are you guys ok out in California?

I was just reading about the 250,000 evacuated in California due to the fires! I don't know where they're all going to go to, but the areas listed include where my niece and sister in law live, and I know that Matrex lives out there... anyone heard from him?

hopefully Eve is safe in her area

like to hear from anyone that knows more than CNN right now - keeping my thoughts on all of you out there dealing with all that fire and smoke around you

I swear I can smell the smoke over here...

anyone have updates?

Eve...Couldb....etc.....are u okay guys yea???

well I think Oscar's ok cause he's been online... looking at videos myself just before you posted this Whimsea, it looks like just southern California but still hugely devastating.

Coachella Valley, specifically Palm Springs is A-OK. Closest fire here is in Big Bear/Lake Arrowhead area where my sister lives.

My sister-in-law lives near Malibu...we're standing by for info.

Martrex lives in San Diego area.

The Santa Ana winds have been very strong past week...it's not looking good.

I was just wondering if it was the Santa Anas!

I remember fires in the hills when I lived in Laguna Beach - the sky was pink/gray, sun was a orange pink and of course the smell... couldn't get away from that!

My mom, sister, mother-in-law, four out of five sisters-in-law (and all the spouses and children that go along with them) all live in Southern California.

I got some calls to make.

update on my California family members...

my niece and her husband live in Lake Hodges area. They were were evacuated at 6 o'clock this morning. So far, their answering machine keeps picking up, so the house is ok... She is a horse trainer, and she's currently out helping to get the horses evacuated at her work.

They are going to be staying with my sister in law, but she lives in Escondido not too far from the Wild Animal Park which I heard they were evacuating the animals, so I'm afraid they're not out of the fire area yet.

I sent a message to Marty (Matrex) a while ago... but no word yet.

Martrex posted on the word asso page gotta love the abreviation, at 3:25 today Oct 22
But his laptop may have been on fire while doing it. ......well i saw jerry lee play a piano like that......it may have been. Hope he and everyone is ok.
SCOOBY DEW....at your sevice.

"I've got two scuba buddies who live in Solana Beach, just North of San Diego, I sure hope they're safe. Looks like they might be having to move soon with those Santa Ana Fire storms coming in on them. Luckily they live pretty close to the beach. (It's where all us Aussies go to, when we get the Firestorms flash-jumping towards us).

Plus we've got an Aunt that lives up near Vandenberg AFB, just over a 100 clicks north of Malibu, so she should be OK.

Keep me posted if you hear anything about these 2 locations regarding the bush-fires OK?

BTW: To any PSC'ers out there who are threatened by these awful CA fire-fronts, I hope that you and your loved ones manage to survive being burnt out of your homes.

This nearly happened to us twice in Sydney, and it was only 'Elvis' the giant Red Helicopter Fire Bomber, that saved us on the second occasion.

Literally just yards from our back fence!!!

I took a photo of it, as it thumped over our house while pulling away from it's massive water dump, and I mean MASSIVE! This I sent off to Erikson's, the Air-Crane's owners in Canada with a big thank you note from one relieved house-owner in Turramurra. (Overlooking Lane Cove River Park)

Just hope it got to them, because it sure saved us that day!

A News item I found about our ordeal:-

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/01/01/fires.color/index.html

Sure sends shivers down my spine re- reading that again!

Regards Wiz

I'm fine just been outside watering everything. The winds are blowing from the east. Good old Santa Annas it's all arizona's fault.

Well maybe not!

The fires here are southeast of San Diego proper. And in Northern San Diego County up in Rancho Bernardo now burning up million dollar homes. But it had burnt through from east of Ramona and with the winds they wonder if it will stop before it hits the Ocean.

The first one is now burning southward into mexico and luckily the winds are blowing west south west so the smoke and all is going south into Mex but Tiajuana must be hating it.

So alive and kicking here in SD.

Marty

Well I got in touch with My mom, sister and one of the sisters-in-law. Everyone's fine that I've talked to.

Gina, the sister-in-law, says one fire is about 3 miles from their home but it's "only a hay fire". She said they've had a couple of them and one was right behind the fence of her back yard.

Mom and sister both live about a mile apart from each other. The fires are almost literally surrounding the area that they live in but there's no fires threatening them. They just have the haze to deal with.

Sooooo so far my family members are safe. phew.

You take care Marty, and watch your Six, those winds can be real tricky and turn on you, we've lost more firefighters in Oz because that's exactly what happened... Those Fiery Killers come from that unexpected quadrant because they're making their own wind, and then you ain't got nowhere to run to, with fires on both sides!

Be careful man, if you're near a hot moving front, always have that fast escape route planned, and stick to it.

Good Luck Bro'

Wiz

Thanks for your concern. We have togo packages all ready but hopefully we won't need them.

Marty

very glad to hear you & yours are fine... just don't unpack that to go box yet.

**
I called my niece and sister in law when I got home after work. My niece was still working - she is a horse riding trainer and they were still getting horses moved and settled -- in the dark - not because they didn't have power, but apparently where they moved them doesn't have lights, so they were using flashlights and the headlights of a truck.

She and her husband left their place in Lake Hodges and will stay in Escondido... as of a few minutes ago, the answering machine at their place in Lake Hodges was still working, so guess that means their house is still there!

***
so who else do we have out in So. Cal - you said Oscar and CouldBe - anyone heard from them?