California fires-OT

[Paul McCloud]

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I'm not directly affected by the fires here in San Diego, but I know at
least one tech that lives in the Scripps Ranch area.  He's former
chapter president John Evans.  Several hundred homes were lost in
Scripps Ranch, an exclusive wooded area.  

The fires are burning in 5 or 6 areas of San Diego.  With the Santa Ana
winds blowing from the desert, the flames spread quickly, and no one
knows when the fires may be under control.  Sometimes the wind dies
down, but still the fires seem to generate their own winds and spread in
any direction they like.  

 The store where I work is closed, and some of the employees have had to
evacuate their homes.  I don't know when it will open again, probably
tomorrow or Thursday.  The whole city of San Diego is covered with smoke
and haze, and the cars have soot all over them.  There isn't any area of
San Diego not affected by the fires.

Most of the areas affected by the fires are still evacuated, and I don't
know if his home has been burned.    It seems most of the back country
is on fire, and whole towns are in the path of the fire.  

Many people live in the rural areas, so when there's fire, they are the
first to have trouble.  The remote areas are not well served by the fire
departments because of the difficulty of getting fire crews into the
area.  Water tables are very low, and wells are running dry in some
areas.  There's a local drought in Southern California, and then there's
the jerks who like to start fires for fun.  I would guess that at least
50% of the fires are set by arsonists.  

Ironically, there are some fire tanker planes and helicopters which
haven't been deployed by the Air National Guard because of bureaucracy
by the (lame duck) governor.  If these planes had been utilized earlier,
many of the fires could have been knocked down days ago.  

Any news regarding local techs I'll post as soon as I know anything.
Meanwhile, we need your prayers.

            Paul McCloud

            San Diego


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