SoCal Folks, Please Check In!

I see on the news that Malibu is on fire and that it's nowhere near being contained.    Having lived through some bad fires in both Northern and Southern California, I know how quickly they can spread.  It's scary this time of year when things are so bone dry that it seems like a hearty sneeze can set off a raging inferno. I know Jennie is fine since she's over in the Ontario area.  How about the rest of you? Californians often joke about having four seasons (spring, summer, fire, and flood), but fire really never is funny.  It doesn't help that I have a fear of fires. Kix

The fires are bad -- beginning to remind me of the horrible fire storms of 5 years ago.  The winds are terrible - and are to continue for 2-3 more days.  The humidity level is down to 7% here - and all the brush is so very dry. We are in a drought, with little to no rain at all this year, so the winds, temps in the 90's and power lines being blown down are all contributing factors.  The San Diego area is also being very hard hit.  I have some friends there who are impacted severely! Keep us in your prayers - it's going to be a tough week here!

We're at the Foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. The winds were bad yesterday afternoon in our area, but I have seen much worse. Thank goodness no fires in our nearby vicinity yet. There were more than 11 fires burning in So Calif. at one point yesterday. It's really awful. No rain in the past year, then add wind and heat and it doesn't make a good mixing! We're supposed to be at close to 100 degrees today and through at least Wed. or Thurs. My prayers go out to all the Firefighters and their families, I know it's their job, but it's a rough one. Overnight two fires have started in Ontario!

My girlfriend just called she lives in Lake Arrowhead and they are under voluntary evacuations right now - they are packing up and leaving now before it gets worse.   They were out in their house almost 2 weeks last time there were fires.

I'm watching the live feed on KNBC on the internet.  I think this is the scariest scenario I've ever seen, it seems like fires are breaking out all over the place. I have friends in Agua Dulce, and I'm worried about them.  I tried calling, which was useless.  I'll just wait until I hear from them.  They have a ranch and have a bunch of animals they have to think about moving every time there's an evacuation order. I hate fire.  I hate the feeling of not knowing whether you need to pack up and run, or stay and try to fight it.  In this case, I'd probably run, and pray the whole time I was running.  I've been in that situation enough times to know I don't want to do it again.  At least with earthquakes, they just show up, you don't have the dread of knowing it's imminent. What makes me want to cry is that I heard there aren't enough firefighters and resources to fight all the fires.  "A lot of people will lose their homes today."  Stay safe, keep us posted! Kix

Hubby just called he was on the 5 Freeway and said you could barely see 2 cars in fron t of you it was so bad. What makes me sick is they are already saying some of these fires were Arson. MY girlfriend called and said they are having a hard time getting off the mountain, traffic is very bad, lots of closed roads and freeways and so far 40-50 homes have burned.

I swtiched over to KNX's live broadcast, KNBC's feed kept pixeling.  I wish I wasn't so familiar with Southern California, as they read off all the areas where the fires are burning, it amazes me just how many fires are burning, and how fierce they are.  KNX has an unconfirmed report of 100 homes burned at Arrowhead, and three of the fires in San Diego have merged.  Sigh.   Did I hear correctly that Irvine is burning, too? When I evacuated during the Oakland fire, it was scary because the roads were narrow and winding, not made for large volumes of cars.  I was terrified that the fire would get us before we could get out of the neighborhood.   How sick do you have to be to deliberately set a fire? Kix

Irvine is where they have confirmed that 3 fires were arson. Hubby was just at Foothill Ranch at the Oakley Plant and said stupid people are lining the streets to watch the fire, they are jamming the intersections and making it all even worse.