Fire Update

The Santiago/Irvine fire kicked up and did some damage last night, but not to my area directly. We have now lost 14-20 homes in the Foothill Ranch/Portola Springs area and the fire is threatening up north of me again. Renee's mom lives about a mile north and west of me and she was packing things up because it was threatening her area pretty strongly last evening. The one comment that I have been making all along and that the news and local govt is starting to make is that this fire could have been out and done with if we got some air support. We have received zero air support since day one (I heard helicopters on Monday but it turns out those were not tankers).

Firefighters are saying that our fire here was likely the easiest to contain and control with air support and there is already starting to be a backlash from citizens and local govt as to why we didn't get any. That and the fact that it went from 8800 to now around 20k acres practically overnight with no reallocation of resources when the experts agree this is one of the easier fires to fight is pissing off some people.

Just saw a report on TV from a woman reporter for channel 5 who was in this area yesterday. They showed tape from yesterday and then live shots of the exact same areas today-- it seriously and without hyperbole looks like a war has been fought there since yesterday. And a scorched earth, leave no prisoners battle at that.

The good thing is that we have double-digit humidity again (my area is at about 20-25%) and the winds have died down quite a bit. Both those facts will help firemen get a handle on things more quickly.

The San Diego fire is where your thoughts and concerns need to be. Over 1million evacuations now, many homes lost, two fires have merged, and there is no end in sight down there. One of our tech writers is confirmed to have lost his home and I'm certain many others are in jeopardy or have lost theirs too. They are saying that the insurance claims are estimated at $500 million as of right now, and they know that many more homes will be lost. They are also fearful of what this will do for our economy, which was barely holding on after the home loan scandals from a couple of months ago. This may break the back of So Cal.

I am going to work from home today as I've been up since about 4am due to firetrucks and police racing by with sirens blaring. I don't think my particular area is in any immediate danger, but I'm tired and don't feel like going in. I'm also having some minor health issues; not sure if they are due to the fires or just me being me. Caly is coughing and sneezing a lot. And this is with my doors and windows shut tight, Ionic Breeze on high, and using the AC filter to filter the air. Ugh. It is no better at work, as I found out yesterday.

That's this morning's update.