Wild fires breaking out near homes in San Diego County

[itsrobert]

Evacuation area: South of Carmel Valley between Camino Del Sur and Black Mtn.

Be safe San Diego DUers. It's hot, dry, and windy. this could get a lot worse.

[randys1]

1. The weather and drought is gonna make for total hell this year, I am afraid

[oldandhappy]

2. will check the news

Hot and windy at the moment.

[itsrobert]

3. Channel 51 has coverage

zips 92127 and 92129 alert issued

[oldandhappy]

6. Thank you

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. One zip code on the other side of the 15

I was at campo, an hour away, when I got a message from sister. So instead of covering this, watching over nephews. Medical emergency. I suspect I will be on that line on the morning, or later tonight actually.

[maddezmom]

4. ABC news alert just said 20,000 homes order evacuated.

[malaise]

10. That's a lot of evacuations

Damn!!

Stay safe DUers

[Brother Buzz]

12. 21,000 by some accounts

At this point it's unclear if the evacuations are mandatory or advised. Either way, people are on high alert, and that's good.

[Cha]

19. Wow! thanks mm

[pinboy3niner]

5. Cal Fire: #BernardoFire now 700 acres and 5% contained. nt

[WillyT]

7. Thinks Can Get Real Bad, Real Fast... Oakland 1991...

Infrared aerial photograph of the firestorm. The Highway 13/24 intersection is at center.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_firestorm_of_1991

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Check both 2003 and 2007 for San Diego

[dhill926]

8. nail biting time this week….

and it ain't even summer. Freakin' blast furnace today...

[itsrobert]

9. Hotter tomorrow

n/t

[dhill926]

11. yep.....

glad I get to stay home on the coast tomorrow…but hell, it's 85 here right now. And windy….

[FarCenter]

13. 8 Weather Update

We haven't had heat like this in over a century. According to National Weather Service records, we haven't had a May this hot since 1896. West of the mountains Tuesday you can expect temperatures to range from the low to upper 90's this afternoon, not to discount the low humidity and gusty winds. Temperatures will increase through Thursday, eventually passing 100.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/9532416/8-weather-update

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. I have said it before, we are in for a wicked fire season

And people at times laugh.

Say hi to climate change...it might finally sink in.

Now scanner and all that...jazz

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Presser

Mayor Kevin Faulconer has declared this a local state of emergency and applauded all kinds of first responders.

SDFD Chief Javier Mainar said that they have the two city choppers that could be flown at night if needed, if cal fire agrees.

He also said that the emergency has passed.

They sent out 5000 calls to residences through Alert San Diego ( reverse 911) which is where the 20k number probably came from, per Sheriff Bill Gore.

800 acres-5% contained but " they have a pretty good handle on it."

Faulconer's quote of the day, referring to First Respinders, "thank you for an extraordinary effort."

Sent from my iPad

[2naSalit]

28. Is part of that area

in Darth Issa's District? I know he has Vista but I'm not sure the extent of it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. No. It is not.

http://issa.house.gov/ca-49-interactive-map/

Here is his district. It burned just south of it

[2naSalit]

33. Thanks for map.

Haven't been down that way for quite a spell but remember it well. I hauled gas to every damned gas station in 5 counties, only forgot some of them!

Get some sleep, hope you have AC!! And eat melons - cucumbers, cantaloups and watermelon to stay hydrated and keep from getting heat stroke!!! If you do get overheated, eat some melons!! and drink water. Salt helps but melons will bring you out of heat exhaustion.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Waiting for the last of news reports.

It sounds this is not contained but controlled

Oh and gas stations, I know where the cheaper ones are in the county

[Cha]

18. Oh dear.. shades of the last really terrible fire that consumed so much in

San Diego County! Stay safe!

thank itsrobert

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. Yes and no, too much inside baseball

This fire is under unified command between SDFD and CAL FIRE. This means they are even on the same radio channels and radio gear.

In 2003 they could not talk to each other. In 2007 sort off. Don't get me wrong, there is still friction between the fire fighters, but the leadership, we all wear different patches but are here to do the same thing. That makes a world of difference.

Though there are shades of 2007 that are more obvious with the local media. I get it, I can get to Rancho Bernardo easy, nice, wide paved roads, and multi million homes. Thankfully, unlike 2007, the fires in the back country yesterday staid small. Though one looked like it was starting to make a run. In 2007 they consumed whole swaths of hard to reach places with....poor people. But from the coverage, you would have never known.

Some of the areas not covered in 2007, Potrero, campo (where we had a start with potential and a structure lost yesterday), Crest...Julian was threatened as well as sta Ysabel. Ramona, and Santee. This list is all but inclusive.

Now time for me to turn on the pesky scanner (and hopefully no medical emergencies) we decided to let the big boys cover the easy story from all angles (and luckily the fire service is doing a bang up job) but we know a fire breaks in places where people live in shacks, they will not go. But I will...and if it's bad enough, with a couple cases of water to boot.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. By the way, as I get ready to write the story on the OTHER fire that happened today in San Diego

Last edited Wed May 14, 2014, 12:55 AM - Edit history (1)

I should note that I had to fight to keep control of my jeep on I-8. Them were some damn wicked winds right there. I could not believe big rigs were on the road to be honest. I could feel the wind buffet the vehicle.

Oh the other fire was on Campo, near La Posta Road (where? I know) on the 94. It started as a structure fire, on a double wide trailer, per radio traffic, which was lost. It went into the vegetation. The OTHER fire started soon after and for a little while it got hairy, as this small (it staid to under three acres) jumped the 94 and resources, for some strange reasons, became a tad on the do we have enough? I was reminded of what happened when the Chockey fire started two years ago.

And to be fair, there were several other fires today.

[rudolph the red]

26. i drove home from Utah today

It was a kind of windy near Campo.

[2naSalit]

30. Semis that have a good load on

will burn a lot of fuel but likely to stay "down" until it gets way beyond what your Jeep could handle... 80,000lbs takes some doing to knock over. Trucks with light loads or running empty, they are like cardboard boxes in that kid of wind...kites on wheels some of us used to say.

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Thanks.

Yeah, that jeep can go anywhere but it is light

[2naSalit]

35. Best way to tell if yyou are

close to a light loaded truck or a weighed down one is to look at the trailer tires, if they have a bulge at the bottom and they roll over bumps, they're heavy, might get pushed around some but unless it's tornadoes, not likely to roll. If they have no bulge at the bottom of the tires - they "bounce" or bob over bumps, be more cautious in wind like that, also look at the fifth wheel, where the trailer sits on the tractor, in wind like that you might even see daylight... if you see that, get the heck away from them! In winds like that a good gust will throw them, and anything in the way, off the pavement. Empty flatbeds will just flip over without warning.

Be safe out there!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

21. It's so hot and dry in southern California

with these awful high winds. This weather usually comes around for a couple of weeks in September or later. But this is supposed to continue right through the entire summer, with temps 20 degrees higher than usual. Even though we only live about three miles from the beach you'd scarcely know it. It feels like the middle of the Mojave desert.

[rufus dog]

22. Weird stuff, windy and dry every day

I can't remember a week like this in May in the thirty years in SoCal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Well you would be correct

channel 8 was saying that the last time we had this weather pattern was 1884.

So since nether of us was alive back then.

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. Evacs have been lifted

and I fear I need to go crash. Another day like today... tomorrow...

All gear is packed and ready to go, scanner is charging... though it is doing something odd. And camera has fresh new card, while my recorder has fresh batteries. Barring any medical emergencies... though I will be again turned to rural and montevista, as well as heartland.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Before I go to bed, Sheriff Gore said we made 5000 calls to residences

and we are hearing 20K+ people evacuated.

For any future reference they are all talking the same number. No. it is not new math.

The Sherriffs office talks in how many calls the system has made. Those are logged, and are to physical homes. The Fire Department uses the logic of 4 people per residence. So 5x4=20, just add necessary zeros.

Now they are also starting to log in cell phones, which will make that calculation a tad harder, since a few members of the household might have a phone, and a cell phone.

In a very small evacuation, let's say a block, they can count physical heads. A major one, they have to do this.

[Brother Buzz]

27. How does Hell does that square with this statement?

The city of San Diego issued between 16,000 and 17,000 evacuation orders, according to San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, including 300 that Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman described as mandatory. Gore said the sheriff's department issued an additional 5,000 evacuation orders outside city limits.

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/05/13/3063188/california-heat-wave-building.html?sp=/99/177/348//#storylink=cpy

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. And the county said 20k homes

And had that on the emergency site. It looks like somebody did not tell the Sheriff. I was going by usual formula when he said 5K at the presser.

[Brother Buzz]

40. Wrong, Sheriff Gore knew and released the numbers at a press briefing.

The city of San Diego issued between 16,000 and 17,000 evacuation orders, according to San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, including 300 that Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman described as mandatory. Gore said the sheriff's department issued an additional 5,000 evacuation orders outside city limits.

"usual formula"?

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. One more detail

Here is the other fire today.

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/campo-fire-destroys-structure

The poverty in the backcountry is heart breaking. It was an echo of 2007 when we all heard of Rancho Bernardo, Crest (which is much closer than Campo) was devastated. The area where the fire was today in Campo, that also was devastated in 2007. Potrero nobody heard of it.

No, not saying the fire that burns one shed (could be a home, it is the back country) is more important. Bernardo is affecting thousands. But as social justice warriors we all need to be aware of this.

And that photo of the shed...it is your back country. That is the level of poverty we have.

On a humorous note, I, and fire fighters, annoyed a rattler. They get down right ornery when a fire strikes. Yes, I wear boots and they can strike up to 1/3 of their body length, I like more than that to be honest.

[pinboy3niner]

38. Cal Fire 7am update: 800 acres/25% contained/All evacuations have been lifted

http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=956

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Trivia, the only reason you are getting the cal fire

Update, is the unified command. Cal fire has the most robust PR operation of all agencies involved, why Luke, the PIO for SDFD who is good, is not doing this. The city fire has a PIO program, but they truly not maintain the FB page, nor do much of the twitter, and suck at nixle. Cal-fire made this a mission after the 2007 fires. So they have dedicated fire captains as PIOs. It's a division now, and that includes social media.