California wildfires of October 2007
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The California wildfires of October 2007 are an ongoing series of over 20 wildfires raging across Southern California, forcing the evacuation of over 500,000 residents, destroying at least 1,500 homes and structures and threatening at least 56,000 more. At least 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) of land have burned from Santa Barbara County to the Mexican border. Officials have stated that they fear the inferno could become even more destructive than the 2003 Cedar Fire, considered the worst on record. The number and intensity of the fires have stretched California's firefighting resources to the limit, with one department reporting the "lack of resources [is] hindering suppression efforts."
The fires have killed two people and have injured at least 16 firefighters and 25 others.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in seven California counties where fires burned. President Bush has declared an emergency exists in the State of California and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local response efforts.
A contributing factor of the fires is the drought occurring in Southern California. The fires have been fanned and spread by the unusually strong Santa Ana winds. The winds are believed to have knocked down power lines, triggering several of the fires. One fire was the result of arson; one was started by an overturned semi-truck. The causes of the remaining fires are under investigation. Wind conditions are not expected to improve until October 25, 2007.
San Diego County is the location of two of the biggest fires, the Witch Fire near the northeastern edge of the city of San Diego, and the Harris fire southeast of San Diego. The Witch fire forced the closure of Interstate 15 and the Harris fire burns near the international border with Mexico.
As of the night of October 22, 2007, at least 5,000 homes were threatened. Approximately 500,000 people are under mandatory orders to evacuate, the largest evacuation in the region's history. Evacuees were gathering at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, Qualcomm Stadium and other locations throughout the county. Officials estimated that 10,000 were gathered at Qualcomm. Besides food, blankets and water, volunteers provided toys for children, massages, and a live rock and roll band performance. School and business closures were widespread. The only burn unit in the county, the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest was operated on an overflow basis. The unit, which has 18 beds, had received 16 fire victims and several patients with injuries not related to the blazes.
Current data on the fires has been provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, although the chaotic nature of the fires meant not all information was available.
The Witch Fire, also known as the Witch Creek Fire, is the largest of the October 2007 wildfires. Approximately 6,800 structures are threatened, including 5,000 homes. Hundreds of thousands of residents are being informed of evacuations through the Reverse 911 system. This evacuation comes almost four years to the day after the Cedar Fire of 2003.
The fire started near Santa Ysabel and spread to Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, and Poway and Escondido. Heavy Santa Ana winds have been pushing the fires west towards the coast. San Diego County Sheriff William B. Kolendar stated that the Witch Creek Fire could be "well in excess of Cedar Fire of 2003". Officials have also said that there exists the possibility that the fire could reach the coastline; residents of Solana Beach were advised to be prepared to evacuate.
All residents located south of Del Dios Highway, north of Sorrento Valley Road, west of Interstate 15, and east of Interstate 5 were ordered to evacuate. By 9:30pm October 22, 2007 a dispatch from the city of Del Mar's web site stated "For your safety, we are strongly advising that all Del Mar residents evacuate." Evacuations were also ordered for Scripps Ranch neighborhood, specifically "Everything south of Scripps Poway Parkway, north of MCAS Miramar, east of Interstate 15, and west of Highway 67". The Mesa Grande Indian reservation was evacuated due to the Witch Fire. Residents of the Barona Indian Reservation have been advised to leave if they wish, though the evacuation is not mandatory. The casino on the reservation is closed. At approximately 01:00 on 23 October, fire broke out near the southern end of Wild Cat Canyon, where many houses were destroyed and lives lost in the Cedar Fire. Residents of Wild Cat Canyon and Muth Valley were ordered to evacuate, and the road was closed.
Evacuation sites include Qualcomm Stadium, Mira Mesa Senior High School, Ramona High School, Del Mar Fairgrounds.
In addition to the evacuations, many major roads have been closed around the fire. On October 22, 2007, the California Highway Patrol closed Interstate 15 in both directions between state Route 78 and state Route 56.
On October 21, the Harris Fire damaged and disabled the Southwest Power Link, a 500,000-volt power line from Arizona to San Diego. Power outages were reported in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and other counties on October 22 to 333,500 Southern California Edison customers, most being restored within 24 hours. The power outage also affected the areas of Ojai, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Thousand Oaks, Rialto, Fontana, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, Mira Loma, Hesperia, Corona, Bloomington, Irvine, Calimesa and Rubidoux. This outage also caused 230 people to be without power in Malibu. The California Independent System Operator Corp, or California ISO, declared an energy transmission emergency in southern California on October 23, due to wildfires affecting the lines. 500,000-, 230,000- and 138,000-volt lines were disabled in San Diego, and some lines in other areas were also disabled. 24,992 lost power, due to lack of power from the power grid.
The San Diego Community College District on October 22, 2007 initially closed Miramar College, followed by Mesa College and selected Continuing Education sites in the northern area of the District. Effective at 3:00 p.m. the same day all colleges, campuses and sites of the San Diego Community College District were closed and would remain so through at least October 23, 2007. Students and faculty were urged to seek an update after 5:00pm local time on October 23. Numerous other schools, businesses and universities have closed as well, including California State University, San Marcos, San Diego State University, UC San Diego, the University of San Diego and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Classes for Tuesday, October 23 have been canceled for all of San Diego Unified School District and Sweetwater Union High School District as well as all other districts in the county and all schools in the municipalities of Tijuana, Tecate and Rosarito, located across the border in Baja California, Mexico.
In the Santa Clarita area, classes and events were cancelled at College of the Canyons and CalArts; local public schools were cancelled as well. All public schools were closed in Malibu, and there were some school closings in Orange County, Ventura County and San Bernardino County.
By mid-morning on October 22, 2007, thousands of evacuees were taking shelter in Qualcomm Stadium and other locations throughout San Diego. On the afternoon of October 22, 2007, the Marines were evacuating some planes from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar to other military bases in California and Arizona. The San Diego Wild Animal Park moved some animals to the on-site animal hospital for their protection.
As of October 22, 2007, with Qualcomm Stadium still hosting evacuees, the San Diego State University football team was still planning to host their Saturday game against BYU in the stadium. Some players and coaches have been affected by evacuations. Numerous San Diego area high schools canceled games and practices at least through October 24, 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_wildfires_of_October_2007#Impact
My sympathies to fellow Californians.
I just hope my home doesn't burn down. *prays*
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