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Tuesday, October 23. 2007
San Diego is Burning
It’s 5 a.m. Tuesday Morning and the smell of smoke doesn’t seem as bad, although, it’s been such a constant presence for the past 40 hours we may just be getting used to it. To get a little Frank Zappa here: Sorta like farting all night and you can’t tell your room smells like an outhouse — but anyone who walks in will know immediately!
Monday I was working at the J.O.B., wondering all day whether I would ever get back to my residence. Around noon I heard one supervisor tell another all the businesses in the area where I live closed. Well, that wasn’t a reassuring note. I ride my Trek and use the bus system to get to-and-from the J.O.B. so when I left work at 2 p.m. I wondered what I would be riding into; to the North, where I was going, the sky was dark with smoke. When the bus was ten minutes late I decided to call the transit system and see if the buses were still running. At about that time the bus rounded the corner and life seemed to be righting itself. Sorta.
Just to be on the safe side, I asked the driver how far North she was going? “Rancho Peñasquitos,” she replied. Oh … that’s not too bad. That was further than where I was going, but still 15 miles short of the usual end of that bus line. And only four miles from where I live. As we traveled North into the brown air, several Blackhawk helicopters were leaving Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, heading North above Interstate 15. I could only guess they were heading towards the fire, maybe for search and rescue as it didn’t appear they had any fire-fighting capability. Either way, it was comforting to see them in the air.It wasn’t until I got home and saw the news that the enormity of the fires became apparent. We were (are) surrounded on three sides by fire.
As of this morning “The Witch Fire” has consumed over 150,000 acres and the “Harris Fire” nearly 25,000 acres. A third major fire — not to be confused with the half dozen smaller fires — is burning through Camp Pendleton and making its way to Orange County. That one is called the “Rice Fire,” Don’t know why, probably named for the canyon or creek where it started in San Marcos. I have some friends living in San Marcos and the daughter told me the fire was actually heading in their direction but then winds shifted and it turned south five miles before hitting them. But that was eight hours ago and since then the fire as moved past San Marcos and Vista and crawled its way Northwest. Hope they are all okay. 
The Big Daddy of the fires, the Witch Fire — named for Witch Creek where it started near Ramona — has streamed down the Del Dios Highway — a big wind tunnel of a canyon that runs from the I-15 in the East to the high-income community of Rancho Santa Fe. Those multi-million dollar homes we can barely see due to the well manicured foliage designed to hide them from view were either burning or in the path of destruction. Now we can see them on the news; the cameras are right there showing the remnants of brick walls — the ubiquitous chimney — all that is left standing in the smoldering ruins of a 20,000 square foot mansion.It’s a curious societal phenomenon; those of us who do not belong to that upper 2% income bracket find some dark pleasure in watching the rich lose, even as we ourselves are going up in smoke with them. I take no pleasure in seeing those burning ruins. I could be next and losing nearly everything near and dear, and that’s pretty much what we lose when fire takes our homes, is a soul-crushing event. Rich people are human, like the rest of us and there’s no pleasure for me watching any of my neighbors, rich or poor, standing next to what’s left of their property, crying, collapsing in grief over a lifetime of love and memories wiped away by a fire.
Since it’s South of me and not a threat, I haven’t paid much attention to the “Harris Fire.” Thousands have fled that blaze and it has reached the international border with Mexico and unlike the 2003 fire, this one is expected to make its way to the coastal communities of Imperial Beach and Chula Vista. My friends Stu and Elaine live in Chula Vista with Stu’s Mom and Dad; Dad being Johnny Sheffield who played “Boy” in the Johnny Wiessmuller Tarzan movies of the 1930’s and ’40’s. Hope they are okay.Closer to home, far closer than I would prefer, Lake Miramar, where I have ridden my Trek for hundreds of miles around the paved road and up and down the dirt trails, has been evacuated. The reservoir is just two miles away. Poway is burning, Rancho Bernardo, ten miles to the North, has burned and as I watch the news the news is, the fire is not abating. The Witch Fire has reached the coast. Del Mar, another high-income community, was evacuated yesterday, as were Encinitas, Solana Beach and parts of Carlsbad. Nearly half a million people have been forced from their homes in San Diego County. That’s just over 8% of the county’s population.
If Del Mar has evacuated and the Eastern side of that burg is burning, it’s just a matter of time until the fire reaches the North side of La Jolla. Parts of La Jolla were evacuated in 2003 but it escaped calamity when the Santa Ana winds stopped blowing. Not much chance of that happening this year. La Jolla is due West of me and one of the nicer, more affluent beach communities on the West Coast.Qualcomm Stadium, formerly Jack Murphy — the “Murph,” is, once again, an evacuation center. The Chargers are (were) scheduled to play the Houston Texans on Sunday, but I’m guessing the game will be moved, as it was in 2003 when the Chargers were scheduled to host the Miami Dolphins. That game was moved to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Many of the pro players from the Chargers and Padres have homes in the burning or threatened areas. And I’ll bet that, like 2003, they suit up and show up to play on Sunday.
So, here I sit on Tuesday morning, helicopters flying overhead, wondering how life will change when this fire has passed. Do I suit up and show up for work today, as the Chargers most likely will on Sunday? I’ll call and ask what’s going on. My guess, since half the employees were out yesterday, we can expect more will be no-shows today, myself included most likely. The I-15 is closed, roads are hazardous and filled with emergency traffic and with my little area clearly in the path of the fire, staying home may be the prudent thing to do. There isn’t much I need to take when I evacuate, most of my belongings are in storage, but I’d like to be here if and when we get the knock on the door. Matt Lauer, one of the anchors of NBC’s Today show is doing his part of the program from San Diego. Well, that takes balls to fly into a firestorm. Dude! It’s an important story but geez … thanks for coming.
The acrid aroma of a burning city has returned. Maybe it hasn’t gone away and my olfactory senses are getting back to reality for the sake of self-preservation. Whatever, the fact is, San Diego is burning and I’m right in the middle of it.
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