"California Fires"

[Nancy]

I have never before requested "help" from this web site. This is a first for me.

I am including a personal email I received from a very close "UFO" friend of mine who is in danger of losing everything. That email is below.

I have also included the latest update from CNN.com Since this article was posted, the loss of homes has jumped to at least 500.

I lived in California for over 20 years. I know what hell this is.

Please, any of those who take the time to read this...... Say a "prayer" to whomever you believe in........... or? If you don't believe in a Higher Power, just ........ wish all of these people exposed to this hell....... luck.

I appreciate your time. Thank You.

Nancy

Personal Email:

Subj: Re: Better alive or dead????? 

Date: 10/26/03 4:34:14 PM Eastern Standard Time

From: DELETED

To: Edit4SpaceNStuff@aol,com

I went to work this morning to find the hills right behind Saticoy Country Club (Somis) ablaxe. The homes behind the club had just been evacuated by the Sheriffs Dept. and everyone at the club was sent home. As I watched, the blaze was headed down the canyon headed straight for the homes and the club. There was no fire engines tanker aircraft in the area...NONE! That was at 10:00AM. I'm at home now in Ventura. I doubt I'll have a place to work on Tuesday, but am praying otherwise.

 

KNX radio said they were going to try to stop the blaze at the Santa Paula (Ventura) River. E's brother and his wife live about 8 blocks West of there.

 

E. and I are both nervous wrecks. We have the car semi-packed should that need arise. We need to pray for all those displaced by the fire!

 Love to all,

 

Don R.

CNN UPDATE:

At least 10 killed in California wildfires

Flames destroy 400 homes, threaten thousands more

Sunday, October 26, 2003 Posted: 6:02 PM EST (2302 GMT)

Firefighters were unable to defend this house in Moorpark, California.

I looked outside my house and I thought I was in the middle of hell.

-- Joe Wronowicz, Rancho Cucamonga resident

LA VERNE, California (CNN)

-Wind-whipped wildfires tormented Southern California from San Diego to Los Angeles on Sunday, causing at least 10 deaths, and destroying nearly 400 homes and threatening thousands more.

Eight people were reported dead in a 100,000-acre fire in eastern San Diego County and more deaths were being investigated, Sheriff Bill Kolender said. He did not specify whether those who died were residents or firefighters.

The so-called Cedar fire started Saturday when a hunter lost in the mountains near Julian ignited a signal fire, The Associated Press reported authorities as saying. Two elderly men died Saturday in San Bernardino east of Los Angeles, apparently from fire-induced stress. A 93-year-old man collapsed and died while watching his home burn, according to the San Bernardino coroner. A 70-year-old man died from a heart attack while evacuating his house, the coroner said.

Another fire in the San Diego area Sunday came within a quarter-mile of the Federal Aviation Administration's radar facility at Miramar Naval Air Station. When air traffic controllers transferred their responsibilities to a facility in Palmdale, the switch delayed air travel for several hours to and from several Southern California airports, including Los Angeles International and San Diego International.

Up the California coast, more fires raged in the mountains and canyons beyond the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles -- sometimes hopping fire lines and highways, thwarting firefighters and lighting up homes.

As many as 12,000 homes in the region were under "some form of evacuation," with residents either having already left or preparing to do so, Forest Service information officer Martin Esparza said.

The so-called Old fire, near San Bernardino, was the most devastating to residents, destroying at least 300 homes and threatening thousands more. That fire sparked Saturday morning and had torched 20,000 acres by noon Sunday.

Ten miles west, around Rancho Cucamonga, the 5-day-old Grand Prix fire kept nearly 2,500 firefighters occupied as it pushed beyond the 52,000 acres it had devoured. At least 75 homes have been destroyed, officials said. Officials believe both fires were deliberately started.

Still farther west, more then 2,000 homes in Simi Valley were in danger from a 60,000-acre fire dubbed the Simi Incident, which sparked Friday when a smaller fire jumped State Route 126 and sped west. Ventura County fire officials confirmed the loss of 12 homes and said the Union Pacific Railroad has closed all rail lines into Simi Valley.

Santa Ana winds, blowing 30-35 mph and gusting much higher, kept the fires erratic and unpredictable, defying efforts to contain them. Firefighters took advantage of any lull in the winds, however brief, to put helicopters and fixed wing tanker aircraft into the air to dump water and retardant on the fires. Hundreds of residents of the heavily populated suburbs waited in their cars, on the streets or at shelters for word on the fate of their homes.

Among those sitting in their vehicles watching the burning skyline Sunday were Sharon Robinson, 62, and her daughter Kim Robinson, 46, who fled their home after throwing whatever clothes and other belongings they could into the back of their truck, according to an AP report "We've lived in our home for 35 years," Sharon Robinson told the AP. "Fire has always stopped in the foothills. I never thought it would reach our home."

Both the Grand Prix and Old fires swept into neighborhoods Saturday night, crowning dozens of rooftops with orange flames. "I looked outside my house and I thought I was in the middle of hell, it was redness everywhere, unbelievable," said Rancho Cucamonga resident Joe Wronowicz, who along with his family put off evacuating and put their faith in firefighters to protect their neighborhood.

Grand Prix has so far been limited to the edges of neighborhoods, where it has destroyed more than 75 homes, 59 in Claremont alone. But the Old fire, urged on by strong Santa Ana winds, rushed through Waterman Canyon with devastating thoroughness toward San Bernardino. Southern California Edison spokesman Steve Conroy said the utility lost two main transmission lines to the Old fire, cutting power to mountaintop communities in the area. Conroy said between 3,000 and 4,000 customers lost power to the Grand Prix fire. The Grand Prix fire also threatened the electrical lines that provide power for up to 1 million customers in the Los Angeles Basin.

California Gov. Gray Davis told the AP he has asked President Bush to make a disaster declaration for the region to free up federal loan money to help victims of the fires.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/10/26/cali...fire/index.html

[Mystify]

my prayers are with them....

[Nancy]

Mystify,

Thank you very much.

We may even have some Members in California, I just don't know for certain.

Nancy

[eddie]

Introducing my hero : Steve Hines

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This man is responsible for saving several hundred homes from the a wall of fire bearing down on my neighborhood in Santee California.

It all started Sunday morning for us, about 4:30 AM, when my sister in law called to ask if we could watch her four kids so she could move her horse, there was a fire threatening the area it was boarded at. This location was about 20 - 30 miles west from us. We discovered that four fires, in separate locations, had started since we went to bed Saturday night.

I walked outside to get the paper and was greeted by a georgeus orange sunrise, caused by the clouds of smoke to the east. There was a layer of ash covering the landscape, it looked and felt very odd. The Santa Ana winds that had been blowing all week were mild.

We picked up the nephews and brought them to church. After services we discovered the fire named Cedar was heading our direction, it had covered six thousand acres in four hours. The other fires were raging as well and a large percentage of our firfighters were in San Bernardino fighting a huge fire there.

At home we packed up the two CPU's (business and home) some paperwork and a few pictures, thinking as usual the fires wouldn't bring us any parsonal threat.

We were back at the church in the afternoon, setting up and feeding firefighters, preparing areas for evacuees etc. While there I talked to the city mayor, he informed me that there were four trucks assigned to protect us from the north end fire. They were to cover approximately 15 miles of homes bordering our north. The only obective was to defensivly protect the homes as the wall of fire approached. There was no one actively fighting the fire, the resources were too thin fighting all the fires. Abou 4:30 PM I looked to the north (this area immediately north of us is an open space for about twenty miles), it is just beyond my home. I saw a wall of fire in the distance, it stretched as far west as I could see and as far east as I could see. I guessed it was fifteen miles away (judging from our vantage point). From the distance you could tell some of the flare ups were 60 - 80 feet tall.

My two sons were home watering the roof, fences yard etc... I called them and asked if they could see what was coming (our home is two blocks from the north border) and that we were coming home to gather as much as we could and evacuate completely. They could not see what we could (even from the roof) because a large hill that is two blocks to the east is in the way. We came home and took apart the house looking for things that were important, all the while the glow from the east was getting brighter and brighter (it was now dark). Images of the pictures we had seen during the day were flashing through my mind as I went through my house. During the day, 100 homes had been consumed in one neighborhood, we saw footage of smoldering slabs, fireplaces and entrys standing amidst soot and ash. After helping the neighbors we vacated and returned to the church. I cannot begin to explain the knot in my stomache.

As we were leaving it appeared the glow was dimming, we felt it would pass because the winds (15 -20 with gusts to 35+) were moving west. Once again we were at the church, looking north, I called a neighbor, he said he was staying until they forced him out. We didn't know it at the time, but there weren't enough resources to provide a complete mandatory evacuation, they were using the airwaves (radio, TV) for most of this. He informed me that the flames were cresting the ridge, I decided to return and make a last stand, wetting as much as I could, put out embers etc...

The heat, the wind, the sound was incredible. At most of the homes in our part of the neighborhood at least one family member stayed to do whatever they could, once we had rewetted everything we could, we stood on roofs watching to see if the fire would be stopped at the border houses. There was what appeared to be a forest service tractor, clearing a fire break, this tractor was literally driving through the peak of the wall of fire, which was coming down the hill in a v shape. Hundreds of firefighters were having success terminating the blaze as it approached the homes because the tractor was breaking up the blaze, as it turns out the firefighters were those residents. Not a home was destroyed in Santee, not one. A miracle due to the heroism of Steve Hines, a citizen that took his tractor out and put himself at risk, the firefighting neighbors we were watching were heros as well. Without the tractor creating the break, this could not have happened.

Just thought I'd let you all know who my hero is...

I know several that have lost their homes....So far at least 900 homes have been lost in San Diego.....

[Nancy]

eddie........

So beautifully written, so moving!

Sitting here with tears in my eyes, yet praying this Fire Storm will end ASAP.

I really am at a loss for words here. May God Bless and keep you and yours safe.

This is surreal.

Way to go eddie and Steve Hines!

N.

[eddie]

Thanks Nancy....I'm thanking the Lord.

We just today got our house and office back in order, we run our business from home. The air is virtualy unbreathble still, but things are looking better.

A friend sent me some pictures from their neighborhoods fight.....here's the link.

http://www.layetteboutique.com/fire/fire2003.html