Half the people in my area (north San Diego county) had to evacuate, and everyone else is staying inside to avoid breathing the smoke. My neighborhood is far enough away from the fires that we won’t need to evacuate unless the winds really pick up. There is a great new system here (reverse 911) that generates automatic calls to everyone who has to evacuate. This is good because many people went to bed on Sunday with absolutely no idea of what was going to happen early Monday.

The fires spread really fast because (1) the dry hot Santa Ana winds from Utah and Nevada were blowing at really high speeds, (2) the area is in a bad drought this year, (3) the year before was very wet which allowed lots of vegetation to grow. Temperatures are over 15 degrees above what they should be in late October, and the humidity is super low.

Schools and universities in the county will be closed for at least a week.

I have learned lots of useful stuff like how to open my garage door if the power goes out, and i need to evacuate, and how not to use wipers to clean ash off windows (it scratches the glass).

I have been really lucky not to have to evacuate. Once in the late 90s there was a fire that started while I was at work. I tried to drive home to my apartment, but I was blocked by a fleet of fire trucks. I could not get to my apartment to save anything.That night I stayed at friends and kept calling my home phone to see if the answering machine would pick up. It did, so I figured the apartment had not burned down yet. The next day I was allowed back. The fire came right up to vegetation about 10 feet from my porch, but fortunately the apartment survived. Unfortunately though, many homes in my neighborhood were completely destroyed. But it was nothing compared to the current fires.

My friend’s still feeling pretty rotten, but I’ll post an update when things change. (I almost said when/if, but decided to go with the positive thinking. Norman Vincent Peale would be proud.) Also, I appreciate the suggestions that I did something so great for my friend, but ya know, I’m unemployed now and it’s easy to make time for something like this. I know of many other instances of TGWers going above and beyond for their friends in need, even very recently, and so kudos to them. You know who you are. And you, too, Miller – good luck with the full house.