Bornfamous

Oops, sorry. I’ve been so obsessed with watching/reading every bit of news I can find about the fires that I forgot to share.

First of all, we’re okay. In case you were wondering. Here is a Google Fire Incidence Map of Southern California. It’s meant for locals, to answer questions about evacuation orders/centers, closed roads, and various other infobits [click the icons for details], but it also shows where the fires are, what their status is, and where they appear to be heading.

If you zoom in on San Diego a bit, you can see La Mesa near the center of things, in a blessedly fire-free patch. That’s where we are, safe and sound, me, Robby and Emily. My other son, Chris and his wife Karen, are also doing just fine in Pacific Beach. My friend Nicole, out in Guatay, 45 miles east, got lucky. The fires burned a few miles to either side of her. The huge Cedar fire, four years ago, burned close enough that you could see the scorch marks from her house, but this year she didn’t even have to evacuate. Good thing, since she’s almost 80 and getting frail.

Back in 1980, I worked as a news “sidekick” for a popular disc jockey named Larry Himmel, who has since become a veteran TV broadcaster here in town. Larry lost his beautiful home of 25 years in the fires and made this report from in front of his burning house:

I’ve gotta say, I’m totally impressed by the job the local media is doing. They are the vital link between all the various agencies, shelters, and some three million residents — ONE SIXTH of whom had to be evacuated. That’s an amazing accomplishment. [I am SO GLAD that I don't work in the news any more. I've done a few minor versions of this kind of reporting and it takes WAY more energy than I've got now.]

If you want the latest, here are some good sources I’ve found:

San Diego Union Tribune
The Union Trib’s fire blog
Scenes from the wild fires
KPBS twitter page

Now I’m trying to figure out what I can do to help — besides staying off the roads, off the cell phone, and not using too much electricity, as requested by our officials. I’m good at NOT doing stuff. I can donate some food, a cot, and a tent that I happen to have lying around, but I don’t have any money to give thanks to a little emergency room visit last week. [Gallstones, don't ask.] I’m not really well enough to volunteer either. I want to suggest to Robby and Emily that they volunteer. I was hoping they’d think of it themselves, but parents are supposed to model that kind of thing. How can I expect them to do what I’m not doing myself?