Writing About Wildfire

For my birthday yesterday, I got great fires! It's almost the fourth anniversary of the terrible Cedar fire that killed several people and destroyed much property, including 10 homes in my community. The fire burned within two blocks of my house that year.

I've been sneezing for 14 hours. Last night, Ramona, a quaint town of 36,000 people, was evacuated. This Witch fire (named for a creek) started in the same region as the Cedar fire, split into two parts around Ramona again, and one of them is headed for my community, just like four years ago. Only the timing differs. I was up all night with maps and TV, trying to gauge the course and speed of the flame wall and whipping embers. Hurricane-force (75 mph) Santa Ana winds are pushing the burns quickly from the mountains to the coast (west). It jumps highways, sometimes sparking again a mile away. I saw 200-foot high flames jumping up and licking at the stars.

When live coverage began again at 4 a.m., we learned we have eight fires burning San Diego County from the north boundary with Riverside across the border into Mexico. It's as if a god dropped a handful of burning matchsticks on this county which is the size of the state of Connecticut. The winds didn't calm down over night as they usually do. By now my throat hurts, my eyes burn -- and my windows are closed! The temperature is expected to hit 94 degrees here near the coast. Humidity is 12% and less. All night I debated evacuating myself to a motel with air conditioning to relieve my allergies as well as the anxieties. The fire moves so fast, authorities sometimes can't get the word out to evacuate fast enough ... and one admitted they didn't want everyone to leave at once. Where would we go, anyway?

In addition to the smaller evacuations near the border, fire officials just called for everyone between I-5 and I-15 north of SR 56 and south of Lake Hodges/Del Dios Road to get out, run for your lives. That's a huge amount of people and some of the most expensive homes in the area -- Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Santa Fe, Olivenhain and Fairbanks Ranch. That means the roads are gridlocked, so when/if they call for Tierrasanta to evacuate, we won't be able to get out. The community is a cul-de-sac anyway, but fire can come at us easily from three sides. Stay tuned.