CNN is now reporting that almost 1,000,000 people have been ordered to evacuate. Winds are still bad. National guard troops have been mobilized, 7,000 firefighters are fighting the fires, and 34 firefighters have been injured. Last I've heard 2 people are dead. It is so eerie to see pictures of the area with very orange skies.

Department of Animal Services are trying to get animals out.
Article here.

One bright spot -- in the Santa Clarita area one fire has been 100% contained and another 93% contained. Small victories, but at least some victories, when there are a dozen fires burning.

412,000 acres have burned (645 square miles) 19 separate fires burning, at least 3 of them are contained.

This event is gripping the world, and it's great to see that brave people are continuing to rescue helpless animals from the inferno.
We heard from our friends in Tujunga, who thankfully have been 'relatively' unaffected so far. Their concern, and they're in the State Farm insurance business so know a thing or two, is that many areas which have suffered loss of forest, may be more suscepible to future mud slides.
This is part of their fairly up-beat mail received only today;-

"Thank you for your concern and thoughts…Actually, we are located in the foothills about 7-10 miles to the East of where the worst fires are taking place in Valencia/Santa Clarita/Newhall area of Los Angeles County, although there is a really bad one in San Diego County area., and also in Malibu along the ocean.
Today our skies are overcast from both directions and the light is a dirty golden color, almost like sepia. I have quite a few clients in the fire areas, and called them all today, but almost all of them are doing fine and in their homes; only a few had to evacuate. However, I feel very sad for the ones who have lost their homes or had to leave their homes not knowing what to take with them, or when they could come back. Also this is where that horrible 13 vehicle fire burned in a ‘tunnel’ last week (it closed the freeway down for several days) so these people have had a lot of trouble on the freeways getting to and from their homes.
Also, now the homes that are on hillsides that have burned will have to worry about rains in the winter and slipping down from their pads…or getting mudslides into their homes.
California is a very interesting place to live sometimes!".

That Santa Clarita fire is the one that's only 14 miles west of us, and like Jar said, looks to be nearly contained. Lots of smoke over the mountains and all along the west and southwest horizons today. Aircraft has been flying over all day; they're scooping up water to taking it to the fires.

Prayers for everyone, especially the firefighters who I'm sure are working around the clock.

A few months ago, we were forced to evacuate because of a military caused fire in the Pinelands of New Jersey. Five mobile homes in a community were lost. I can't imagine the amount of devastation in California. There was a man who owned a classic Mercedes he was restoring - the car was totally burned. Someone from Orange County, NY read about the fire and the car and personally drove his older Mercedes down here and gifted the car to the man. People rally together in times of need. The bottom line is - homes, etc. are posessions - life is what's important. This is little consolation to those who lost all but homes can be rebuilt. Life cannot be restored. My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected.

Hi everyone - I live in the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego, one of the badly damaged parts of the county...was evacuated early Monday morning (10/22) - am now back at my mother's home also in RB, no damage there but areas within a mile or so of her place and mine were heavily burned, friends have lost homes. All my family in the San Diego county areas are OK, but it is pretty scary. Thanks for all your thoughts & prayers on behalf of everyone here in Southern California.

Thanks for your concern. We returned home today after spending a couple of days up north.

The winds shifted and our area was spared of damage.

That was amazing! In all this worry and trouble, I got 5 pm's with offers to help me contact my friend! What sweet , generous people you are!
She is in the midst of being evacuated now, so little point in me calling her. But all the same I am grateful for your offers.
I can only repeat my thoughts are with you all, and hopes that it will be over soon.

I am glad you are ok Terry. Poor Karen really doesn't need all this stress at this time.

angelgirl62, keeping my fingers crossed that you will also be able to return home shortly.

Let us know when you hear from Crisw. Glad you are okay Terry. That must have been pretty scary for you and your family.

Geez it's a shocker isn't it? Seems like, at least, the firefighters are gaining some ground though.

Hope everyone is doing well and is safe.

The winds are beginning to let up, finally, and change direction. Firefighters are beginning to make some progress. At last!

Hi everybody - glad to know that Terry is OK, hope crisw is too. Thanks for your good thoughts, Sue and everyone. As far as I have been able to find out my condo is still there, have not yet been able to return to it but my mother's place 4.5 miles east is completely undamaged and we are back in there. Same applies to my varied family members throughout San Diego County - all those who were evacuated still have their homes and some are back home already, all OK. I'm back at work today - the company is in an area that was not in immediate danger and was operating with a skeleton staff earlier this week. Now that the danger level is a bit lower, more of us can come in so we are almost back to normal operations here.

I hope Sara's (ren33)friend is OK, as well as anyone else's friends and loved ones affected by this disaster.

Again, thanks for the good wishes!

Although there is still fire, the attempts at fighting them are progressing now that the fixed wing aircraft can get in the air.

I've been sort of waiting to hear the comparisons and it has started. People are now saying things like "rapid response for rich people in southern California, while New Orleans got nothing." Also, I heard on the news last night that news organizations (TV and newspapers) are recanting much of what they said during Katrina about what was happening in New Orleans. Things like shootings and dead bodies at the arena never really happened, they just basically plagerized others. Sorry to hijack the thread.

"And now, in California...."

Forgot to say, authorities believe at least several of the fires were arson.

Thanks so much to everyone who pm'ed me with offers to find my friend's number and thanks for your message, Angelgirl. This is part of the letter someone sent to me when I enquired. She has been unable to email me due to ISP troubles..

Quote:

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Just a quick note to let you know (and Ren - Sara - also) that "Hey Dog" and I are fine. I was mandatorily evacuated from my home early Monday morning because of the wild fires here in San Diego County. It was a wild ride to say the least but I was able to get home late yesterday afternoon and found that our area at least was untouched by the fires. I'm so sorry to say that many other areas were not so lucky and they truly look like war zones - much as our area did four years ago. I can't tell you how much I grieve for those poor people who are now homeless and have lost absolutely everything. I hope they take comfort in the fact that at least they and their loved ones are alive and safe.

---

A relief.

Glad to hear something good with people getting back to their homes.

8,000 firefighters are now battling 14 blazes.

What a nightmare for you, angelgirl. I hope everything is okay and you can get back to normal asap.

What started the fires initially? and what does it mean when a state of emergency has been declared? Here it would mean additional government asistance during and after an event - would it be the same?

That's about it Copago. A declared emergency allows for goverment assistance to be provided, as well as low cost loans, etc.

It seems now that some of the fires may have been arson. Also, sometimes lightening will start a fire, a careless cigarette thrown out a window, a camp fire.

We haven't heard from Crisw since Tuesday. Have you received any word from her Sue?

Arson is one of those crimes that I just don't get but also it is one that should bring the biggest punishments. It happens here every summer in bushfire season. If a house is burnt and the occupants killed in a deliberately lit wildfire started five kilometres away then, to my way of thinking, it is no different than if the fire was deliberately lit at the front door of that house.

I have so many friends and family out in California. One of my cousins lives near San Diego. East of San Diego a bit. They have the car packed up in case they have to leave. One of my other cousins lives in LA- the West part. Plus so many other friends living all around.

Living in a bush fire zone I know how these people feel. As much as I enjoy Summer there is always the thought in the back of my mind of something happening to my family,friends and property. My thoughts in the past days have often turned to those people in California affected by these fires.

Cris and Terry both ok and back at home with no damage having been done, thank goodness.

Good for that. I was concerned when we hadn't heard from Cris.

Now that the immediate threat is over, coverage has certainly declined. No more 24-7 news, no more blaring headlines. The fact remains that wildfires in the U.S. are an annual thing. The best we can hope for is to keep them contained in areas that are uninhabited. Still, animals are lost to fires. Maybe it's simply "checks and balances" in the animal world.

Glad all our "family" is safe and sound.

Thanks for the concern, all. We are back home, safe and sound.

I think most of the comparisons about fast response are invalid. What hasn't been reported on the national news (or even much locally) is that many, if not most, of those who lost their homes here were in trailer parks. Two large trailer parks burned down, both in poor sections of our county.

Fires like this will happen again. And again. It's only been four years since the Cedar and associated fires, which were viewed then as disasters that would be unequaled. When the Santa Anas hit the brush, fires cannot be stopped. Until the winds die down, they will burn what is in their paths. These fires burn hot enough to smelt metal. We are in the midst of a long-term drought; we got less than 4 inches of rain last year (normal is 11) and this year is also forecast to be hotter and drier through the end of the year. Santa Anas used to peak in September and fire season once ended by the end of October- no more. This year, there are predictions of Santa Anas through November.

This is the payment for living in chaparral. This ecosystem has evolved to be flammable; many of the plants actually require fire to grow and even produce flammable chemicals to promote burning.

After the Cedar fires, within two years you could hike across chaparral hillsides with only a scorched piece of wood here and there as a reminder that a fire had come through. Within a year or two, most of the burned ground here will be renewed. While the human costs are insurmountable and long-lasting, the chaparral heals itself- and then sets itself up to burn again, like a phoenix.

I was just wondering if maybe they should start evacuating people like days before they expect these Santa Ana winds to start happening.
Like they have us over here in Florida for Hurricanes so people can have more time to get more of the important things out.