evacuated safely.