UPDATE: How you can help!
It seems like just yesterday I was writing a petty little post about things in my own world. Things have changed just a bit today. San Diego is on fire. Not all of it, but a good portion. I am more than a little worried. So far we are okay. In fact we are really close to an evacuation center, so as far as location I think we are in a pretty good place. For now. The scary thing is that so much is dependent on the winds. The path of the fire can change at any time. That said, how about a formal update on things here? First, the news:
Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds consumed huge swaths of bone-dry Southern California on Monday, burning buildings and forcing more than 265,000 evacuations from Malibu to San Diego, including a jail, a hospital and nursing homes.
More than a dozen wildfires engulfed the region, killing at least one person, injuring dozens more and threatening scores of structures. Overwhelmed firefighters said they lacked the resources to save all the threatened homes.
More than 250,000 people were forced to flee in San Diego County alone, where hundreds of patients were moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes.
“It was nuclear winter. It was like Armageddon. It looked like the end of the world,” Mitch Mendler, a San Diego firefighter, said as he and his crew stopped at a shopping center parking lot to refill their water truck from a hydrant near a restaurant.
“I lost count,” he said when asked how many homes had burned.
The blazes in San Diego County and elsewhere erupted one after another over the weekend, each pushed across dry, drought-starved terrain by hellish winds that gusted over 100 mph.
Things got worse Monday, when several new fires sprouted and other fires merged, burning nearly 200,000 acres - or more than 310 square miles. Full Story
I woke up for a normal Monday that turned out to be not so normal. Of course I didn’t realize till I got on the road. You see, I had missed most of the news last night. I don’t do TV or radio when I get ready for work. So when I got into the car and my normal morning radio program was 100 percent news I was a bit surprised. Then when there were next to no people on the road I was kinda freaked out. Once I got to work I could smell the smoke in the air. In fact after about an hour we had to shut down the AC because it was sucking the smoke into the building. I caught the news on and off all day in the break room. I was mildly stressed and had a pit in my stomach for most of the day. One of our stores was in an evacuation area. Many associates lived in areas that were affected and couldn’t come to work. No one was out shopping. I can’t believe we were open for business… Near the end of my shift the actual town my store is in caught fire. It was the other side of town, but still. When I left the building to go home the sky was dark towards the east. Ash was falling all around. The drive home with no traffic was surreal. I called my family to let them know I was okay. I should have earlier. I feel bad about that. One of my friends from up north tracked down my work location after a few calls to see if I was okay.
I really need to put out a memo. Sorry folks. Been kinda weird here, so my head isn’t right.
I think tomorrow I want to bring some supplies to the shelter. It’s close, so should be easy to do…
tagged: san diego firestorm 2007 fire witch fire
