Life Under Fire: The View From San Diego
We’ve lived in the San Diego area since 1974, and always knew about the danger of wildfires. At first, when you live here, you think that it couldn’t be so bad because there really aren’t many forests-it’s not like the rest of the country where stands of trees are common. Most of San Diego County is scrub brush, and you wouldn’t think it could sustain a big fire for long. But it does.
I have to admit, these fires worry me more than the ones in 2003 did. I first realized this when I went to the supermarket yesterday – not to stock up – but just for our normal purchases.
On a Monday afternoon, the crowd in Von’s in the Kensington neighborhood was
twice as thick as you’d expect it. Whole sections were stripped clean of staples. The bottled water was gone from the shelves, simply gone. So, yeah, I felt a chill, as did my family when I described to them what I’d seen. First thing we did after that was to call Sparkletts and ask their automated system to deliver five 5-gallon bottles to us today. Let’s see if it really comes.
Another difference from 2003 is that this time our kids were evacuated from their
neighborhood and came down to stay at our house near State College for the duration. They live in one of those new developments called Torrey Highlands, that lies between Interstate 15 and the city of Del Mar, and it’s all brush up there, plus (fortunately) a lot of agricultural preserve, so their house should make it through OK, but still…
In 2003, they weren’t evacuated: but we had set out to visit them on a Saturday morning and knew nothing about any fire till we saw it blocking the I-15. It was literally a pillar of fire on both sides of the freeway. We found a turnaround and went back south, and got to them via the I-5, but for a while there, we felt like Lot and his wife.
The fire that started this Sunday was a bit like that mainly in that we had no idea at first that it was here in our county. Yes, we saw smoke and we smelled smoke, but it was to the north and we knew that Malibu had a bad fire going so we thought, well, that’s what that is.
The smoke turned out to be the Witch Creek Fire that began not far from where I used to live in Ramona in 1974, in the Back Country (as we call it here). Now it was making its way through the edges of the City of Poway and the Rancho Bernardo neighborhood of San Diego, both densely populated.
My eight-year-old granddaughter says she remembers wearing a face-mask during the 2003 blaze, when she was four. Now I explained to her that, yes, the rest of the country envies San Diego the beautiful weather we have during the winter (and most of the year), but that this is the price we pay for it: sometimes it burns. She seemed to understand.
Last night was the worst so far. I didn’t sleep but two hours, after I heard that the Spring Valley neighborhood was being evacuated.
That is far too close to where we live, really only about six miles away. The next suburb is either La Mesa to our east or Lemon Grove to the south. Either one of those, and then it’d be us. Yes, we are in a built-up area, but we are also on a canyon. I tried not to think of a firestorm coming up the canyon, already fueled by the houses below us. The radio interviewed a woman who lived on Mt Helix in La Mesa, and she was talking about packing up important documents and heirlooms “just in case.” As I say, I didn’t sleep, and my wife didn’t either. We thought of our longtime friends who had evacuated from Carmel Valley in the North County and had assured us just yesterday morning that they were safe with friends in Spring Valley. And now Spring Valley faced the flames. I found the line from a Dylan song going through my head over and over-the line about “refugees on the unarmed road of flight.”
Tuesday (today) seems like it’ll be a little better. Keynahora, as my family says. And –just to be on the safe side-Insh’allah too.
The winds have died down for now, allowing planes and helicopters to get in the air and fight the fire. Chula Vista and Spring Valley seem like they might pull through, which means our house should too. But Rancho Santa Fe is burning, as are new parts of Lakeside. And-to my sorrow- there’s a bad fire now on Mount Palomar, where we dearly love to go camping.
Looked on the TV not long ago and there was Michael Chertoff’s skeletal face making promises to us. And yes, I know, I know, there were a lot of other folks to blame for Katrina, but sorry to say, my instinctive thought was: “Oh, terrific, the hero of New Orleans!” Well, we’ll see, I guess…
But I’m still just stunned –and saddened, too. More than anything I think of the poetry of the names of the place I call home, my terroir, not just the city but the Back Country too, which was the reason I moved here in the first place: Rancho Santa Fe, Jamul, Jamacha, Fairbanks Ranch, Pala, Pauma Valley, Santa Ysabel, Olivenhain, Santee, Wildcat Canyon, Harbison Canyon, Potrero, Dulzura, Tecate, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Pe√±asquitos, Poway, Spring Valley, Mount Helix.
They all seem so fragile right now, as if the next hot wind that comes out of the desert on an October morning might sweep them all away.
Right now I am over 2,000 miles away at school and all I cam think about is my family, all of them live in San Diego County. I was home for the 2003 fires and I remember feeling terrified but o.k. because I was with them. Now I don’t know what to do.
Courage, Michael. This too shall pass.
ouch. most of my neighbors and coworkers aren’t quite as glum and many have been affected by the evacuations. (on tuesday only one person in 4 actually showed up for work and I work for one of the larger private employers in San Diego County)
Yes, the fire has been devestating
Yes, its taken out more houses this time than the Cedar Creek Fire did in 2003.
However, we have lessons we learned from 2003, and many will be repeated once the fires are put out again.
The issue in San Diego County is that the scrub brush has a natural adaptation that encourages fire. The plant has a root system that can survive the kind of firestorms we see and within 5-15 years the brush will grow back as thick as it was before. it even coats its leaves and bark with an oil that is highly flammable to help increase the intensity of fires.
Why?
To get rid of any competition from other plants. The other plants lacking the adaptation die out. It survives. And in a very dry and hot environment, with canyons that act as wind accelerators to move fire rapidly, such an adaptation has allowed the scrub brush to thrive.
The county sees fires every year. But most do not do much damage. If you look at a map of the county, the buildings mostly cluster around the freeways or the main valley that forms downtown San Diego. And the clusters usually are built up enough that wild fires don’t start there. The fires start in the back country east of the 15, or very rarely between the 5 and the 15 in the northern part of the county. The prevailing winds blow west to east, and in most years any fire is pushed eastward so that it doesn’t threaten the larger inhabited areas. (there are small communities in the east county that do suffer from these fires).
However both 2003 and this years fires started during the time of the Santa Ana winds, which reverse the standard wind flow and bring a very hot, dry and fast breeze from the deserts to the east. Since this wind pushes the fires to the west, the fire ends up hitting inhabited areas and the homes nearest the still undeveloped canyons and hills become vulnerable. (areas where the brush has been cleared usually are untouched and the fire rarely goes deep into the built up areas, its the fringe homes and homes on large uncleared plots that get burned.)
Its a terrible tragedy, and I don’t want to minimize it, but its not a reason to panic or to over-react. Homes can be rebuilt and next time greenbelts and fire breaks can be planned into the communities to protect them from the flames (which most likely won’t return for 15-30 years as the brush has to grow back first.) But, as a county, San Diego will survive as will the people and businesses here.
This is the dopiest article I’ve read so far concerning the San Diego wildfires. It almost makes me want to cry it’s so melancholy. “Michael Chertoff’s skeletal face.” Instead of crying, I’m cracking up already! Come on, get a set and focus on how we’ve come together in a time of crisis. Let’s hear about how blessed your family is, in that they still have a home to go to.
By the way, where is Jamacha? I’ve lived in the back country since 1946 and I’ve never heard of the City of Jamacha. Jamacha happens to be a Street in the El Cajon/Rancho San Diego area.
Mmm…read more closely: I never say that Jamacha is a city or town. As the name of a street, it qualifies as a place name. I included it because of its Kumeyaay Indian origin & the sound of it does indeed have a certain poetry that makes it unique to San Diego County.
Surely during this tragedy in California, the Democrats would not take advantage of the situation. Like vote again on SCHIP, when the Republicans are out watching Rome burn and cannot cast a dissenting vote. Please tell me it aint so!