Fires in NC San Diego

[John Harper]

I had the fire about two blocks away yesterday, and now I see smoke plumes to the northwest, northeast, east, and southeast. My place is away from the brush, but it's pretty surreal. We cancelled out the AP exams for over 1200 kids yesterday that I manage, so that will be a big re-schedule. Our schools are shut down as well.

San Marcos looks like a nightmare on TV, many homes on fire it looks like.

John

[RichardCullip]

Glad to hear that you are safe. it is crazy out there. Yesterday we saw smoke plumes to the north, west and south of us. Today it's just to the west as the San Marcos (Cocos) fire is still raging.

[fly addict]

I heard on the news that they suspect a serial arsonist is responsible for most of the fires in San Diego County. If that is true and they catch the SOB they should slow roast the moron, jail is too good for him!

[Dry Fly Rie]

It's been pretty interesting around here the last few days. As I'm sure a lot of you have experienced, the winds and heat were unbelievable on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the temperatures were ridiculous today, as well.

The first fire that began on Tuesday, called the Bernardo Fire, started in a brushy canyon right across the street from the high school that I work at. One of our grounds guys was out prepping the baseball fields for our games that afternoon when he spotted the smoke and called it in. Within minutes, this was the view from our pool deck looking out across our lower fields.

It looks like flames, but most of the orange you can see is actually temporary fencing outlining the perimeter of a construction site adjacent to the school.

Luckily for us, the wind was blowing West (away from campus) and the fire spread through some (mostly) uninhabited canyons that had recently been graded and cleared of the majority of the vegetation in anticipation for a massive residential community that will be built in the next few years.

About an hour after the blaze started, this was the view from outside my classroom.


Our school didn't evacuate, and the fire continued to move West toward Rancho Santa Fe. We had school on Wednesday, but by the afternoon, some of the other fires around the county had started and it was getting smokey.

For us, the Cocos fire (San Marcos) has gotten most of our attention, as it has been slowly spreading in the general direction of our house, although it is still a ways away. Here's a shot taken early this afternoon from our front porch.

It looks like the fire is about a block away, but it's actually a couple of miles north of us.

I'm pretty sure we're not in any real danger, but I'll definitely be up tonight monitoring the situation. We live in a densely populated neighborhood, but we are surrounded by shrubby hills that connect to some of the open spaces that were scorched in the 2007 Wildfires.

Fire Season! Just one more reason why living in SoCal is the best

[tenandtwo]

John- from what I hear Carlsbad is been hit really hard, hopefully the dying winds today helped contain them.

Rielly -I have gone to SD for work tue and today and saw the fires from the i15. On tue there was only the one by your school... Now there are 9.

Mark- you are right about the arson, I heard they now have a guy in custody there is no lighting these are man made. I knew it when I picked my kids up from school yesterday... Fires don't start simultaneously on accident.

My view to the southwest

[duckdog]

Day one of the fires my wife called me at work to tell me about a fire that looked close to our home in Oceanside.She could see it from her work. She asked me to come home so I did. As I drove north on I-15 it was a little surreal, the RB fire ,Carlsbad was burning, Fallbrook, a fire at the int. of I-15 and RT 76 had just started and 2 on Pendleton near O-side as well as one near San Onofre started by a truck fire.As I got close to O-side I could see why she was concerned, but that fire was still a couple of miles from our home. I thought as I drove, why just north S.D county- the rest of So.Cal is just as hot and dry-Riverside, Orange,LA, San Bernadino,Imperial county's all hot and dry, but just N. SD on fire ? Some one is up to no good. The news was saying that the San Luis Rey river near the back gate of the base burned for a short while. I have friends that have been chased out of their homes and other friends fighting these fires . All are in my prayers. If these are being set I hope they catch the rat soon. One body was found in Carlsbad yesterday in the burnt sage brush, such a shame.