Oct
23
Well, the thick smoke settled in today here in our neck of North County San Diego with a shift in the winds. Up until this morning we had escaped both the fire and the smoke with eerily clear sunny blue skies kept that way by the same strong Santa Ana winds that were fanning all the wildfires. We woke up this morning – well, we didn’t really sleep much last night – to brown skies and a layer of ash covering everything outside. Looking at a small pile of ash that had gathered on the hood of one of our cars, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was all that remained from some unlucky family’s house.
Since Interbike’s offices are up north in Orange County about 38 miles away (with their own fire issues), I’ve been staying home with family with eyes glued to the news watching the progression of the fires and waiting to see if we needed to evacuate. We spent a good part of the day Monday packing clothes, irreplaceables like photos and family video tapes, batteries, flashlights, our emergency radio, food and other supplies just in case we got the call to leave. Backed up our Mac’s hard drive and videoed a walk-through of the house in case we needed to make an insurance claim. Luckily finished that before we lost power. That was an ominous moment, but it came back on about an hour later.
I have to say, being originally from the New York/New England area where the biggest natural ‘disasters’ are blizzards and ice storms, the prospect of having to leave our home with only the essentials (yes, the bikes are ready to go on the roof rack), to possibly return to a pile of burnt rubble was pretty scary. A little surreal, but scary.
There was some miscommunication on tv and one of our neighbors panicked and left with the family and started driving north toward LA claiming he heard our town had been issued a mandatory evacuation order.
I read Masiguy Tim Jackson’s post about the Southern California wildfires last night. I recognize all of the sights in his photos since our home is only a couple of miles from Masi world headquarters. I saw that red sun he mentioned today. It would have been beautiful if it weren’t the result of such a horrible disaster.
Monday morning, Matt, one of my co-workers that lives here in SD county about 5 minutes away, called me early in the morning about going in to work. He was worried about being too ‘alarmist’ about not wanting to go to work since he could see the flames from his son’s second floor window in the distant hills to the east. I reassured him that the safety of his family comes first. I finally managed to log onto email today and get a bit of work done.
So far, our area seems to be out of danger and no orders to leave have been given. The next town to the south had some mandatory evacuations, but we are doing good and are staying put. Believe me, though, I don’t plan on being the stubborn guy who refuses to leave and fights the flames with a garden hose if the fire changes course towards us. We’re all packed and ready to go.
Praise needs to go out to the people of San Diego. The same personality traits that Julie and I have loved about the people of Southern California since moving here 6 years ago are proving to be a big part of the success of the evacuations and emergency efforts here. Everyone seems to be relatively calm, patient, generous and good natured during this tough time.
I hope the rest of our biking friends and their families in Southern California are well and safe.
Comments
2 Responses to “Our San Diego Wildfires”
This really is a scary time. We can’t see flames anywhere here, but the smoke and ash are everywhere. My eyes burn sitting in the office- the air filtration in the AC can’t get it all out.
To all- be safe.
Hey Rich – glad you guys are safe and sound. So scary – even from watching 3,000 miles away.
I hope this weekend brings you relaxing, stressfree sleep. My fingers are crossed.
Be safe…