It's October - which means its FIRE TIME

[winter_elf]

Gads. On the front page of the Union Tribune for Sat, Oct 20, 2007 - photo of helitanker moved to Ramona Air base in case of Wildfires in the region and bold headlines that say "Santa Ana weather stokes fire worries".

Darn right it does! October is always when we get hit by the nasty blazes. This year was really, really, dry and Santa Ana winds in later Oct + dry conditions = a huge mess!

And guess what! Sunday ... 2 fires break out - one down near the border and the other.. Near Ramona! But it's so windy that the planes and helitankers can't get into the air!! It's practically 4 years to the day that the huge Cedar and Paradise fires burned a huge swath of brush and homes. So what do we have this year? The Witch and Harris fires and super high winds that are flaming out of control, spreading blazes with ZERO percent containment! And the Santa Ana's are expected to remain till Tue. Very bad news. It's past midnight, and I can hear the wind outside, it's very strong and gusty, just blowing the smoke into my area all day. Going outside is nasty - with ash and smoke its like walking into a fog bank. I should have taken a picture. I'll take one tomorrow morning in the light.

Am I in the fire line? Not likely. 10 or even 8 years ago - YES, this area was all rural brush and canyons. Then, the development started. The canyons have been filled in, the brush cleared and houses built. We are actually surrounded by development, a new wide road, landscaping and cleared ground.

Comments

[strigine.livejournal.com]

We weren't getting the smoke so bad today, but I suspect it'll be worse tomorrow. I could definitely smell it, though, and there was a haze. Now I feel trapped in my apartment! :P I have errands to run on the bus tomorrow, damn it.

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

just be glad you're not up in this area! It's really horrible in Del Mar.