Firestorm 2003

[lawrocket 3]

Rosa:

How are things in Simi Valley? I've got an ex-girlfriend living there on the eastern end, just north of the 118..

Concerned...

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[geronimo 1]

Quote

>has anyone heard from kate?

Kate's good as of late last night. She's actually pretty far (20 miles or so) from the fires.

article link
Students idled by Mountain Fire near Temecula

01:52 PM PST on Monday, October 27, 2003

By IONA PATRINGENARU and DOUGLAS QUAN
The Press-Enterprise

Six homes and a total of 24 structures have been destroyed or damaged in the Mountain Fire east of Lake Skinner, which has consumed 10,000 acres.

Capt. Rick Vogt, CDF spokesman, said the fire has caused an estimated $1.5 milion property damage. More than 450 homes are still without power in the Sage area.

Vogt said that 25 percent of the fire has been contained, with estimated full containment at 8 a.m. tomorrow, with 380 personnel fighting the fire.

More than 300 homes have been evacuated. The evacuation center at Temecula Valley High School housed 60 to 70 people overnight.

There have been two civilian injuries, one with minor burns and one with smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Some 1,500 children are out of school today in the outlying areas of Hemet Unified School District. The schools include Hamilton, Cottonwood and Idyllwild schools. They will most likely be closed tomorow, said district Superintendent Phil Pendley.

Connie Newby, office manager at Cottonwood School in Aguanga, said that they can see a lot of smoke.

Newby said that bus drivers drove their regular routes to makes sure any kids who were waiting at bus stops went home.

Newby drove in from Menifee on Highway 79 and she said there was smoke on road, but that it diminished as she got closer to the school. Now, the smoke has caught up with them.

"We can't see any flames. If we did, we'd be out of here." said Newby.
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see also
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more at pe.com
Skydiver at Work

I also drove down to take a look-see at the Mountian fire - as the smoke was coming my way this morning. It's still small - sort of like the Old fire was last Thursday when I drove to work. Hope it stays that way.


Duffy sent me this from the noon news in SD:
fire pix
.

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I have a dream that my posts will one day will not be judged by the color of the fonts or settings in a Profile but by the content.
Geronimo_AT_http://ParachuteHistory.com

[dgskydive 0]

Kate is alive and well. She is here in the office today. I think she may still be worried about orange kitty.

Dom

[ltdiver 3]

Damn! This picture from pe.com shows just North of where I work by one block!

I've been on vacation so didn't know just HOW close the fire has come to my place of employment!

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[steve1 5]

Let's hope the winds go down. These kind of fires are nearly unstoppable without lot's of help from nature. When I was on a fire crew some of our people fought fire in California. Most of them came home with a huge respect for fires in Southern California because they can move so fast when the wind get's to whipping. I knew one guy who had his crew all pop their fire shelters on a ridge road because there was no escaping the flames. Later that day he reamed out some bosses who put them in the wrong place in that kind of wind. It's too bad they don't have more planes dropping retardant. That can help a lot, but is very expensive......Steve1

[ltdiver 3]

I don't know what number of fire support planes they have flying, but I can hear the ones for the 'Old Waterman Fire' overhead almost constantly.

The winds seem to have died down alot since yesterday, which is indeed helping the effort. Let's hope they stay that way.

btw, I called my work (to see if there was still a place to return to tomorrow, or are they evac'd). There's alot of smoke blowing overhead and ash, but they have not recieved an order to leave (yet). We'll see what is in store when I get there tomorrow.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[skybytch 259]

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It's too bad they don't have more planes dropping retardant.

According to my son, who spent a couple of hours sitting at the end of the runway at the airport in Hemet (about 15 - 20 miles from the Temecula fire), they had 17 fire bombers flying out of there yesterday - including a few Orion's that usually fly out of Paso Robles (he recognized those from when we lived up there).

[RickyResQ 0]

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a firefighter/paramedic for a department in San Diego County. I was called out on a strike team very early Friday Morning, so I wasn't able to be home in San Diego fighting those fires.

I've been assigned to what is being called the "Grand Prix Fire" in Rancho Cucamonga. It has now combined with the "Old Fire" making one large bas as mo fo. Saturday night was insane. More fire than I could ever imagine. We did lose some homes... Very expensive ones, I might add.

As soon as I get back home, and get some sleep, I will post pics. Be safe.

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All I need is a handfull of throttle, tit, and toggle.
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[mjosparky 3]

Quote

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a firefighter/paramedic for a department in San Diego County. I was called out on a strike team very early Friday Morning, so I wasn't able to be home in San Diego fighting those fires.

I've been assigned to what is being called the "Grand Prix Fire" in Rancho Cucamonga. It has now combined with the "Old Fire" making one large bas as mo fo. Saturday night was insane. More fire than I could ever imagine. We did lose some homes... Very expensive ones, I might add.

As soon as I get back home, and get some sleep, I will post pics. Be safe.

Eric,
Keep your head down and remember, that fire will go out with or without you.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[skybytch 259]

Quote

As soon as I get back home, and get some sleep, I will post pics. Be safe.

Be safe.... that applies to you too!

Thank you. I know it's your job, but it's a tough job, especially right now, and what you do is very much appreciated.

[wmw999 2,166]

Quote

I'm a firefighter/paramedic for a department in San Diego County

The people who fight fires are among those who are irreplaceable. Stay safe.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Islandcool 0]

Man Eric I haven't seen you in a while. Take care bro and drop me a PM sometime.

Ed

[billvon 2,462]

Updates -

The fire's retreated from us, it's about 10 miles away at this point. We can just barely see it from our roof. It's 1:25PM here right now but it's about as dark as it gets 30 minutes after sunset. The streetlights are coming on, and the orange sodium lights are the same color as the light coming through the smoke - wish I had a camera here.

Right now I'm sitting in my office, where they've just installed HEPA filters in the air handling system, and you can barely smell the smoke. Pretty cool. Looking out the window I can see perhaps 2 blocks through the smoke and ash.

Attached is a picture of Otay just before the evacuation.

[VanillaSkyGirl 6]

(Quote)~
Rosa:

How are things in Simi Valley? I've got an ex-girlfriend living there on the eastern end, just north of the 118..

Concerned... (end quote)

My best to your ex. Things have not been too good with the Simi Valley fire, although (personally) things looked and smelled more ominous last night. Last night as I was driving into the northwest part of the valley, I was gagging and chocking. We wore masks outside (even the CSUN students were wearing masks on the street). Currently, I am not sure of the exact status of those in Simi Valley. It is a possibility that your ex may have had to evacuate last night.

My whole family (including my brother, who flew home from Canada last night) was at my parents' home helping them pack up until late last night. My folks left behind almost everything, but we still loaded up 8 cars with our most sentimental valuables, including every last photo/video, legal documents, original artifacts from Peru, sentimental collector's items and favorite paintings. (Yup, my 2 brothers and I use my parents' home as a storage area for our valuables since their home is quite large and secured.) My mother and grandmom stayed with one brother, and my dog stayed with the other. My father, who is an obstetrician/gynecologist, slept at the hospital, in case one of his patients went into labor over night.

Today, after inquiring if I could drive in (no mandatory evacuation, yet), I stopped at my parents' home to pick up a box that I left behind (my bills!). Currently, there are helicopters surveying and spraying everywhere. Going west on the 118, the freeway is closed off at Tampa. I took back streets, and the helicopters are landing on some land quite close to my parent's and their neighbor's homes (sort-of the end of the street)...it's strange to watch. I am so grateful that the Fire Dept. is here protecting our loving homes. All you hear and see is helicopters flying back and forth...all night and all day...

I have a good feeling that despite the struggles/threats, the Simi Valley fire will not reach my parent's homes. If it does, at least my family (and dog) is safe. Let us all hope and pray that ALL the fires will have better containment with no more fatalities. Thank you all whom have inquired about my family.

[lawrocket 3]

Rosa:

Thak you so much for the update. The couple of times I tried calling all circuits were busy.

Best of luck to you and your family, Rosa.

Sending vibes to all my SoCal brethren (sure, I live in Fresno now, but it is my homeland)

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[dropdeded 0]

got smoke coming into the Southern San Joaquin Valley, (the grapevine)

I can see it from bakersfield

dropdeded

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The Dude Abides.
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[lawrocket 3]

Here's a new photo of the fire in the mountains around LA taken from the international space station...

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[ltdiver 3]

I spent the later afternoon (after work where the ash was layering our cars outside) driving around San Bernardino neighborhoods. All of the side streets were posted "Residents Only", but the black and ruined homes were visible from the main streets of town.

Families dotted the neighborhoods, sharing grief and disbelief...

The more I saw, houses in shambles with burned palm trees and chard fencing surrounding all, the more anger I felt. Anger directed at WHO ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH WOULD IGNITE SUCH A HORRIBLE EVENT??!!

We have a composite now, a drawing of the likeness of one of the suspects of the "Old Waterman Fire" pictured HERE. Along with this comes a $50,000 reward for arrest and conviction of the arsonist.

Help us find him!

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[Viking 0]

bill did anything at Otay survive? Either way atleast it will be MUCH easier to find a cutaway!!

I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver
My God has a bigger dick than your god -George Carlin

[wmw999 2,166]

There's a thread in "skydiving" about Otay (at least now we know you come to dz.com for the parachuting stuff, Arthur ). Pretty much everything survived, thanks to a crazily heroic ultralight pilot.

But the "crazily" part is more important -- that was a damn stupid thing to do.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)