Still here....

It is surreal to be here in San Diego County during this whole ordeal. We have been watching the tv all day and hearing things like:
dryest it's been in 130 years
over 250,000 evacuated from different parts of the county
humidity levels below 10% (many below 5%)
Winds ranging from 25 mph to 60 mph

We've seen incredible photos of whole sides of mountains on fire and neighborhoods choked with smoke.

But here, it's very very quiet. No one has left our neighborhood, and no evacuation has been called here. The winds are very gusty outside, but the smell of smoke that permeated here a couple of hours ago is all but gone.

Still, I can tell there is acrid smoke in the air because my nose is starting to burn, and I've only set foot outside for a grand total of 15 minutes all day.

Even the nicely defined billows of smoke we could see in the morning are mostly gone. I guess that is because of the windy conditions. It's gotten hotter and hotter all day long and now it kind of feels like Arizona here - just damn hot.

The fire to the north of us (in Fallbrook) apparently burst out of control after officials thought they had it in hand, and now there is a new wave of evacuation calls for several communities north and east of us. Still, nothing for our area.

The San Marcos fire, which is the one that I was most worried about, doesn't seem to have gone anywhere at all today. So, here we still sit, although we've started to doze off a bit from all the anticipation and no action.

The thing that bothers me right now is that if we were called to leave at some point tonight, all the shelters nearest to us have already been filled to capacity. Where would we go?

Here are some of the fireblog headline updates:


Governor calls in the state National Guard
3:24 p.m.

Military offers route through Camp Pendleton
2:53 p.m.

San Diego Harbor Police join the wildfire attack
2:40 p.m

More evacuations ordered – The Emergency Alert System (EAS) has been activated.
2:22 p.m.

Mandatory evacuations, updated
2:10 p.m.
As of 1:45 p.m mandatory evacuations are ordered for the folowing area:
Everything south of Scripps Poway Parkway
North of MCAS Miramar
East of Interstate 15
West of Highway 67

Shelter updates
2:01 p.m.
San Diego County Office of Emergency Serivces has just issued the following fire storm shelter update:

As of 1:45 p.m., here is the most current status of Emergency Shelters:

Shelters that still have capacity
Qualcomm Stadium
Santana High School
Poway Community Park
Poway Girls & Boys Club
Campo Community Center
Mission Hills High School

Full Shelters
Del Mar Fairgrounds
Steele Canyon High School
Escondido High School
Mira Mesa High School
San Marcos High School (temporary shelter)
these are all the ones that are closest to us!

Mandatory Fallbrook evacuation
1:05 p.m.

Mandatory Valley Center evacuation
1:05 p.m.

Mandatory evacuations in Poway announced
1:00 p.m.

Updates for Harris, Witch and McCoy fires
12:58 p.m.

The Harris Fire is 20,000 acres and 5 percent contained. They are currently mapping the fire. Aircraft is periodically grounded due to high winds and visibility. The Southwest Powerline was shut off yesterday and to remain shut for unknown duration of time. San Diego County Sheriff and U. S. Border Patrol are handling immigrant issues including the rescuing, medical treatment, and identification of individuals. Otay Lakes Road is next fire decision making point for impact to San Diego City and Chula Vista. Multiple structures have been destroyed. There are 55 engines, 4 bulldozers, 9 fire crews, 6 helicopters, 5 airtankers (assigned), 6 water tenders (400 firefighters). The cause is still under investigation.

The Witch Fire is 10,000 acres, 0% contained. The fire is still spread westerly. Currently there is 28 engines, 1 dozer, 14 fire crews, 2 water tenders, 18 overhead (369 firefighters). Multiple structures have been destroyed. There have been no injuries to firefighters and one injury to a civilian. Communities threatened: Highland Valley, City of San Diego/Rancho Bernardo, City of Escondido, City of Lakeside, Barona Indian Reservation, City of Poway, Wild Animal Park, Mt. Woodson, Muth Valley. Wind driven fire with spotting up to 1/2 mile. Rapid fire spread burning down hill, down canyon. The fire is burning primarily in unburned fuel between the 2003 Paradise and Cedar Fires.

The McCoy Fire is a U.S. Forest Service fire it is at Boulder Creek and Eagle Peak. It is 400 acres and 5% contain. They are looking at full containment on October 23rd. One structure has been destroyed. Currently they have 5 engines, and 3 overhead which is about 30 firefighters. The cause is under investigation.

The Rice Fire is 300 acres 0 percent contained. The location is in Rice Canyon in the northern part of San Diego County. The fire started on October 22 at 4:16 am. 250 structures are threatened and 1 has been destroyed. No mandatory evacuations at this time. The cause is under investigation. Firefighters are attempting to keep the fire in the area of Rice Canyon to east, I-15 to the west, Rainbow Heights to north and Hwy 76 to South. The fire is currently burning into agricultural areas.