I hope everyone is ok. I didn't know ya'll were having wildfires!? Prayers for you all!

jin - Thanks for your concern! We are fine for now. We live about 125 miles from the town of Paradise (pop. 27,000) which burned down yesterday after just a few hours. We are smelling smoke in our house, even though we have all windows and doors closed. There is so much smoke in the air that people are smelling it San Francisco which is about 40 miles away from me. I'm definitely worried about Beth because I think she lives near Chico which is only about 15 miles Paradise.

We were warned about high winds and high fire danger a few days ago. Wildfires are now something we have to worry about all year. Last year we had to evacuate during the Napa Atlas Fire which was only three miles away. That fire took 2000 firefighters to put out and it was only one of three similar fires that were burning in the wine country during similar conditions to what we're experiencing now.

Ann

Watching the morning news this morning and seeing the devastation is heartbreaking , so much loss, again.

My prayers for Paradise and all of those affected by this fire.

I know! I can hardly stand to watch the news, yet can’t stop myself. I hope Jeri is safe. Surprisingly, our forecast has been for high winds, yet it’s calm outside. Lisa

Take care to you as well

Thanks, Kristine. I hope Ann continues to stay safe, and I’m really worried for everyone in the fire areas. It’s just SO scary! Every time a Santa Ana comes through, we all wonder where the next fire will be. We no longer wonder IF there will be a fire, just WHERE it will hit this time. There’s some despicable people out there, lighting fires. They are just waiting for the “right” conditions. I’m not saying they’re all started by these sickos, but plenty are. Shame on them! I’m really worried about everyone. The winds are supposed to die down after tonight, but another Santa Ana is forecast to come in on Monday. It’s a scary time of year. If anyone hears from anyone, please keep us updated. Lisa

My thoughts and prayers go out to those effected by wildfires!

Here's a map of where my son's family lives. They have been up all night, ready to leave, but are still at home this morning. The pics of fires he sent are devastating, and so close. I'm not sure why they're still in their house, but he's staying abreast of what they're told to do. Their home is where the arrow is pointing.

I am relieved to hear this morning that Ingrid lives in San Diego county, not Thousand Oaks, Ventura county, like I thought she did.

Goodness, flowers, you must be beside yourselves.

Jeri, I am so glad you're all safe. I hope that continues to be the case since these fires are so unpredictable, especially with the high winds, and Malibu is also now being evacuated. There is now a fire in Los Angeles by Griffith Park, where there is a zoo. I just read that they've evacuated the birds they use in the shows and some of the monkeys, perhaps because they're more susceptible to smoke, and the rest of the animals and staff are staying, with their many sprinklers going, and the L.A. Fire Department on site. Once again, my greatest admiration and respect for these brave men and women who fight to keep us safe, and sadly sometimes lose their own lives in the process. It's difficult to even imagine the horrific conditions they endure, and how much they suffer in the heat and smoke with their heavy fire gear, working so hard hour after hour, day after day. I cannot say enough about them.

I'm grateful there are no fires where Lisa and I are, but we take nothing for granted. Unfortunately we are all at the mercy of unthinking or criminal people who are responsible for so many of these fires.

Glad you guys are all Ok! How is Kim? Hopefully he is Ok too.

Glad to hear from everyone. I remember how frightening it was when we lived in OC. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone facing the fires and smoke. Keep us posted.

Jackie is far away from there, right?

Kim is WAY away from it.

And to give you an idea . . . Malibu is on the other side of my hills and a bit further South . . . Going up in smoke.

Thanks Jeri. Glad to hear that. Hope the terrible fire disappear soon. It must be hard to breath in the heavy smoke near the fire zone, hopefully everyone got out in time.

My inlaws are evacuated, this one is really scary :(

Amanda, I hope their house is away from the fire. It must be tough to pack in a short time frame. I wouldn’t know what to do.

Thank you all for updating us. Amanda and flowers, I hope you, your sons and your in-laws stay safe. It's hard to comprehend the footage we're seeing.... it's just incredible. I can't fathom what sort of person would voluntarily cause such damage.

I'm glad you're that far removed from the fire, Jeri. It's not clear to me where Kim is. I hope he's okay. It's a nightmarish situation. We need rain desperately but none in sight.

Summers, it is right now but I think they're trying to keep everyone safe because it's not that easy to get out of the hills. Thank you vaporvac, yeah i think this one was accidental but dumb (a campfire), at least that's what I heard.

Thinking of all of you in California who are facing these terrible fires, or with family in affected areas. Bushfires (as we call them) are a regular occurrence for us too of course and can be devastating, so we feel perhaps an especial sympathy for others going through this. We hear the basics of the situation on the news here, but not the details. So good to hear Ingrid, Jeri, Lisa and all are OK, for now anyway. Please stay safe. Isn't Kim in Escondido? Or was that his former home?

Thoughts and prayers for all. Melodye

Jeri, so glad you are safe, although it sounds as if you are between the two fires - must be nervous making. We are 200 miles South West of the Camp fire which as of last night had burned up 6,000 homes in Paradise and other places, but the smoke is here very badly. Yesterday it was a crystal clear, blue sky morning, but by noon the entire sky, in all directions, was full of smoke. I thought it must be local until I realized it was everywhere. Some sort of weird wind pattern is blowing most of the smoke from that now huge fire all over the SF Bay Area. I can't smell it in my house, but I can if I go outdoors.

The TV said that yesterday, when that fire "exploded", it was burning 80 football fields of land A MINUTE. I can't imagine that, although I do believe it.

Good news is that our long range weather forecast last night said their might be rain coming in the next 10 days - that is the only thing which will really help.

Most of these fires, and the Camp fire for sure, were started not by evil people, but by up here PG&E (electrical utility) long range electric transmission lines. In these very very high wind conditions they blow against trees in the wild areas of forest they go through, and that's it. PG&E has even decided to turn off the power in certain areas as a precaution when these hot, dry, incredibly windy conditions prevail. They have only done that once, but they are muttering about it now.

Jackie

“80 football fields a minute”! I can’t even imagine how firefighters would deal with that sort of fire! No wonder there have been so many deaths. The fire could be a good distance away, and within 20 minutes be in your backyard. I feel just terrible for everyone affected. Those words sound so inadequate in the face of such devastation.

Ananda, I’m glad your in-laws are safely evacuated, and sincerely hope they have a home to return to.

Flowers, any updates on your son and his family? That map looks mighty scary to me. Supposedly the winds have died down overnight. Ours certainly have, even though they weren’t as strong as predicted. We’re gearing up for another Santa Ana on Monday.

Comtess, how good to hear from you, even though these are sad circumstances. Kim lives in Santa Maria, and I believe he used to live in Encino. The only reason I know his former residence wasn’t in Escondido, is because Escondido is the single city between Ingrid and me. I’d be lamenting the fact that I didn’t know him back then, if he had lived in Escondido. That’s the only reason I’m sure about it.

I haven’t yet checked the “Has anyone heard from BethNorCal” thread this morning. I SO hope she’s alright. I would imagine posting would be difficult for her(Internet access) and/or the last thing on her mind right now. I hope she and her husband got out with their pets.

I know first hand how difficult it is to evacuate at a moments notice. It IS hard to think clearly in those few moments. Later, I realized how ridiculous the things I threw in the car were, and couldn’t believe the things I’d forgotten. Everything turned out fine, but what an eye opener!

I strongly suggest that everyone living in an area that could be evacuated for any “act of nature”, make a plan ahead of time. Keep important papers and pictures together in a container that can be grabbed and thrown in the car. Make sure you have carriers/ portable kennels for your pets. Pets often panic and hide in these situations. Have a plan in place BEFORE you need it, and arrange a meeting place, or designate a person OUT of your area to be a “contact” person. Write down some phone numbers and put them in your wallet and vehicle. You’d be surprised how many of us don’t know people’s phone numbers anymore. We press a single button and the call goes through, no need to dial. If you don’t have your mobile phone, or it’s dead, you may not know anyone’s number.

I just feel so helpless in the face of all this, that the above suggestions make me feel like I’m doing some small thing. Please be safe, and keep us posted. Lisa

Hey Lisa! I was born in Escondido! Small world (though it was a far different place then, than it is now).

Hey Jackie -- I don't know what started the two fires down here. I just hope they weren't deliberately set.

As the wind changed, conditions here have changed mightily.

Last night:

Jeri, I had no idea you hailed from these parts. We live in a small community six miles from Escondido and I've worked in Escondido for many years. Small world. Your picture of the night sky certainly brings back memories.

Comtesse, thank you for your concern and good wishes. Australia is certainly no stranger to catastrophic brush fires, although I suppose most areas where that occurs are not as heavily populated as California, except of course for the animals. Fires are especially horrific for them since they can't get away quickly. I find it rather sad that people only seem to count the human cost, or at most their pets.

Thank you all for caring about my CA family. As of this morning, everyone is exhausted but getting back to normal. My heart goes out to any of you who were in harm's way or have family there and the worry in being helpless to do anything.

Lisa is so right in her suggestions in having a plan for emergencies like this. I often think about not knowing any telephone numbers and how hard - impossible? it would be to quickly get in touch with people I care about without my phone. We had a plan and did all those things when we lived in the foothills in CA, and I'm sure my kids still do.

Ingrid, my family left Escondido when I was yet a baby, and I'm sure the old farmhouse where they lived is long-gone. But my mother grew up there when THE local cop caught her speeding on High School Hill and told her to slow down or he would tell her mother.

Flowers, I’m so glad to hear that your family is alright. It’s also comforting to hear(on the other thread) that Beth is safely in a hotel with her husband and pets.

Jeri, I had no idea you were born in Escondido! So was I! I was born in Palomar Hospital on Valley Parkway. Escondido was THE place to shop for everything when I was a child. It had the only grocery store, “Food Basket”, and a smaller grocery store, Rube Nelson’s. I loved going to Rube Nelson’s and seeing the GIANT farm animals on the roof outside the store. We shopped at “Walker Scott, Sears, and Woolworth’s. What a tiny town Escondido was, back then! It IS a small world....

One more suggestion in case of evacuation and natural disasters. Please have your pets microchipped! I don’t remember the exact number, but after hurricane Katrina, a huge number of pets couldn’t be reunited with their families. The pets that had been microchipped could be identified. Many of the rest, never saw their families again.

Again, we’re thinking of all affected by these fires. Thank you to all those wonderful firefighters! Lisa

Jeri, I wish Escondido were still the small town your mom knew as a teenager. What a different world we live in now, and in my view not a better one.

The fatalities keep going up and it's horrendous, with no end in sight. I can't bear to turn on the TV. Please stay safe Jeri, along with Clay and your doggies.

I'm thinking of you all in CA. I hope the conditions improve and that gives the firefighters an advantage.

Stay safe y'all!

To sum it up, there are three huge fires in California right now (along with some smaller ones that are not causing such concern at this time). Two are near Los Angeles and Ventura County. Jeri described them for us. (So very glad you are safe, Jeri!) One of those is just down the road from the dance hall/bar in Thousand Oaks were the mass shooting took place just days ago. I thought of Jim Delahanty who lived in Thousand Oaks, and how grieved he would have been at the recent events. Over 200,000 people have been evacuated from that area, and apparently there have been 2 deaths.

The third fire is the Camp Fire in Butte County that destroyed the town of Paradise, CA in under 24 hours. At the current count 23 people died there. If you look on a map, it is located near Chico, and north of Sacramento. It is now 20% contained, but predictions are that unless we get rain, it will burn for the rest of the month. At this point, more houses have burned in this fire than in any other wildfire in California's history, even more than last year's fire in Santa Rosa. If you add in the evacuations there (a more rural part of the state), we are up to a quarter of a million displaced people.

We have not yet had any rain in most of the state, and rain is what we need. We will be in dangerous fire conditions until the winter rains start.

Here in the Bay Area we have smoky, polluted air, dangerous for babies (there is one in our house) and people with certain medical conditions, but compared to what is going on elsewhere, we are very lucky indeed.

Counting our blessings as Thanksgiving Day approaches, and wishing the best for all.

Re evacuation recommendations, luckily most folks in California have "go bags", and plans for uniting families, etc. because of the constantly emphasized threat of catastrophic earthquakes. Now wild fires are evidently much more likely, it seems. I am considering how to tweak our "earthquake plans" to take that into consideration. Two main problems I see are that: 1) no matter how you handle the growth of trees, etc. on your property, a true wild/firestorm will burn everything from radiant heat from pretty far away, no matter how well your bushes are pruned. The other, in any place with a lot of people, is that the roads become grid locked pretty fast, making driving away problematic. It reminds me of when I was in first and second grade (a LONG time ago in the mid 1950s), and the schools all were having nuclear bomb threat drills (which involved hiding under your desk, and then being sent home!), and I was eyeing the creek in our back yard, which was lower than the rest of the property. Not good memories.

Jackie

Last year shortly before the Santa Rosa fire made our place more fire-hardy by removing trees close to the house and replacing wood-based mulch with stone mulch within 8-10 feet of the house. It is also important to keep gutters clean and not to have a wood shingle roof, which amazingly some people still do. Our house had one when we first moved here, but we replaced it long ago. All this will help keep a house from igniting from wind-borne sparks, which is a major cause of houses burning. You can tell that is what happened when you see houses burned the ground but other houses nearby left untouched. However it won't help at all in a situation like the one in Paradise, where a wall of flame moves through destroying everything in its path. You can only do so much, and you should do what you can.

Knowing what you will take (in our case the baby, the dogs, the wallets, the phones and the laptop) and knowing more than one route out, and leaving before it is a crisis if you have a chance, will all improve your chances of survival and recovery afterwards. And it's a good idea to have a designated meetup place if there is more than one car, just in case cell phones go out. That last is something we have not done ourselves, and should consider.

Great advice here from everyone. Not sure what government/ fire department systems you have in place there for communication with the public during emergencies, but another thing we're advised to keep in our evacuation/survival kits here in Oz, that you may want to consider, is a good radio with fresh batteries and spares.

This is for when phone and internet networks go out, to be able to continue to receive updates on orders, alerts and current hazard locations via local/community radio stations. This can be life saving, if you have a similar system of local radio public announcements there.

Jeri, absolutely brilliant, newsworthy photograph - BUT that smoke is truly worrying - I am VERY concerned for you if this is near you. Please keep us updated, as far as you're able. We all care so much.

I should note that I can't take credit for that image. That's too bad, because it is so evocative.

Just saying - we went out today and bought a couple of HEPA rated room air cleaners. Residents of our house range from 4 week to 80 years, all of us healthy, and we want all to stay that way! Our smoke is nowhere near as bad as the smoke in the picture Jeri shared, and it is improving a little each day. Still, it is bad enough that we thought this was a good idea.