As I mentioned in an earlier post, this week’s hardly been a holiday. While my neighborhood has been spared from the fires, it was not risk free. Most San Diego neighborhoods are built on top of hills, and the hillsides (suburban and rural) are lined with chaparral, which is simply plenty of vegetation to catch fire. The fires were largely limited to rural areas, but densely populated areas close to them, such as Rancho Bernardo and Poway, were vulnerable and took heavy damage. There will be more stories in the news in the weeks to come as these people struggle to resume their lives and rebuild their homes. What is very unfortunate is that some of these people were still recovering from the Cedar Fires disaster, which happened four years ago.
Thanks to those who kept us in your thoughts. I would especially like to thank Brian and Danny for their responses in some of my fire related posts. There was also a Flickr user who sent me some thoughtful messages. I’m glad to know that fellow San Diego bloggers Ted and Rob are ok.
I’ve gotten word that one of the teachers out in the East County school lost her home in the fire. I’m sure we’ll hear about more friends, colleaguues, and acquaintances in this situation in weeks to come.
As for family in San Diego, I’m glad everyone’s fine. My immediate family (mother and brother) are all in central San Diego, away from the fires. My brother’s children (my niecce and nephew) live with their mother in East County, but their area is unaffected. I visited my uncle John (my paternal grandmother’s brother) and my aunt in Mira Mesa yesterday. It had been a while since I’ve seem them, but I worried about them this week, since their area had more smoke than here. I promised not to be a stranger.
As far as I know, the community colleges resume on Monday. I’ll be catching up on grading papers and doing prep work for classes. I’ve lost more or less a week’s worth of lessons, so I’ll have to exercise some flexibility with plans and deadlines.
Updates
- San Diego Union-Tribune, Fire Facts
- NY Times, Extent of the Fires
- NY Times, Homes Still At Risk
Tags: New York Times, San Diego County, San Diego Union-Tribune, Southern California Fires
