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A million flee
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Fires stretching through seven Southern California counties remained out of control on Oct. 24, forcing nearly a million people to flee their homes. More than 20 fires have destroyed 400,000-plus acres, from the Mexican border to Malibu, and inland into the San Bernardino Mountains and the resort area of Lake Arrowhead. One person died in San Diego, and the fires have injured about three dozen firefighters.Three San Diego blazes account for nearly three-quarters of the total acreage burned. Together, the Witch Creek, Harris, and Rice fires have destroyed about 2,000 structures, including nearly 1,000 homes.
Gabriel Stewart, 52, wasn’t sure whether his home burned. Stewart took temporary shelter at Qualcomm Stadium after officials ordered a mandatory evacuation of the northern suburb of Rancho Bernardo. The force of the Santa Ana winds that whipped through Stewart’s neighborhood shocked him.
“I have never seen wind like that,” he said. “It would bend the trees then die down. When it resumed, it didn’t slap you – it punched you.”
Breezes in San Diego normally blow in from the sea, accounting in part for the area’s famously mild weather. But autumn months bring the 180-degree wind shift known as a “Santa Ana condition,” in which bone-dry desert winds barrel in from the east, leeching the humidity from the air. By then, San Diego’s generally rainless summers have dried the area’s landscape into a tinderbox. Any spark can cause disaster.
Humidity in San Diego County on Oct. 23 ranged from the single digits to the teens, with continuing dry conditions working against firefighters. Also, the wind direction has grown erratic, with some westerly breezes now pushing formerly ocean-bound fires back to the east.
President Bush yesterday declared a federal emergency, dispatching 1,200 federal firefighters, 100 engines, and 1600 National Guard personnel to the area. About two dozen military aircraft also are headed to California to help fight the blazes. The Air Force is sending radar-equipped Air Force drone aircraft to more accurately map the fires.
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Off-key
Sadly, newscaster demogogues have already been contrasting the the govtal response to this disaster compared to the ineptitude shown to all those poor folks in Katrina.
Let me be a prophet and say that the folks in the fire-ravaged areas of Cali will have rebuilt and got on with their lives well ahead of the Katrinoids.
I knew that was coming. Somebody’s going to huff and puff.
And now the weather is being politicized. Our friends on the left will surely blame this catastrophe on Bush since he hasn’t embraced the religion of Global Warming. How arrogant to suggest that any politician or party can prevent natural disasters! I suspect California has been experienceing fires of this nature for eons. Only now the fires are destroying homes because we were foolish enough to build wood structures in an area where homes, if any should exist at all, would do better if constructed of terra cotta and masonry. Maybe the building codes should be tightened? On the Carolina coast folks build along the beach only to be surprised when a hurricane comes. And in that great sinkhole known as New Orleans they’re surprised when, well, we won’t go there this posting.
BT,
CA has some of the most stringent building codes in the country. They ALL revolve around fire and earthquakes. You can’t build a completely fire or earthquke proof house. If you saw any wood houses they were grandfathered in. If you saw what looked like wood siding, it wasn’t. Shake shingle roofs are not allowed either. If a firefighter sees wooden siding or shake shingles or firewood stacked against the house they don’t even try to save it. And along our coast we have what is equivalent to an idiot wavier.
But I agree with you on the great American tradition of trying to place blame on the government for natural disasters. Even the 9/11 commision was a bit obnoxcious. I’m all for reviewing what went wrong and trying to fix it, but 9/11 was caused by radical Islamic terrorists. Katrina was not caused by any government–fed, state or local. They may have stumbled in the reaction, but they didn’t create the disaster. Nine billion from FEMA in pre-emptive funds and the legendarily corrupt LA government “misused” it. But they didn’t cause it.
Adios,
A fireproof home is quite easy to build and an earthquake proof home is only slightly harder to build. Both cost way more than structures that do burn and fall down when shaken though.
It was 4.4 million in Iraq. 1 million is nothing.
Certainly I meant within reason and livable. Could you explain how to build a house that is both fireproof and safe in an earthquake. We just had a freeway overpass in CA that is made of concrete and rebar that was damaged by fire.
One of the things I was trying to gently say is that we wonderful Americans like to lay blame for disasters.
We in So Cal seemed to be blamed for building in fire prone areas (that would be most of the western states) and building with the wrong materials and how stupid could we be anyway for living in a state where a couple of tectonic plates may shift. I was born and raised here. It is my home, but somehow I’d be smarter if I moved to Oklahoma though I’d have to learn to deal with tornados. Or Maine . . . no that won’t work cause of Nor’ Easters. Name a place in the US unaffected by disasters.
Sorry, I’m a little tired from sucking smoke for three days, cooking for a houseful of my neighbors who had to evacuate, having to tell a couple people they lost their homes to the fires and finding homes for seniors whose medical problems did not allow them to be sheltered in evac centers. One way people removed from trauma comfort themselves is to blame the traumatized. “If she’d only locked her door . . .” “If they’d only made the Twin Towers jet fuel proof . . . ” “If they’d only left Pio Pico in charge of that wretched wasteland . . . they would not be hurting now.”
Sorry we live in the wrong place. But don’t feel sorry for us,; what I learned in the last few days is that San Diego County can take care of itself. Never been prouder, never wanted to live any place else more.
Wait until we confirm that at least some of the fires were intentionally started. Who should get the blame for that? If this is a growing problem (fires being intentionally set) to whom will we look for solutions? Will we spend money first on adjusting the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere?
#8: Wait until we confirm that at least some of the fires were intentionally started.
According to the news this morning, firefighters witnessed someone starting a blaze, but he got away. There is a discription.
Some arsonist somewhere is getting his jollies in a big way….
They’ll catch up to ‘em eventually. He’ll out himself most likely. Gotta brag about it y’know.
To #10: I hope you are right. If convicted, since people died in this fire, I have no problem with a death sentence. Fire is probably the most painful way to die.
Bush has prolly perterbed many an arsonist at some point, and remains fair game for most of the blame.