SoCal Wildfires

[Camgen6]

I don't know when and how it started, pero around Sunday morning naponood ko sa news na may brush fire (did not really paid attention where, normal lang kasi dito yun eh) On our way to LA ang lakas pa ng sand storm (visibility is almost zero, barely see the car in front) But apparently it got spread every where, so far malayo naman kami, pero we can see some 2 sets of smoke around us, my guesstimate they're both 10 miles out, one is on the other side of a hill, paakyat palang? Of course me, my wife and some friends are worried, ang bilis kasing kumalat eh. 2 days na akong walang pasok sa trabaho kasi our freeway is closed, maraming sunog going south up to San Diego, where I work. 10% ng San Diego population got evacuated already, the Staduim home of the Chargers naging evac center na. Called up my co-workers and friends so far ok naman sila, sabi ng isang barkada may mga bisita daw sila na nag evacuate. I know may mga Socal Tsikoteers din dito, I hope ok din sila. Marami na ring houses, tsikot and structures na nasunog. A little prayer for all of us here would be greatly appreciated.

I link a web page from BBC news, just check the bottom page to see the map.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7058809.stm

[wren]

:pope: my thoughts and prayers are with you all.

[v6dreamer]

Whole sky here is RED all day long and ashes on the front yard blown form those fire.

[the_wildthing]

Yung buong family ng pinsan ko nasa evacuation center na. Yung isang friend namin naghihintay na lang ng tawag. Wala nang pasok sa opis at iskul.

Sarado na rin yung karamihan ng offices.

[ogpro]

My brother's email to us:

To our Families,

Wanted to get you an update w/ our situation here. It appears that one of the more aggressive set of fires, Stevenson Ranch, which were very close to us (to our Valencia house) is now blowing/spreading over to the next city away from us which is Porter Ranch. It appears also that the fire may be arson-related.

The Stevenson Ranch fires to us were the lesser of the 2 evils in our area. The fires that started in Castaic is the one that spread many miles from it's source over to our area. That one threatened us the most since it peeked just over the ridge about 2-3 miles from us. That one pretty much came parallel to us & forced the neighborhood next to us to do mandatory evacuation. We were most likely going to be next, but thankfully the firefighters worked really hard to keep it behind the ridge.

When the fires first started propagating around our area, it was actually the Akira office in Santa Clarita that was the closest to the fires. The Canyon Country fires posed a real threat since it was spreading aggressively due to the Santa Ana winds. Firefighters were able to keep it at bay at about 4 miles away. We had packed up the machines & servers just to be safe & brought it back here to Valencia.

All in all, the fires formed somewhat a ring around our city & made it difficult to choose which property was safer. So for now, the Akira property is the safer of the two since it's right next to the high school that they converted to an evacuation center and is very well protected. Found that out while monitoring the news here * the Valencia house since we don't have a TV there * Akira (online news feeds weren't that dependable).

So as of right now, our family is safe at either locations. We've resumed work as well * Akira. But keeping many things still packed since the winds have been so erratic, making it very hard to gauge where the fires are to go next.

Thanks to all who showed concern and we'll keep you posted as we're updated

[HyBrideVo]

Holy crap..ingat ingat lang mga brod and sis dyan..

[mbeige]

Yep, waking up with red/orange skies is weird enough to me, parang Pinatubo part 2 with the mild amount of ashes and clear smell of smoke parang may nagsiga sobrang dami sabay sabay.

Cross winds are crazily strong - up to 80mph gusts! I drove on Sunday to my friend's house in San Dimas, NE from my origin and apparently the canyon roads were a good spot for those cross winds and the Santa Ana winds to pass through so I got a good dose of tumbleweeds, dust, low visibility as well as hotter temperatures. I learned not to drive beside cars especially beside vans, trucks, or other high profile vehicles. If I have to, I'll pass them quickly to be on the safer side.

Almost half a million people were said to be evacuated from San Diego, and schools closed in Malibu (Pepperdine University). There was one fire south of us in Irvine that I just found out yesterday.

Static shocks are also more common these days with the decrease in humidity and increase of winds.

[chua_riwap]

Sa mga kapatid nating mga taga SoCal, ingat na lang po kayo.