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 ...
Oh yes Jackie...Heard the almost the same, not to let up until Tuesday late, maybe Wednesday.
I know... I picked that out of a bunch of dispatches that Fitzcarraldo posted on the other “live” thread for these fires.
I was just noting to myself this week how unusually warm — and dry -— it has been this Fall thus far, like summer never ended .... huge contributing factor.
When I was there in Aug., I was told about the drought conditions....I remembered thinking fires weren’t too far away...I didn’t imagine they’d be this bad, though.
So sad about loss of lives (I wonder if they died because they were trying to save their homes). People need to remember that their lives can never be replaced, no matter how devastating it may be to truly lose everything, it’s still only “stuff”.
Yeah, the ground DOES hold water, but after a summer like this, the topsoil gets all dried out to the same degree, no matter what witner was like. Where I lived, we had sandy soil with more clay as you went down two feet or more. That clay would stay damp year ‘round, but the topsoil was always bone dry in the summer. It didne’ help the grass any, that’s for sure; it always died and got cracklin’ dry by mid/late September.
You do make a great point about he manzanita, though. Brush gets a fire going, but it gets consumed so quickly that any fire that had to rely on just grass for fuel would be over and done, pretty fast. High winds would make it really hot, and thick/tall grass would make the flame front thicker, but it wouldn’t linger after the flame front had passed by; essentially you’d have the classic prarie fire scenario. It’d still be a thing to be feared, but your focus would be on the flame front, itself.
Now, you take that and add in all the high chapparal that’s characteristic of the southern Californian back country; now you’ve got fuel that gets started by the passing of the flame front, but keeps burning for quite awhile afterward. That thick, tangly vegetation may slow down the advance of a fire, but it also perpertuates the longevity of a fire.
Where I’m pretty sure you’re dead-on about the drought is in regard to the larger vegetation. Given the semi-arid climate of the region, most of that vegetation is of a type that thrives on low amounts of water, but drought conditions just make it all the more dry, and anything that dies off for lack of water just turns into standing fuel.
Depending on how much die-off there has been because of the lack of rain...that might very easily offset the reduced amount of dead grass available, especially if there were two or more dry years in a row.
Please take care - is your home in danger? Prayers up!
Arguin’??
Nnnooo, I’m not in “argue” mode; just enjoying a thoughtful discussion of how things go in the course of a blaze, and how that is made better or worse by rainfall and vegetation conditions.
I’m sorry if you felt I was being argumentative; I didn’t mean to come across that way at all. Forgive me if I get a bit evangelistic about my viewpoints, but I wasn’t trying to say “I’m totally right and you’re totally wrong”, or anything like that.
I like ya and I don’t wannt be on yer “poop” list.
#664 - OY VEY...:)
Nic, we did see a post from a FReeper earlier who knows the first man who died in the fires. He had evacuated, then... for some unknown reason... turned back to his home.
NO BACKFIRES UNTIL THE WIND SLOWS DOWN !
Hopefully tomorrow evening or Wednesday.
aw....crap.
A San Diego Police Department spokeswoman said Monday night that the evacuation order has been expanded to include the areas west of Interstate 5, including Solana Beach, Del Mar and Torrey Pines.
I saw the results of the Oakland Hills fire in 1991. Nothing left but gray ash, stone fireplaces, and car hulks with melted glass. The idea that the same thing might happen to these beautiful towns is just sickening.
I don't think television can adequately capture the horror of what is happening.
lol
The acreage consumed...so bad; then when winter comes, they’ll be getting mudslides galore....the homes that were/are saved now, I wonder how many will be gone or foundations ruined from mudslides....
~~~
That’s just what will happen,,,never fails...
Yeah, but they’re calling for a dry winter, if that means anything.
I just called my step-mother (who lives in CO) and asked her to call my cousins (I have 4 that live in the fire area)...don’t have their phone numbers.....I’m crossing my fingers that none of them are near the fires.
She’ll be calling me back shortly.
I was just noting to myself this week how unusually warm — and dry -— it has been this Fall thus far, like summer never ended .... huge contributing factor.
~~~
When I lived in Escondido I would start sneezin’ two days
before the wind started,,,every time...
I’m inclined to think of it as righteous anger and I certainly equate it with murder.
I’m also just keenly aware that intense anger of any kind is easy to label as righteous.
We must be sure we are on the side of the righteous in all our doings if we want God’s blessings and support in our efforts and about our persons.
Thanks.
Yeah, but they’re calling for a dry winter, if that means anything.
~~~
Sounds like more damn fires...
If there’s anything left to burn...:0/
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