Took some interesting photos last night ...
... and today we transported food to the stadium for the refugees. In the last
24 hours I've met so many heros I can't list them all - or relate all their stories.
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Very bizarre,.........a lot of the SE is dying from drought, but here in my neck of the woods, we have had a ton of rain recently.
Some counties just south, and north of here, are in drought conditions,.......not complaining mind you, just very weird.0 -
quote:Marc1301:
Just saw a story of one of the reporters standing in front of his own totally destroyed home that he had lived in for about 25 years.
Very sad situation.
Yeah - that was Larry Himmel - he's a terrific guy in these parts - a good man. He's got that
attitude that refuses to admit defeat and he'll rebuild on the same spot and start all over again -
I hand it to him (them) - we've got countless gutsey Westerners here who just refuse to quit.
If you are interested in the up to the minute details of what's going on in San Diego County
... go to:
http://www.sdcountyemergency.com/0 -
Zip.....Thanks for that link. Just a note...I just talked to a friend in Yuma, AZ. He said that the motels in Yuma are all filled with people. A lot that have evacuated from the fires and that I-8 leading away from San Diego is practically bumper to bumper coming into Yuma. Yuma is approximatly 185 east of San Diego.....
rider0 -
There are a lot of highway closures, especially in the mountains East of us, where the fires are - some probably couldn't go West as easily as they could go East. The availability of motels to the East would be better than those in the West. 0 -
prayers sent zip[V] 0 -
Prayer sent. 0 -
Great that you've been helping out as you can Zip.
I'm curious though and maybe there's no answer to my query.
If you were taking pictures on Sunday night of a situation that was already clearly out of control, why did the call for help from out of state not come until yesterday at 4:30 p.m.?
By the time our local firefighters can prepare and make it to the scene with their equipment, the damage will have at least doubled!
Seems to me the call for help should have come days earlier.
Much suffering may have been avoided ,,,,,,,,,, or maybe not.0 -
quote:stanman:
Great that you've been helping out as you can Zip.
I'm curious though and maybe there's no answer to my query.
If you were taking pictures on Sunday night of a situation that was already clearly out of control, why did the call for help from out of state not come until yesterday at 4:30 p.m.?
By the time our local firefighters can prepare and make it to the scene with their equipment, the damage will have at least doubled!
Seems to me the call for help should have come days earlier.
Much suffering may have been avoided ,,,,,,,,,, or maybe not.
I don't know what the state's timeline was for "calling for help" - My friends called us from just West of Witch Creek/East of Ramona - up on Sawdee property to help snatch some horses out of the way of the firestorm that was canyon jumping faster than a person can run and we raced up there before the roads were closed to us. I was a younger guy in 1970 when the first of the monster fires started at Crouch Meadows - near Pine Valley and I spent two days helping the (now) CDF hauling and loading hose ... and mainly fleeing before that fire, too ... all the way down to Alpine before throwing in the towel! The Santa Anna finally died down and it pretty much stopped of it's own accord.
If you've never seen one of these you'll never know what monsters they are.
Anyway, I drove truck and trailer the other night and I think that'll be my last firestorm adventure, for a while. We caught some Hell from a CHP roadblock on the way back and from Gale when I got home - I made the mistake of showing he all of my photos. [B)]
We've accepted a number of air tankers (C-130s) and the BIG question today is, "Why haven't the big airtankers been up and flying?" THAT is a question asked by many - answered by nobody. We did have the chopper buckets and a coupe of 'Mosquito Choppers' but without the tankers it's been kinda ridiculous.
The really dangerous part is just beginning - the Santa Anna is slowing down and the winds are getting really squirmy - instead of pushing the fire due West all day long, now
it's allowing the fires to burn back on themselves .... which means that they are able to go in any direction. That's very, very bad. Julian - to the East of Witch Creek (three miles from Santa Ysabel) - has been evacuated and it looks like it's going to be a fight to the death for Julian. The 2003 Ceder Fire ALMOST got Julian - it was only saved by one lone bucket chopper - it was a white knuckle afternoon watching that little chopper stop the fire from coming over the Southern Ridge overlooking Julian. Julian's a quaint gold mining town kept pretty much like it was in the 1870's. it's a local historic jewel.
I ramble - suffices to say, I don't know why the CDF does what it does. I'm sure they'll be another investigation after the smokes goes away. The heroic men and women who have fought these fires have been totally unbelievable!0 -
quote:the BIG question today is, "Why haven't the big airtankers been up and flying?" THAT is a question asked by many - answered by nobody.
Our local media has reported that the tankers weren't flying because of the high winds.
Who knows?0 -
quote:quote:
the BIG question today is, "Why haven't the big airtankers been up and flying?" THAT is a question asked by many - answered by nobody.
Our local media has reported that the tankers weren't flying because of the high winds.
Who knows?
They say it is the wind, but also the fact that tere are 40 tankers and 20 fires. There is just not enough equipment to go around. I'm currently under a volentary evacuation due to the progress of the running springs fire. I spoke to the fire marshall in my town today about the fight we might have tomorrow and I asked about air support. She just bowed her head and said we don't have any, we have a tanker base here in town but all of the planes are diverted to other fires. I guess we'll just have to fight this one the old fansioned way[V]0 -
quote:stanman:
quote:
the BIG question today is, "Why haven't the big airtankers been up and flying?" THAT is a question asked by many - answered by nobody.
Our local media has reported that the tankers weren't flying because of the high winds.
Who knows?
There were MANY fires/parts of main fires with NO HIGH WINDS - the bucket choppers
and mosquito choppers were doing just fine ... all day long!
BULL!
[8D]0 -
Be careful! Ifn you get to close to that fire you will get your zipper zapped![:D][:D] 0 -
The wife's home now - full time - for the rest of the week - all school districts are
closed in San Diego County (she's a teacher) - I think I've been effectively grounded,
now. It was certainly exciting while it lasted!
The Zipper has been zapped!
[:D]0
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