23.10.07

Fires...





All of the pictures are of the huge smoke cloud that is San Diego taken from my backyard as I write this...

We're all safe here in Menifee, which is one hour drive from all of the fires. I'm in my backyard and I can see huge smoke from two fires in the south (most likely San Diego and Fallbrook and San Marcos) and then to the north of me another very large smoke cloud that must be the northern fires. Fortunately where I sit in Menifee is in the basin of a ring of rocky mountains (very few trees if any). Those mountains block all of the fires from us. So in order for the fires to reach us they would have to climb over the rock and stone mountains and since we were originally a desert here in the valley and again there are few trees anyways even if some fire did get in here.But then again you never know...

Up until two years ago I did live in San Diego and just got word that my area Mira Mesa where we used to live just got evacuated. Our real estate broker who still lives there said the air quality was real bad and the skies very dark. She says the airport is still open and so they might fly out to relatives out of state. And now we hear that the big Marine base got evacuated.

Unfortunately for my parents they left for San Diego to visit my grandmother the day before the fires and are stuck there since the main freeway connecting us to them has been closed from the beginning. Fortunately they are staying with my mom's sister at her house south west of San Diego very near the coast. An area full of ranches so the area is fairly cleared of trees so they are safe...

When I started this post the smoke clouds seemed to be flattening out but now I look out again and all of the huge clouds, especially the one coming from San Diego is now larger again and higher meaning renew fire activity there...6:13PM Oct 23, '07

It's just weird hearing on the radio or on tv or online one by one as each city of San Diego gets closed and evacuated...and they say this will go on til a minimum of thursday...let us all pray for the best outcome possible...Whilce...

2 comments:

COMIKXGUY said...

hi whilce,

THIS COMES FROM THE GELATOMETTI (JIM LEE AND FRIENDS) BLOG WHERE RICH FRIEND POSTED ABOUT THE SD FIRES:

I THINK IT WAS IMPORTANT TO POST HERE AS WELL

VERY SORRY FOR THE VERY LONG POST

(entry ricH)

It's been a rough couple of days here in San Diego and today is really going to dictate how a lot of this whole wildfire thing is going to play out.

For many people's homes today is going to be the make or break as the fires move west.

About 4 years ago we had a fire that they say was smaller than this and it was the worst thing I'd ever been through in terms of a natural disaster.

Smoke slowly filled my house as ash rained down everywhere, it was dark at about 2 PM, my carbon monoxide detectors started going off (which really freaked me out because where the hell was I going to go, it was even worse outside)...and then the power went out.

It was just this weird silence as you tried to figure out what to do next.

They can't even really fight the fire at this point.

The weather conditions are too extreme.

The winds have really kicked up in the last hour which is bad news.

The fire fighters basically have to wait until it threatens enough homes and then they make a 'last stand' to try and save as many homes as they can, then they move on to a new neighborhood.

1,250 homes have been lost already.

I know several Wildstormers have been evacuated from their homes, and many other friends and families have been or are being affected by this as well.

They are saying all total right now 513,000 people(as of 2:30 PM) have been evacuated from their homes in San Diego county.

So please keep everyone in San Diego in your thoughts.

Especially all the fire fighters, military and police trying to help with saving peoples homes and their lives.

ricH.

COMIKXGUY said...
wow

hey rich,
if any of your wildstormers get caught in it, you have a roof over your heads in yuma if you want it

3 hours away

my thoughts deffinately go out to san diego right now since i no longer live there, its now been 2 -3 months here

here's to you all :)


Richard said...

I was wondering if you did end up moving.

Chula Vista has been evacuated since last night.

That's just so crazy.

There are SO many people who live down there that I know.

I hope everyones houses make it through.

They have been able to use the drop helicopters today which is pretty huge.

I haven't been able to see much news today so it's been hard to keep up with everything.

Good call on Yuma maybe now./..right?

ricH.

SedatOezgen said...

man,
while watching the news and seeing this i thought about you guys and what a wonderfulplace SD is and that it hopefully wont burn down!

I hope all you guys are safe and that the fires wont come to close so that any further people get hurt or their houses burnt down!

I hope everyone will be able to get back to their places soon.

this is really sad:(

All the best wishes,
Sedat

Ashigaru said...

May God be with all of you.

I'm in Mira Mesa, sitting with a lot of important papers and stuff ready to go in case they call an evac.

Scripps Ranch was evac'd yesterday, right across the I-15 from me.

COMIKXGUY said...

it looks like i got out just in time :\

yep rich, its different out here in yuma but its not too bad

like i said man, you WSers have a roof over your head if it comes down to that

it would be kind of cool to have a full studio in our house (which is a big house) wouldn't mind the help on rent, i'll take 2 to 3 of ya :)

think about it rich, really

3 - hours - away

the cost of living is lower here but minimum is 6.25 to 6.75 but there's places as low as 500 bucks a month!

we're thinking of getting an small rv, ya know for con

my sister is still in CV, so i guess it hasn't hit my old place or i'd deff'nitly hear about it now

yeah man, there alot of artists there

(edited)

hey ashigaru,

i used to live there too

i miss it big time like mira mesa mall(my first comic shop was inside NEWBERRY'S, where i came to know comics, alot of the early IMAGE BOYS were there too but i didn't know it until later, they worked up on the hill on camino ruiz and of course UTC!

i used to live on miramar, ya know "top gun"

near the freeway when there was mobile homes there, in fact i'm looking at an old picture of myself and 2 of my friends on bikes when we were boy scouts

"the boy scout biker gang" :)
(btw, the idea has been taken already by a friend of mine for his book)

even has an old tree where we used to use as a base for when we would play war, even used batteries for granades

you 2 totally blew my mind about CV AND MIRAMESA, news about the outside world is not prevailent here as there, ya know not bombarded by it

kind of like it, don't need the stress

well again, heres to everyone there


that damn mountain - every few years (shakes head)


COMIKXGUY said...
SOMETIMES THERE IS MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN LUXURIES LIKE COMIC BOOKS

ITS NOT

HOW MUCH OR WHAT YOU HAVE

THAT MATTERS THE MOST


THINK OUTSIDE OF YOUR OWN BOX

matinik said...

it looks like the fires
skrited along scripps poway rd which is just 15 minutes away from mira mesa. unfortunately, it's smack dab in the middle of where i worked.
the air is bad right now. you can seen a lot of fine particles coating the cars and the streets along westmoreland.

stay safe all

jeff cruz
wavmostudio