Posted on 10/22/2007 8:06:14 AM PDT by Sleeping Freeper
SAN DIEGO -- With fire spreading quickly westward, San Diego County officials ordered the evacuation of a huge area east of Interstate 15 between Del Dios Highway and Highway 56 early Mon"This is the worst fire this county has ever seen -- worse than the Cedar Fire [of 2003]," Sheriff Bill Kolender said.
At a news conference shortly after 6 a.m., officials said fires had spread dramatically overnight, whipped by fierce Santa Ana winds. They said fire had jumped Interstate 15 at Lake Hodges and was burning in parts of Rancho Bernardo. Because of the explosive and unpredictable nature of the blazes, all residents living between Interstate 15 and Interstate 5 from Del Dios Highway in the north to Highway 56 in the south were told to begin evacuating.
"This fire is moving very quickly," San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said. "Watch TV, listen to the radio and have your car prepared to leave."
Among the communities in the evacuation area are Rancho Sante Fe, Carmel Highlands, Rancho Bernardo, Del Mar Heights and Fairbanks Ranch and parts of Rancho Penasquitos.
Officials have opened Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley to handle the large number of evacuees.
Sanders asked everyone in San Diego County to minimize the use of cell phones to leave the airways free for the use of emergency personnel.day.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcsandiego.com ...
God... tears spring to my eyes, and prayers to my lips...
I’m watching the FOX 11 online feed, the field reporter sounds like she’s about to lose it. Poor girl...
Well above. That's like cat-3.
See #440
The word oughta go out that we'll just hafta cut down some old-growth forests to rebuild....
Here’s a new thread for those wishing to discuss
potential lessons of the fires . . . etc. . . .
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914787/posts
It’s not a thread for hair-brained off the wall comments but for truly constructive efforts to learn from the fires as a devastating disaster toward preventing and/or minimizing such future hazards
AS WELL AS
what can FREEPERS DO BETTER next time in such situations . . . particularly without needlessly horrendously exhausting our beloved individuals and their resources.
A Cat2 Fire Hurricane that lasts for three days. Think I would rather have El Nino and wet Hurricanes in the Gulf.
San Bernardino County Supervisor Dennis Hansberger, in a televised interview, said he would not disagree with reports from a TV helicopter reporter that more than 70 homes had burned in the Grass Valley area west of Lake Arrowhead.
"I wouldn’t dispute that number, and there are a large number of homes still in the path of the fire," he told KABC-TV.
Helicopter views of the Grass Valley neighborhood showed numerous homes burned to the ground. More could be seen fully involved in flames.
Hansberger said his tour of the area this morning showed that efforts over recent years to reduce brush around homes had helped firefighters protect some homes, especially in the Deer Lodge park area north of Lake Arrowhead.
The worst devastation appears to be along Brentwood, which winds along the edge of the Lake Arrowhead Country Club.
Hansberger said the flames ran into the neighborhood along the Grass Valley Creek drainage, which runs into the middle of the community en route to the small Grass Valley Lake.
--The Press-Enterprise
Having never lived through either a hurricane or a firestorm, I couldn’t tell you.
And, God willing, I hopefully will never, ever find out.
Prayers up for all those in this dire situation.
Lord, please send down your cleansing healing rains upon the state of California. Amen.
Stay safe, sleeping FReeper!
Nope, Fallbrook has its very own fire. The San Marcos fire is south of town.
This isn’t good...Scripps Ranch evacuations...they got belted in 2003. More folks on their way to the Sofa household... this thing is moving on 2 fronts..
~~~
That sure ain’t good,,,
Watch that wind,,,
Wondered about that . . .
It would be possible to . . . set fires . . . with . . . accomplices positioned to take advantage of such . . . without too much trouble.
We must have close to 1/2 million now under evacuation just in San Diego County.
TANKS,,,lookin’...
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