Natural Disasters Support Group

Hey y'all!!!
Well I live here in San Diego. Basically we are just waiting for word to evacuate. This happened 3 years ago, but this time it's coming more inland and that's pretty scary! I can feel particles in my throat. There's a total of 8 fires here in S.D!!! It's scary b/c last time we didn't need to evacuate but we are being told to get papers and pack are cars. My uncle and aunt have already been evacuated. Schools are closed, courts are closed, we are being told not to leave unless we are told to evacuate. The fire is headed pretty close to my area, so I dunno what's gonna happen! Well I will keep y'all posted if I can!
Hugs, Niecy.

Also live in San Diego... watching the Harris fire.. that poses the most threat to Otay Lakes area... my thoughts go out to everyone in our county that is dealing with these fires...Pray the San Ana's die down soon....

I live not too far from the SB Mountain base. Can't breathe outside without getting all choked up and the eyes are extremely sensitive. Noticed they already started evacuating people to centers not too far away from us (1.5 miles).

Fortunately I live in an area that's pretty safe from the fires, but it's sad to go to the mall and see people in the parking lot with their motorhomes, and seeing everyone frantic on their cell phones.
The air is horrible and all you can see are grey skies.

Rolling Hills area on the back side of Otay Lakes is in Volunteer evacate. It is pretty scary..we are ready to go if they say go.... I hope everyone is safe.... God Bless!

Hi Guys,
I live in Australia and i have been reading over your stories.
I know how it feels to be in a deadly fire. Not sure if any of you would remamber, or even care but in Australia in 2001 we had the worst "Christmas" bushfires ever.
Christmas day, my brothers and i woke up to a sky which was yellow and full of smog. We thought at the time, being kids that this was just a yellow hue in the sky and thought nothing of it. We had our Christmas morning, opened our presents and waited for our grandparents to come over. We had our delicious roast for lunch, and then all headed outside for a breath of fresh air, only to notice that the air smelt like burning eucalypt leaves and the smoke had gotten so thick you could barely look through it and see the person standing next to you. Worst of all though was the sun, it was blood red, glowing like a molten lava ball fresh from a volcano. Touch it and youd be scolded. Thats when we all knew something was wrong. As we took a walk up the street the smoke got heavier, it was hard to breath, people had flocked to the streets to see where the smoke was coming from. In a nearby paddock you could see orange flames licking at the drought stricken grass and the crisp, crunchy eucalypt leaves. It was about 400 metres away at the closest. We jumped in the car and raced down to the local damn, only to witness the most scary, yet astonishing thing someone could ever see. We watched the belt of fire literally jump the damn and begin to swallow all the bushland which got in the way of its new destination, our homes.
Mum and dad raced us home (Myself, My Grandparents and my younger brothers who were, 4,8 and 10. I was then 12)
We were each to pack a suitcase of essentials meaning clothes, toothbrush, underwear etc. Instead without even thinking, us as kids packed all of our christmas presents instead. Luckily alot of our Christmas presents were clothes anyway. We kissed mum and dad goodbye and off we went to our grandparents house, as the fire was quite close and mum and dad wanted to stay as long as they could with hopes of protecting our house. As we drove toward our grandparents house, things around us were alight, charcoaled leaves were flying through the air landing on the windscreen. When we finally reach what would now be home until the fires were out we jumped from the car and ran inside to breath the air that was not smokey and thick. However it was not long before the smoke smuggled its way into the house under the doors. It became unbearable, so we grabbed some old towels and soaked them in water, and lodged the under the doors to prevent to much smoke getting in. Finally we could sit down and relax a bit. It had been hours since we had heard from mum and dad and then the phone rang, we all jumped up and ran to the phone with grandma answering it. It was her brother. My brothers and i went out onto the front balcony, and noticed that my nanna's rose garden was on fire, it was a rose garden she had made in memory of my brother who died from SIDS when he was 6 months old.
We ran inside to tell gran and she hung up the phone straight away. We filled buckets of water and eventually put the fire out. We stood there a moment to catch our breath and realised that the house across the road was burning down. Noone lived there thankfully, we stood in awe and watch it almost burn to the ground.
We all went back inside. The phone rang again. This time it was mum and dad, letting us know that they were ok and that they had been supplying the local fire brigade with food and drink while they fended off the fires from our neighbourhood. They also told us that they had heard that where we were had been blocked off. They were not permitting people in or out of the neighbourhood where my grandparents lived. So we were basically isolated. We said goodbye and headed to the kitchen for some food. I strolled outside to see if things had calmed down, i looked around only to notice that 10 foot flames were making their way toward our house, they were less than 20 metres from us. In a great panic i told nan who told us to get outside to the car. We did. We hopped in the car and sat out on the street. Pop had decided he would go and put the flames out a bucket at a time. No fire brigade was around, it was just us.
Nan was in tears, we could not see pop anywhere, the flames were closing in, and we were trapped, road blocked in from either end. Nan noticed that a power line close to the car on the street was lose, the cable broken. As she pointed it out to us the cable flicked up, sparks raring from the end of it. It moved around snake like in apperance before lashing at the car as if trying to strike us, it missed us by an inch. Nan panicked put the car in reverse and backed away from the pole, a little further back on the road. As she did so she noticed a small ring of flames was licking at her tail gate. We had fire all around us and noone there to help us, pop had gone. Nan told us to cover our mouths to protect us from the smoke. At that point my 4 year old brother said "Nan are we going to die"
Nan teary eyed said " no darling i wont let anything happen to you."
It was a god send, 2 seconds later we heard the roar of a fire engine. It came to us, and began hosing the flames all around us and the house. As the flames died down we saw it, Pop had emerged from the fire, riddled in smoke, and dirt. He was alive.
After the fire brigade did their work we were allowed inside again. We were safe, well for now anyway. Not long afterward we got a call from mum and dad, they were still stuck at the house and were not sure when they would get out. We said goodnight and all settled down for a much deserved sleep. Whilst we kept in touch with mum and dad via the phone it was 3 days before they got out. The house was no longer able to be protected, mum and dad had told a close friend on the fire brigade that if the road blocks were lifted at anytime of the day they wanted to know. It was 6am when they got to us. They had packed the car full of photo albums, our dog, clothes and our presents. We thought our house was gone. Mum and dad came inside and we all ate and drank and awaited any news. It was 8pm that night that we were given the all clear that our house was fine, the fire gone. We were ok to go home. It was the best feeling ever.

6 years later and i can still remember everything as though it were yesterday. It was scary, but it makes you value your life, your family and the fire brigade. I can sympathise with all of you in the situation. I nearly lost my life that year. And my brothers words will forever echo in my ear, a helpless, frightened tremor "Are we going to die Nan"
I will never forget it.

My husband was cramming for his trial during the weekend so I decided to take Maeve and Tess to the beach...in Malibu..and we spent the day exactly where the castle and church (where my cousins first baby was just baptised) Maeve thought it was a vacation...because it was so beautiful. Im so sorry for the loss of that land, any of the property especially their pictures, trophys, and anything theyve lost and loved. So sorry
Dr O.

well, we were evacuated yesterday morning at about 8 am. We got the reverse 911 call to evacuate immediately. My family and I live in Escondido, we are set in the witch creek fires that are burning escondido and rancho santa fe area. This is surreal. Thats all I can say. We are currently in my Aunts house, there are 10 of us, and the air outside is awful, so we're going stir crazy. We just received wortd the fire is about a block away from our house now

I live in Redlands and the whole sky smells like smoke. My nose is burning.

we have voluntary evacuations happening in SE Highland from the Slider fire