<p>Watching the fires there in san diego--hope you are ok there. Sister and brother in law just got evacuated--houses around them burned, fire dept making a stand at their barn (full of horses)--fingers crossed!</p>
<p>Hope everyone near the fires are in a safe place at this moment. </p>
<p>Sorry to hear your news Shogun. Hate it in fact. I know you must be beside yourself with worry. Will hope for the very best for all who are dealing with this terrible thing.</p>
<p>Shogun, I was just thinking about you and peskemom too. My brother lives in Dana Point, but they're unaffected at this point. Fires everywhere, Malibu, mid has friends at Pepperdine who were evacuated from their dorms, but the president of Pepperdine says they have a million gallons of water to protect the campus. I'm praying for affected families and the courageous firefighters. Wonder if they will call out the marines at Camp Pendleton to fight the fires like they did for the fire on Catalina Island.</p>
<p>Shogun, Please keep us updated on your sister's property and her horses.</p>
<p>My sister, her husband, and my folks were evacuated from the ranch. The horses are in a metal barn so hopefully they are ok, but no one really will know till they open the area back up to residents. The firefighters said they would make a stand at the barn and that is the last we have heard. They are in the Rancho Bernardo area.
From our home a couple of hours north of san diego we are watching the fires up on the mountain at Lake Arrowhead---seem to be fires popping up all over southern california.</p>
<p>Still no word on whether the ranch is still standing--the 11 horses are hopefully still safe in the barn (probably pretty mad that no one has come to feed them today!). All roads in the area still closed. Evidently just before they were evacuated my sister and her husband along with several residents in the area were sitting in the pool with towels over their heads as the fire started going through the area. The ranger station across the road went up in flames first and then the f.d. showed up to get them all out. Last they saw the houses and barn were still up, but that was at 5am this morning.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update. Sounds like they were lucky to get out alive. Anxious to hear some good news.</p>
<p>Miramar aircraft sent elsewhere as precaution</p>
<p>
[quote]
As wildfires raged in an adjacent town, Camp Pendleton officials on Monday afternoon warned some base residents to prepare for an emergency evacuation.</p>
<p>No mandatory evacuation was ordered as of 5:15 p.m. California time, but base officials wanted residents of several neighborhoods in the east part of the base De Luz, Serra Mesa, San Luis Rey and ONeill housing areas to prepare their families just in case....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>During the last (?) set of fires out there, probably five or more years ago. my son's carrier was doing workups off the coast and, due to deck problems, he got diverted into San Diego about midnight one night. Catalina was the only place he was able to get into and he still talks about how eerie and surreal the whole episode was.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard from peskemom? :(</p>
<p>I'll be trying to call later....</p>
<p>Interactive Google Map of Southern California Fires:</p>
<p>Click on links to individual fires to get more information.</p>
<p>More local news in the Los Angeles Times:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.latimes.com/</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling up 1,500 National Guard troops to deploy to the Southern California wildfires.</p>
<p>Hes also asking President Bush to authorize San Diego-area military forces to begin coordinating to provide cots, first-aid equipment and possibly personnel to aid evacuees and firefighters....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, we are breathing a bit easier this evening. Around noon today my brother in law was allowed to be escorted in to see what was left. Thankfully his home and my parents home next door were still good. The neighbors on either side we not so lucky--burned to the ground--we feel awful for them. No power or water. We are going to see if we can get my motor home down there to park for them to stay in so they can remain at the ranch and protect things till some normality returns. The horses survived in the barn (all 11). Things are still pretty bad in area (Rancho Bernardo) and in the other areas of San Diego where the fires are. The fires in the San Bernardino Mountains have come up over the top of the ridge of mtns and we can see them from our back yard making their way down to this side. We are a good distance away but some parts of san bernardino are being evacuated. Thanks for all your positive thoughts and prayers. There are a lot of personal disasters out there playing out every moment this week. Very scary.</p>
<p>Hello one and all - thank you for your concerns and care....
Will post here and on the USNA site...
we here survived another night without a mandatory evacuation notice. We actually live in the County limits near the corners of San Marcos and Bonsall. Fires have come within 5 miles of us several times. When you had 60 mile and hour winds that is 10 minutes or less of warning - so we all here in our little valley have had to be very vigiliant. In my 40+ years in SoCal this is by far the most widespread incident I've ever experienced in terms of scope of people affected. Our cars are packed but so far we've not had to leave.</p>
<p>Yesterday morning at this time I checked outside and only saw brown smoke. This morning there are stars shining outside - a good sign for us but the air quality has been the worst I've ever experienced.. For 2 days and nights we are breathing grit. Eyes, throats, head and nose are very achey - no surprise there.</p>
<p>We have many friends still evacuated from their homes - but none of our friends have lost their homes, thanks be to God.</p>
<p>Hubby was supposed to leave this morning for Annapolis to spend some time with our girl - but he was reticent to leave me just yet with our situation still so fluid and the Camp Pendleton fire now raging with new directions back headed our way - so he postponed that trip 24 hours. Dear Southwest Airlines changed our tickets no problem, no upgrade charge. God bless them. Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon things will stabilize enough for him to leave.</p>
<p>We got a call from our friend -a young man who lives in LA and is an Army National Guard. He has been mobilized ( served in Iraq a good part of 2006) and lo and behold he is coming to protect the city of Escondido from looters! He is about 10 miles from us. Asked if he could come and do laundry/sleep/internet at our home on his breaks ( yet to be determined as he told us they did NOT schedule 'sleep' in their duty rotations) so of course we encouraged him to come when he could. Everyone is looking for ways to reach out to others. We have both elderly neighbors and neighbors with young children around us and we have been making sure they have everything set with their needs should we all have to leave. </p>
<p>Please continue to pray for the firefighters and all the essential personnell like this young man and the many others who have put their lives on the line to protect us.</p>
<p>I never give a political rant on this forum but what the heck. I hope the cities of our Country take notice as to how we San Diegans handle a crisis! Not ONE government person has said 'this is George Bush's fault!' and every single leader of every emergency/government service has simply stepped up to the plate and done the job they were trained to do. God bless them - every one!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Navy helicopters carrying buckets of water joined in a major firefighting effort as large wildfires continued to burn Tuesday across San Diego County.</p>
<p>With a 6,000-acre wildfire raging in an adjacent town, some residents at Camp Pendleton remained on guard Tuesday to prepare for an emergency evacuation if the Rice fire in neighboring town of Fallbrook further threatens the base and homes along the Santa Margarita River valley. Two smaller fires flared up in the morning on the base, county fire officials said....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
More than 100 single sailors with the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan traded their shore-side barracks for ship berthing to make some room for fellow sailors and Navy families who have had to evacuate because of the wildfires burning in the San Diego region.</p>
<p>About 135 sailors or their families assigned to the nuclear-powered carrier were directly affected by the ongoing wildfires, Lt. Ron Flanders, Ronald Reagans public affairs officer, said Tuesday morning, where the ship was operating with duty sections only....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
Camp Pendleton base officials ordered the evacuation of Camp Horno, the inland camp thats home to 1st Marines and its four infantry battalions 1/1, 2/1, 3/1 and 1/4 as two wildfires flared up Tuesday morning on the base, military officials said. No estimate was available of the fires size.</p>
<p>Fanned by intense winds, wildfires have raged across southern California for three days, displacing thousands of residents, consuming homes and leading President Bush to declare a state of emergency....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has directed 1,500 California National Guard troops to be available to support efforts to fight at least 14 wildfires in the southern part of the state, according to a news release from the National Guard Bureau.</p>
<p>The troops include 200 Guard members who were patrolling the California-Mexico border as part of Operation Jump Start, a mission to help the Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol keep illegal immigrants from entering the U.S....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>shogun and peskemom,
Thanks for updating us on your status; many on this forum were very concerned about you and your families. Shogun, glad to hear that the houses of your parents and sister/brother-in-law were spared along with the horses and the barn. I'm praying for the families who weren't so fortunate. Truly an apocalypse. Peskemom, you're right San Diego County officials did a good job and lots of caring people in the area have been helping those in need. Stay safe.</p>
<p>New York Times coverage of Southern California fires:</p>
<p>Does anyone recognize the facility in the foreground with raging fire in the background currently on the NYT home page? Its the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station! </p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/</a></p>
<p>There is some pretty amazing video of the Martin Mars water bomber scooping water from a lake and making a water drop. The plane is expected to arrive in California this afternoon to help fight active fires. It drenches three acres per drop.</p>