We are watching live on CNN the fires raging in Malibu. One house is totally gone while next door the house is clear. At least for the moment. The fires are out of control and it is very windy. Yesterday it was so windy that sparks were flying as much as a mile ahead of the fires. Hence, there were several homes on the beach that were burned to the ground. Right now a home for endangered animals has been evacuated, as well as hundreds of homes. Yesterday Pepperdine University dormitories were evacuated (not sure what the status of that is right now). Fire departments cannot get a handle of it because of high winds. It must be devastating to see your home on television in the path of the fires. How sad. From CNN: Some of the fires are 0% contained.

And this isn't the only fire raging. About 12 others are burning as well. Thousands have been fleeing fires. 250,000 people are being evacuated in San Diego county. Do we have any FTers affected?

The animals at the San Diego Zoo, one of the largest in the US are being moved.
NASA Satellite image

Of those being evacuated in San Diego (a Navy town, home to a very large Naval Base) 19,000 are military families, some of whose spouses are deployed.

Terry and crisw live in or near San Diego.

Oh, that's right, I forgot Terry was there. I hope he's OK and not in any danger. San Diego is one of my favorite places in California. It's so beautiful and the weather is usually perfect all year round.

Oh my gosh! My thoughts and prayers go out to them. I have an old friend over there too, wonderful girl who adopted two beautiful boys who desperately needed a good home. I really hope all are ok! The ecological damage must seem pretty bad but often nature bounces back well after fires given time and the chance.

Both have had to evacuate their homes.

A fire is about one mile from crisw's home the last time she said.

Everyone keep fingers crossed for them both.

Let's pray their homes are saved. Hundreds of homes have already been burned to the ground. It's just so sad to see flames going unchecked, and nothing you can do about it. All that is left standing is a brick chimney.

A side effect of all this will be in the spring when winter snows melt in the mountains and then there is nothing to stop the flooding. With so many homes being built on hillsides, they will be lost from mudslides. It won't be over for a long, long time.

To add: The winds are tremendous. In some areas there are gusts above hurricane force. Point Mugu registered 101 mph, while gusts in other areas are 50, 60 and 70 mph. So far 600 homes burned, 300,000 people evacuated. They just keep getting larger and larger.

Certainly hope both Terry, crisw and others are getting to safety! We are very forunate here -- one of the fires is about 14 miles west of us, but the wind is from the NE, and so we neither see nor smell smoke (mountains obscure the view, also). Weather today is HOT and still breezy in the LA area. Hopefully the firefighters will be able to get some of this under control today.

Things are no better today. Winds are 25-35 miles per hour with gusts to 75 mph. CNN states 1,500 homes have been already been lost with as many as 72,000 more in danger.

I am doing OK; we are still waiting for specific news on the fire but it doesn't look like it got to our house so far.

crisw, We'll keep our fingers and toes crossed for you!

Here's a link to a fire website that is good to keep tabs on them, for those interested.

California Wildfires

We're fine. We got out when uncontrolled fires were to the north, east, and south of us, and the only way out (I5 north) was under threat of being closed due to fire. Fortunately 2 of those fires are no threat to us at all now.

It's looking like our neighbourhood should get out of this untouched if the weather does what it's supposed to.

Certainly a tragedy for the whole county. It looks like the fire down near cris is getting larger by the hour.

Thank goodness you are ok Terry, I am keeping my fingers crossed for Cris. Fire is so unpredictable.

It must be heartbreaking for the people who have lost their homes and all their irreplacable possessions, photographs and the like.

I've been watching this on the local CBS station based out of Los Angeles all morning. This is just awful. Cris and Terry: so glad to hear from both of you. I pray for you and that your homes are spared. By any means, I am not trivializing the loss of homes and businesses; it is certainly devastating. And these places may not be able to be built in the same area due to the stressed countryside, but the loss of life cannot be replaced. So far, I have heard of 1 death. I hope and pray that people leave when told to leave; their lives are not worth losing over possessions.

500,000 people are being evacuated. So far.

So glad to hear from Crisw and Terry. My best to you both, and good luck Cris, hopefully your home will be okay.

There is a reporter who this morning was reporting while watching his own home burning.

My heart goes out to everybody touched by this. It's very devastating.
Several families from my mom's church lost their homes in the Oakland Hills fire in 1991. It is such a traumatic thing-there were around 3000 homes and 25 people lost then. I lived in San Francisco at the time and could see it from across the Bay.

I don't know what to say except our prayers are with everyone.

Good to see that the fires have stayed away from Cris and Terry. Hope to see them get contained and neither of you lose anything out of it.

We have friends in Tujunga, parts of which believe are affected by these devastating fires. I'm waiting to here from them.
From what we see on CNN, this seems to be the worst fire in this area within living memory, and my heart goes out to those who've lost all their personal possessions.

All I can think to say is what a tragedy. Fire is so fast, deadly, and destructive! Heard one of the firefighters saying they are at a loss as to even vaguely predicting where the fires will hit next. What a hopeless feeling. I pray that Cris, Terry, and all the families come out relatively unscathed. It IS devastating to lose a home and all your possessions, but you can never recover a life, whether it's human or animal. My best to all those affected and to the firefighters putting their lives on the line.

The radio had info that one firefighter who'd been doing this for years had only lost one structure in his career, and today.. he'd lost too many to count.

Can't imagine living in such an area. I'll stay in the NE where the worst that happens is a blizzard, it seems.

This is terrible news for people in this area. Forest fires can be so unpredictable. I pray and hope that everyone will be safe. I also pray and hope that the fires don't do any damage to Terrys' and crisws' homes.
Best of Luck
Trevor

Keeping everything crossed for all those affected.

My heart and my prayers go out to everyone affected by these fires.

I have a dear friend in San Diego, I do not know her phone number. Are land lines still OK? If they are , is there anyone there who could look up the number for me in the phone book? I can at least phone her later if not now. Please PM me if you can help Ta XX