July 11th, 2007

Retrospect: Great SD Fire

Posted by MikeyMike at 08:25 PM on July 11, 2007.

This happened over 3 years ago!

Someone was talking about this today, so I am reposting a blog that I did for my Tabulas from back then... Also, here is an overview of the aftermath:

During the week of October 26, 2003 two wildfires (Cedar and Paradise) savaged San Diego County. The wildfires killed 16 people and burned down 2427 homes and businesses (source: www.signonsandiego.com). These fires caused the worst damage in the history of San Diego and California. This web site was created immediately on October 27 to provide web mapping services for helping our local community. This site is updated daily and provides maps of the San Diego wildfires with various live ArcIMS web mapping services, static maps, and research articles. Most maps on this site have been created by the faculty, staff, and students in the Department of Geography, San Diego State University. More HERE

October 26th, 2003

Fire in SD!

Posted by MikeyMike at 10:18 am on October 26th, 2003.

Woke up from my extra hour of sleep today (DST) and it looked like sunrise and smelled like everyone was using their fireplaces. Go outside and there is ash in the pool! Turn on TV and there are massive fires going on!! Sweet Vocalist: be glad you did not come here this weekend! I have to go to work soon, but I will keep you all informed. I am in no danger. It's miles away... But it's a bad one!!

Just in: Barona Casino is keeping everyone inside! Something about the fire alarms going off at 3am there...

At 10:00pm - Just got home. This series of fires will certainly go down in SD history as one of the worst ever. The mayor has asked that everyone possible be given tomorrow off, because so many are displaced and services so disrupted. The fires are ZERO percent contained, which means it ain't nearly over yet. Of course *I* have to go to work tomorrow...

One of the major (non-Scripps) hospitals here may have to be evacuated tonight, which would be a huge additional burden for the Scripps Hospital system, not to mention the heavier than normal load we have had already because of the fires.

We had people calling in all day, saying that they had to be evacuated. We managed to get a local news video stream going at work. (We are having network problems too today!) People out in the "country" tend to have a lot of animals, including horses. And Californians love their animals like you wouldn't believe! Many risked themselves to save pets today.

Makes you think... If I had 15 minutes, what would I take with me? There have been 12 killed so far. It's like The Perfect Storm, except with wildfires... The Santa Ana winds and one small mistake. If there is a good part to all this, it's seeing people come together - often risking their lives to help others or just lending a helping hand...