Palms on fire

[osideterry]

I feared you and your guest evacuees were watching the Alamo burn from the safety of the pool (is it heated?). Not a pleasant picture. Glad to see the fire headed more North and you and your property are safe and intact.

You're not out of the woods yet, but today looks promising for that fire to be contained.

[fastfeat]

Good to hear some good news!

[paulgila]

trying to call mattyb by land-line but the line is busy,hopefully thats a good sign & means he & jen are still there...

flag still waving over the alamo?

update:just talked to matt by phone & they haven't been evacuated yet as of 0900.

[Palmhut1]

Today in Vista it is really bad. Smoke, ash and heat. With a new fire in Valley Center. Pray for no wind.

Don...

[osideterry]

It's good news Matt hasn't been required to evacuate yet. He's still in a tricky spot there.

The sky is orange and ash was falling here like light snow flurries this morning. Not clear like yesterday.

Here's a decent map I found at sandiego.com.

[Scott]

Steve - So glad you and your family are okay.

Glad to hear Matty's okay too. I'm sure alot of prayers have been said by many.

Last night the smell of the smoke turned to that burned out charred wood smell and permeated all through the house. A new fire poped up in Santa Clarita destroying some mobile homes. Ash has been pretty much being blown about by the wind for a day or so.

Oh yeah - I lost a queen palm in the winds. Nothing at all compared to the lossed suffered by so many.

[Dan OKeeffe]

How is Jerry and Dan's Place?  I hope they made it!  

Best of luck and wishes

[Dave-Vero]

The KBPS Google map indicates evacuation up to Helix.  Google Map .  So Matty's place would be under evacuation.

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

More good news...my folks and both sisters places in Poway/RB survived. (so far)

[Gbarce]

I am in the US now (virginia)  and this is the first time I am able to log on , sit down and read through PalmaTalk.  

This is really terrible news!

I am sorry for the loss of those that were in the path of the fire and were forced to evacuate.  I can only imagine what you must be going through.  You're in my prayers.  But the important thing is that you and your loved ones are ok.

I am happy to hear of  the others that are OK and are safe.

Being one of the Non-US based member of the forum the --the SOCAL palm members are some of the most familiar because you are all so active in the Palm talk, have a wealth of information and are very generous in sharing what you know (plus funny and snarky as hell).  My thoughts and prayers are with you and I hope for the best.

Does anyone have a summary of all the SOCAL members and how they are doing?

Hoping for the best,

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

My wife snapped this picture of me at sunrise. She said I was mumbling something about 'do what you want to the women, but leave my palms alone'....I don't believe her...but...maybe I said that. I was delirious without sleep...

[DoomsDave]

Whew!

Did the fire go around you?

Or are you still in its path?

dave

[Scott]

KTTV was reporting from Rancho Bernardo just a few minutes ago - on one street homes untouched and others completely incinerated. A testimony to the shifting winds I guess.

[BS Man about Palms]

(STEVE IN SO CAL @ Oct. 23 2007,10:53)

QUOTE

My wife snapped this picture of me at sunrise. She said I was mumbling something about 'do what you want to the women, but leave my palms alone'....I don't believe her...but...maybe I said that. I was delirious without sleep...

Steve- I'm glad to see you hooked up with Gary L. recently and even better news that you have made a good stand. It looks like the fire is headed north and south of you.  (Its your aura)

I keep hearing of fire or evacuation on or near De Luz road.  Thats the road you take to JD Andersens.  .  ???

I should add here that I spoke briefly with Gary this morning and you can tell its starting to hit him, or at least its just as bad not knowing.  He was gonna try a suggestion I made yesterday to get up to his place to see whats there.

I may try to go there too.

I should note work found its not as easy to schedule calls when an enormous part of SD is under evacuation.  I'm home again.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Wow you guys!  I haven't had television service in over 5 years and didn't have a clue what was going on!  Thank you for your updates.  I'm terribly saddened to hear about how many people's lives are being affected by this disaster.  Please keep the updates coming about your conditions.  People in my community will be praying for you.

[BS Man about Palms]

Great news,

Garys place relatively OK, see main forum for that update!!!!!

[happ]

Angelenos certainly know the power & destruction of wildfires and our hearts go out to the people of San Diego county   I am still trying to reach family who where evacuated from Rancho Penasquitos.  Also, does anyone know how Tierrasanta has managed in these fires?  I have a good friend who grows the best blood oranges I have ever eaten on his hillside in Tierrasanta.

The capricious nature of santa ana winds make it nearly impossible to predict exactly where the worst of the winds will occur [has something to do with the position of the high pressure system].  The mountains, canyons and passes funnel these terrible winds into gale force strength.  Dew points/relative humidity drop below 0% in places.  Almost anything can trigger a fire [starting up a lawn mower, backfire from a car, electrical wires touching tree branches, etc].  Burning debris the size of a loaf of bread were raining down on Malibu a mile from the original blaze  

Also, authorities are reporting that the Santiago canyon fire in Orange county was arson!

Today may be the last of this conflagration at it's worse.  Off shore winds are lowering and will continue to ease into Thursday when Pacific air moves in    Temps are in the 90's today but should also lower each day for the rest of the week.

Let's hope this terrible disaster ends soon  

[BS Man about Palms]

Happ- Haven't heard any news of fires in the two areas you mentioned.

Heard a new big fast fire has started between the Witch creek fire and Rice/ Rainbow fire and is headed or at least near Mt Palomar.

Valley Center now under evacuation.

Also just heard current evacuation levels for San Diego county at OVER 500,000 people.  There are NO empty hotels between Mexico and Orange county along the coast .   Thats on the order of more than 60 miles....

[elHoagie]

(STEVE IN SO CAL @ Oct. 23 2007,10:53)

QUOTE

My wife snapped this picture of me at sunrise. She said I was mumbling something about 'do what you want to the women, but leave my palms alone'....I don't believe her...but...maybe I said that. I was delirious without sleep...

Steve - What's that palm behind you?  Looks like a Dypsis with a trunk the size of a Jubaea...

Glad to hear your place has escaped the fires.

[Diane Kirkland]

I know some of you know my friend Henry Donselman -- he's in Poway and he and his family and his house are out of the way of the fire as of today.

My thoughts are with the rest of you -- I hope everyone makes it through with great luck.

D.

[BS Man about Palms]

(Diane Kirkland @ Oct. 23 2007,14:17)

QUOTE

I know some of you know my friend Henry Donselman -- he's in Poway and he and his family and his house are out of the way of the fire as of today.

My thoughts are with the rest of you -- I hope everyone makes it through with great luck.

D.

I thought he was in Florida?

[Diane Kirkland]

I thought he was in Florida?

Nope -- Henry Donselman has lived in the San Diego area for years.  He's in his second house.  He thinks his first house is in the path of the fire.

[osideterry]

Everything is bathed in a dirty orange here. Air quality terrible, probably from the Palomar fire.

[jenks]

Good to hear you are OK Steve. I hope it stays that way.

Yes, the Santiago fire was arson. That fire is not far from me. I used to hike into Majesca canyon all the time as a youngster.

Has anyone heard from John Shearson (epicure)? I think he may have had to evacuate - this is just speculation on my part.

Stay safe everyone and hang in there.

[jdapalms]

Our nursery in Deluz is OK at this time. We just returned to San Clemente with our dogs just in case something changes. San Clemente was under blue skys this morning when we left and as we got closer to Oceanside the sky became dark and cloudy. Hwy 76 was open but all the roads into Fallbrook were closed. We ended up driving to the I-15 into Temecula both sides of the freeway were chared and we could see the fire in the hills. The Good Earth Nursery along the Freeway did not look to good. We were allowed to go in at Rancho California. The nursery was under blue skys when we arrived. Smoke started getting heavy to the south which is down wind from us so we decided to leave just in case. Getting home was another story but we made it with a few detours.

I am glad to hear that Gary's place is OK and I hope everyone else in the area is also going to be OK.

It looks like a war zone in some area's.

[BS Man about Palms]

Early on John checked in, but from what I understand his area has been quite safe.

Terry, Its looked like that at my place all day.  I was out a little earlier "spritzing" my palm leaves and I was washing off a fair amount of ash.

That could qualify as a calender shot too.

The good news is that the past hours have brought several good things, the Santa Ana's have backed off alot.  This slows the advance of the fires quite noticably.

The other thing time has brought is a lot more air support (plus less wind) and they can stop advances pretty quickly.

The above has allowed some folks to return to the peripheral evacuation areas.  

IN a couple more days our normal on- shore breeze (with humidity) will return.  For a while we had some dewpoints in the low SINGLE DIGITS.

[BS Man about Palms]

Good News Jerry.

 

Thanks for the update.  Wait, It better be OK, I still have a palm in there!  ???

[brenda]

i am so very sorry to see this terrible santa anna fueled fire on my tv screen every night and even just watching from the comfort of my sofa terrifies me, just can not imagine what it's like to be in Socal, experiencing this. all the best in the world to you all, really thinking of you, hope things get better immediatly ... if not sooner, take care.

[osideterry]

Does anyone know how South Coast Palms did? Looking at a map of the burn area, it doesn't look good.

[PalmGuyWC]

I agree....the picture is calender qality. What a grim reminder of this terrible event. Beautiful shot.

Dick

[bgl]

Thanks for the updates, everybody! And Jerry, good to hear that your place in Fallbrook appears to be OK. Hopefully the same goes for Gary Wood's place. Indicentally, I stopped by at your place here a couple of hours ago. Everything nice and neat and very peaceful!

Incidentally, talked to the people who bought our house on Carriage Road in Poway (friends of ours). That area is safe, but apparently the fire, or at least the evacuation from the areas threatened by the fire, is just over a mile to the north. Apparently just south of Pomerado Road. That would possibly include Lyle Arnold's and Randy Moore's places.

[BS Man about Palms]

Bo-

I think your "undeveloped property" west of I-15 was in one of the burn zones.

I just did the easy thing.  I called Gary Wood. He said they're safe and fine, and although he is currently evacuated in Temecula, some people are watching near his place and said his place is fine.

 So, his sale (South Coast Palms) is still on!!  But I don't think its a fire sale!  Hooray!  

[bgl]

Bill,

In retrospect, probably a wise decision not to have developed those ten acres....but then again, we're living on top of a live volcano here, just to make sure that life doesn't get too dull!

Those 10 acres BTW, were on Artesian Road, about 3 miles W of I-15 and about a mile SE of Del Dios Highway (from a point about half a mile before entering RSF). At the time we sold the property (1997) there were maybe a dozen homes or so in that area, so it was mostly open land.

Incidentally, I meant to say "south of Espola Road" in my post above, not Pomerado. Pomerado, of course, runs S-N and Espola (at that point) is E-W.

Bo-Göran

[Phil]

Group,

I'm waiting for news from John (Epicure3) and Chip Arnold.  John's near the I-5 and I'm hoping is safe.  Chip's place would be more vulnerable in Poway.  I'm worried about him.  I am also discouraged by Bruce's comments about Irv's place in Fallbrook.  What a beautiful setting with all of his plants.  My concerns really goes out to Gary Levine and Jerry Hunter with apparent first hand comments about the fire approaching their homes.  As Jungle Music is a few blocks from the Ocean, we were quite safe.  But our love and concerns certainly go to all those in harm's way.

Phil

[JakeK]

Steve,

Glad you and the family are doing well.

I hope everyone else affected by the fires is out of harms way and safe.

[Urban Rainforest]

So glad to here that Gary, Jerry, Steve and others homes, families, nurseries and gardens are fine! All that good karma paid off. Best of luck to all in harms way.

Steve

[MattyB]

Thanks to all for your concerns for us here at Casa de MattyB (still need to name the garden officially, maybe "Gopher Asada")

Last night was unbelieveable, real nerve wracking!  Anyone in central San Diego could see the massive fire line burn over Mt. San Miguel and head down towards Spring Valley.  The sky was smokey and glowing all night. I knew that it only took a day for the fire to burn the 20 miles from ignition point to Spring Valley directly towards me the entire time, so we were real worried when we knew the flames were only a few miles away.  The cars are packed and I spent all night making preparations to fight the fire as best i could.  My neighbor Bob has a ecalyptus grove just upwind from me so I don't think I'll be safe to stay any longer than just putting out spot fires until the FD can make a stand.  Anyway, it seems that the winds are holding out for us now and the helicopters have slowed the blaze from starting up the backside of our hillside.  I got some much needed sleep today while the wife stood watch.  Just wanted to check in with my friends here.  Thank you for your prayers.  We're not out of the woods yet though.  The evacuation area keeps creeping towards us and around us and Dave's map shows it being just 5-6 blocks away, although we haven't received the reverse 911 evacuation call yet.  The San Miguel Fire Department is one of the best in the county and we can only hope that they keep the blaze from overtaking our hill.

Haven't checked in with Ron (foquieria) yet.  I assume he's busy packing or already evacuated as I heard that La Presa and the Dictionary Hill neighborhood was under mandatory evacuation last night.  He's just a quarter mile away over the peak from me.

We're safe for now.  See you later dudes.  Might plant a Phoenix tomorrow just to see if it'll rise from the flames.

[JD in the OC]

I'm reallly feeling for you guys out there.  I hate watching all this destruction and tragedy happening in my home state.  I had a brush fire come near my old house in Yorba Linda 3 years agp and it was pretty scary.  Prayers go out to everyone there...

[BS Man about Palms]

The latest update generally indicates fire progression has slowed down markedly on all points and the largest movements are generally towards very low population areas.

The biggest concern is now where the fires have "stopped". Until its much more humid and a dedicated directional breeze, a good sized fire can make its own weather and change direction at will.  So, the firefighters are worried that if they pull up to a place, will it be behind them in an instant.

On KUSI after the press conference they had Rep Duncan Hunter on.  It was very eye opening how beauracratic (sp) even firefighting can be.  Evidently, CALFire who "runs" the California firefighting uses independant contractors to fight fires complete with all the lobbying and smoozing in Sacramento that that involves.

They start calling down their list to see has what available for a given fire AND if that contractor thinks its safe enough to go up in the air.(I believe there are general guidelines) They will then go up airborne to fight a fire.  Fine and Good.

THE ANNOYING PART IS THIS. The Military, which has both Camp Pendleton here in San Diego county AND other fairly local areas have voluteered their heavy duty equipment to fight, trained crews and all.  THEY SIT. CALFire wants "their" spotter in the Miltary aircraft (they think the military guys won't know what a backfire is.- Hardly)

CALFire does not have enough spotters for the military aircraft, so they leave them sitting!  THIS includes huge C-130 aircraft which can make quick work of fires.  

This would be similar to a giant business being on fire and 2 fire trucks are there from the city its in.  Another fire truck shows up with a crew ready to go, but they are asked to sit there until they can find one of the local city guys to get on the truck to show them how to fight a fire!!!  

Sorry- venting just a bit.

[MattyB]

My Dad took some pictures, I'll share.

This is yesterday.

Taken from the top of Mt. Helix in La Mesa (north of my house) looking South East towards Jamul and the Harris fire still way out there.  Mt. San Miguel is the large mountain just right of center in the picture.