Fires in San Diego county

Aki, it was easy to misunderstand his post - I did at first. That's the problem with written communication and stress doesn't help.

On a positive note, I just got off the phone with Steven Cowen and he and his family is fine and their house is safe. He normally posts from work, which is why we haven't heard from him.

He said that he went over to Bruce's house and several boats were destroyed, apparently including the "Real World"/Pro Tour Red X-Star. Hopefully they are all insured.

Steve said that San V may be closed for a while due to some problems with the dock floating away or something (???). The area surrounding the lake and even the island apparently burned.

Thanks Bill.
My writing is usually short and to the point and in this case I didn't realize how the comment could have been misconstrued.
Probably a good thing I didn't see Aki's post eh?

Back to the discussion; CNN said this AM that almost 2,000 homes have been destroyed thus far.
Good luck and god bless.

Yeah, it just keeps going. Another 300 homes have been lost in the mountain towns east of San Diego and the fire is now the largest in terms in acreage in California history.

Wow.... I don't know what to say. I wish all of you the best. My thoughts will be with you guys thru this whole thing. I hope everyone is ok... its too bad we can't bottle up all the rain we're getting out here and have it pour down on those fires to help you guys out. Good luck to everyone, my thoughts and prayers are with you guys.

Just talked to Andy is Colorado, they are now dealing with three wildfires outside of Boulder just 15 miles from his house. So can everyone please take some of their thoughts and prayers for us in SD and LA and focus it on our friends in Colorado and their safety.

I can't seem to get much detail out of the news, but there is one large one by Boulder and one burning southwest of denver near the Raven Golf Course. The Raven fire is a brush fire and the one next to boulder is a mountain fire. I snapped these pics from the bottom of my street of the boulder area fire.

I just heard on the news that there were three firefighters that were overtaken by flames on a ridge in San Diego and all three have lost there lifes. Very sad moment my thoughts and prayers are with all going through this tragedy.

Nope, the brush fire is north on I76.

Castle Pines ( US Open ) and Happy Canyon are being evacuated now. Basically, a bit West and North of Castle Rock.

We have a great view of all of them from the 25th floor.

Biggest problem right now is the fire equipment ws sent to Cali the other day. They are trying to arrange more now.

3 fire fighters overtaken in San Diego. One killed, the other two critically injured.

First fire fighter lost in the line of duty so far in the Cali blazes.

Matt, you watch south and I will watch north. the news coverage is spotty at best. you and I will do our best looking out our windows.

Deal. Jeez, I wish this hadn't happened.

Good luck to California, please send our equipment back when you can. You need it more than us right now though.

Its supposed to rain here (colorado) according to the news...hope that helps

I just got a call from my girlfriend....if you live in Ramona (Country Estates) the cops are driving down Main Street saying the winds have shifted and are saying it is voluntary evacuation at this time but may become mandatory so pack up your things (Dave). Oh not this all over again.

Here is the link:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/fires/20031029-0527-fires_afternoon.html

It doesn't seem like mother nature is gonna give you guys a break. I don't know if the weather were having up north is coming from you guys or heading down to you from us,but we are having winds in norcal that are blowing hard.

A firefigter that died today was from norcal,Novato California. Our love and prayers to his family and friends. My sister told me today that our friend who is a Battalion Chief up here in Norcal had been down there for 5 days when he came home on Tuesday. He was on his way to a get together with friends when he was paged and told he needed to go back. He has a little boy 2 and a newborn. Please whether you believe in it or not say a prayer for the firefighters risking it all to try save others lives.

I actually heard today that some of the first victims became victims due to the fact that they did not want to evacuate. When they finally wanted to get out firefighters could not get to them any longer. To everyone who reads this from Socal get out when you have to, everything can be replaced whether it's insured or not think of your families and yourselves first.

Again our prayers here in norcal are with you guys, I wish I could give you more.

I agree. JUST LEAVE.

There are still many people in the Big Bear area that say they would rather stay and try to protect their belongings.

If over 2000 firefighters can't slow down the fire, what the hell are they going to do.

There are 2 outcomes, they will die or they will get lucky.

Anybody that values their STUFF more than their life, has got their priorities way out of whack.

Sorry about the rant... I feel better.

Reading the Uniontrib Internet daily & WW is my only source of updates. It's still stressful to find out that it's still touch & go for many areas.
What's worse is finding out that Scum has surfaced in taking advantage of people:

Scam warning
7:00 a.m.
The San Diego Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit is warning victims of this week's wildfires to beware of crooks who try to take advantage of such crises with fraudulent offers of reconstruction or insurance aid.
Swindlers of this kind prey on victims by offering supposed bargains on structural repair, debris removal or filing of indemnity claims.
People should contact insurance companies directly and avoid providing personal information to any unknown parties who contact them with offers of assistance.
Victims also should be aware of "contractors'' who go door to door, offering deals on construction services, he added.
Anyone in need of such work should demand proof of licensing and confirmation of insurance on the part of the provider, according to police.

I honestly believe that God is the only one that can fix this problem. Man can only do so much. God is the master of the elements, and I honestly believe that if all Californians everywhere knelt and prayed to God to cause the fires to cease it would. But the fires wont stop until it runs out of fuel or until God stops it. It is amazing that how much people turn to God ONLY when tragedy strikes, and then when they begin to prosper again they forget God and trust in themselves. So from time to time God must humble his people by whatever means necessary. I wish to say that I dont wish this on anyone, because I had family affected in the AZ fires last year, and I lived in Cali for a couple years also. But I wanted to offer my thoughts. My prayers are with Californians, and dont just pray to God, but pray for rain and releif. When you are specific God andwers specifically.
God Bless!

actually, man could've been clearing brush for about twenty plus years. But in general you're quite correct.

ON the good note, it's snowing/raining here and our fires are under control.

Amazing, I have to give a huge thank you to the firefighters, as you know the firefighter who died was from Northern California, had a wife and 2 kids. What character and bravery, to put your life on the line to protect strangers homes 400 miles away in Southern California.

I am one that always loves to get the SoCal vrs NoCal friendly rivalry going, but it's obvious, when it counts, we are all one happy family.

Thanks NoCal for all your help in this tremendous disaster. You can be assured that everybody here in SoCal are tremendously appreciative of all your support and man power.

Please let me know if you hear of any kind of charity that is set up in the name of the fallen and hurt firefighters and specifically the one that we lost, with the wife and 2 kids.

it sucks that firemen lives have been taken

(Message edited by jakeman on October 30, 2003)

(Message edited by jakeman on October 30, 2003)

FYI:


According to the district's Web site, Rucker and the others were on engine no. 6162, which departed for southern California on Monday. The men reported Tuesday that after a 14-hour drive, they were resting and waiting for an assignment. "All are in good spirits,'' the Web site reads.

The crew was overrun at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, fire officials said. While the families of the crew and investigators from the local fire district were heading south to San Diego, two other Novato crews assigned to southern California are coming home. Rucker is survived by his wife and two children. He was 38.

A fund has been set up in honor of Steven Rucker. If you would like to contribute to the Steven Rucker Fund, you can do so by calling the Bank of Marin at (415) 899-7338. There is also a fund set up at that same bank for critically injured Captain Doug McDonald.


GOD BLESS

-= peace =-
Aaron
aka LazyBoy}

Please don't turn this into another religion vs. science debate, it's not the proper time or place.

Andy- You try and explain to that dead firemans family that god was humbling us.

JAKEMAN AND ANDY(ABK22) DO NOT TURN THIS THREAD INTO A RELIGIOUS OR POLITICAL DEBATE. TAKE IT ELSEWHERE IF ANY OF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO HARSH ON ONE ANOTHERS BELIEFS.

Thanks my thoughts exactly Andrew.JAKEMAN AND ANDY(ABK22) DO NOT TURN THIS THREAD INTO A RELIGIOUS OR POLITICAL DEBATE. TAKE IT ELSEWHERE IF ANY OF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO HARSH ON ONE ANOTHERS BELIEFS.


(Message edited by obsurfer on October 30, 2003)

Hey all:

Wow, what a wild couple of days.

Remember the houses above San Vicente Lake, on the east side? I'm told that 4 of the fatalities were of people in those houses. One was trying to drive away. Three others were trying to run down to the lake. Not sure about the three running down to the lake, but that's what I heard.

We're fine. We were about a mile south of the southern edge of that tidal wave of fire. Bruce Hubbard's house was just at the edge of the fire. 8 boats burned, couple others singed. From the looks of things around his house, he put up a helluva fight trying to save the eight.

Spoke with Aleta on Monday morning, out at the entrance to the lake. Chapparel all burned out, including on the island. Dock broke away. Concession stand and bathroom's fine.

SORRY, but I was not trying to make it a religious/political debate. My only point was that all these people keep on sayin that they should pray for the families and firefighters, and that in a longwinded way I was saying that I agree, because it is the only thing that will work. And in regards to the comment on the fact that the firefighter died. No God did not kill a firefighter to humble "us," accidents happen, and it is a tragedy when good people die, especially at the cost of some eco-terrorist or an idiot hunter who is lost. I will not rehash what I said earlier it was just an observation. any how just chill out, people's emotions are sensitive becasue all of us know someone who has experienced this sort of thing; and when man can do nothing but watch it makes it harder. So again I appologize if anybody was, upset or whatever...

Andy, no need to apologize. There are definitely spiritual and a political components to this story.
With total respect to all, if you disagree with somebody's perspective, maybe it would be better to just breeze over that post.

Sorry, that was me posting, not my son.

These damn fangled computers!

Steve- You couldnt restrain yourself and just breeze over?

Let's switch over to a better topic about fighting these fire - POLITICS
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/fires/20031030-9999_1n30milcraft.html

Disturbing to the point that I hope there are changes in the very near future.

Phantom ,that is just sickening since you want as many resources as soon as possible to prevent the spread, politicians/politics will be the death of democracy and this country.

This story is also very interesting and disturbing:

"Flying continuous airstrikes, pilots of helicopters owned by the city and county of Los Angeles fought a desperate battle early this week to keep the Simi fire from racing into a San Fernando Valley housing development.

It worked. Thousands of homes in Porter Ranch, a sprawling tract in Los Angeles, were saved.

San Diego County residents will never know whether such heroics might have helped here. Despite urgent warnings, politicians here never invested public funds into a local firefighting air fleet."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/fires/20031030-9999_1n30chopper.html


We all owe a huge THANK YOU! to all of the firefighters (and others) that have worked so hard and sacrificed so much in the past 5 days. Their heroic efforts have been inspirational.

Andy I agree with you with what you said, but I also agree we need to be sensitive to everybody's beliefs. Although I believe in God someone else may believe in something else. Otherwise yeah I think we as Americans have life to easy sometimes,compare to other people in the world.

Whether it's God or some other great force there is definately something that throws something at us every once in a while to remind us that we are so small and we are vulnerable to destruction as well. Unfortunately we learn this lesson at a price and right now that price is 20 people's lives. I don't count the property loss because although it's very personal and people are devastated about there losses, I think everyone is happy they are safe and alive.

Just some after-fire observations...

I sat on my driveway in the dark for about 20 minutes late last night. It was really creepy because the neighborhood was completely silent. No frogs, no crickets, no birds (alright, the birds don't usually chirp away at night). I can't believe I sat there for 20 minutes and didn't hear one cricket. It started freaking me out cuz I could hear the sound of my ears sort of buzzing or ringing (I guess that's what you hear in the absence of all sound) and I could hear my neck make weird cracking noises as I turned my head. I don't think I've ever been in such a quiet situation.

On a more positive note, we took a big load of clothing to our church (eight families in our congregation lost their homes) and got turned away because they already had too much stuff. So we took it all to the Red Cross center and were again turned away because they already had too much stuff. We ended up dropping them off at the Thrift Store. It was cool to hear that they had gotten so many donations (or maybe they didn't want so many WakeWorld shirts ).

Dave,

I can't imagine how creep that must have felt. It's one thing to stand in the Sierra's and feel that, but in your neighborhood none the less.

I know all of us here in Nor*Cal sound our thoughts and prayers to you as well the rest of the families.

Thank you for sharing your journey!