7:50 am - Well it was nice to pretend to sleep last night. The constant smell of burnt campfire and the bright orange color of the sky (even though it was 2am) make it hard to relax enough to stay asleep. We found out that we are in the evac zone but so far haven't received the 911 call. For now we will stay put since I'd rather be as comfortable in my home for as long as possible. Several sources of water and electricity were damaged last night. They are asking us to conserve water, energy, stay off the roads, and not use our cell phones. Best estimates are that 300,000 acres have been burned and over 1,500 homes. I think those numbers are conservative. Things got much worse in the night. Almost the entire coast has been evacuated since they are sure that the fire wont stop until it reaches the ocean. We're being threatened by a new fire (Poomacha) that began last night. See this blog to see the path of the fire and the green dot that is very close to our house. I think we'll be evacuated by tonight ;-( I remember how I used to joke that I wish I had lived here during the 2003 fires since my agency did so much of the restoration work and I was constantly looking at sites that had been burned before I moved down here. Now I realize what an idiot I was. I wish I wasn't here today and I know others wish they weren't here in 2003.
9:05am - I just ran to the corner grocery store to pick up a few staples that would be needed if we evacuate. I expected to walk in and see aisles and aisles of empty grocery racks. I even expected the place to be a mad house. Our neighborhoods is one of the last to receive it's mandatory evac orders and it seems that everyone and their brothers have brought their personal effects laden cars and RVs to camp out on our streets and in friend's homes. What I didn't expect was to find the Starbucks counter the most crowded part of the store. I guess that people in times of emergency find Starbucks to be a source of comfort? I seriously didn't even attempt to walk past that portion of the store because the area was so crowded with people standing like sardines in a can.
11:50am - I feel like things have gotten better in the last hour. It's hard to tell. The news is on 24/7 with no commercial breaks but is having to devote itself to 4 major fires (in SD alone) therefore receiving specific info about our location is kinda hard. At this point many emergency info websites have gone down too from so much traffic. Making it worse the largest mountain in the city limits burned this morning taking with it major cell phone towers and TV/radio transmitters. We still have TV but it has sub par quality in both audio and visual. I took a shower earlier and I must admit that I've become somewhat addicted to showers knowing that if we need to go to a evac facility, hot showers will prolly not be included. Things are so much sweeter knowing you might not have them tomorrow.
3:15pm - Life has stopped for everyone in SD. No driving, no shopping, no going to work, no going to the movies. Just sit at home with your eyes glued to the TV and wait, wait, wait for the reverse 911 call. Sending emails to local friends asking "have you got your call yet?". Same email repeated several times through out the day. Occasionally stealing 2 minute phone calls to ask the question and receive limited social interaction. Cabin fever has set in. Two entire days at home and I feel no more relaxed then 4 intense days at the office. The Poomacha and the Witch Creek fires continue to threaten us. Over 1,800 firefighters battling a 23,000 acre and a 200,000 acre blaze. Over 1,250 homes burned and 510,000 residences evacuated (which pisses me off when nat'l news reports that as 510,000 people, noooo residences don't equal people, residences equal so many more, 2-4 people per residence!) All I can do is wait at this point knowing that as soon as the fire is controlled, my work days will become 14 hours long as I race to prevent the mudslides before the season's first rains.
7:40pm - This like a scary nightmare that I am ready to wake up from. One minute things are better, the wind has died down quite a bit, and firefighters are gaining control of the fires. The next we're placed under 2 different mandatory evac zones (one for the Poomacha fire and one for the Witch Creek fire) yet no reverse 911 call. So far our neighbors are staying put therefore we are too. Night is fast approaching and I am dreading sleep (or I should really say laying in bed while one sleeps and the other stares at the news). Night tends to be when the winds pick back up and the fires begin raging out of control. I'm almost attempted to go into town tomorrow and make a visit to my office. This sitting and wait, wait, waiting is killing me. We could go to an evac center (aka the local high school gym) but I know Dave and I would both be up half the night wondering if we made a good decision and whether our house was truly in danger.
10:45pm - Time to pretend to sleep. I've never dreaded night as much as I have these past few days.
Photos by nctimes.com
