CarrieLee said:

Exactly, people that have nothing better to do and all the innocent people that are involved, very sad

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- A quarter-million people fled their homes amid wildfires that had burned 100,000 acres around San Diego County, officials said Monday.


Five homes burned to the ground Monday morning on a Rancho Bernardo, California, cul-de-sac.

1 of 3 more photos » "The situation continues to deteriorate," fire chief Bill Metcalf said at 10 a.m. Pacific time, with numerous structures lost across the county.

"I think there's a very good possibility it will reach the coast before it's finished," Metcalf said of one of the fiercest blazes.

Metcalf said the fires were consuming homes in the communities of Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Forest Ranch and Lake Hodges.

"We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them," San Diego Fire Capt. Lisa Blake said, according to the Associated Press. "A lot of people are going to lose their homes today."

On one cul-de-sac in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo, five of six homes burned to the ground, leaving flames from gas lines flickering amid the ruins, according to a KGTV report.

Authorities pleaded with residents Monday to follow evacuation orders and stay off cell phones.

A nursing home and Pomerado Hospital in Poway were evacuated along with 700 Navy personnel and their families in military housing in Lakeside and Ramona.

Qualcomm Stadium, home of the NFL's San Diego Chargers, along with schools across the region were opened to take evacuees.

Fixed-wing firefighting aircraft were grounded by the strong winds, officials said, making the jobs of fire crews on the ground even harder.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in seven counties.

"The wind is our number one enemy right now," he told a late morning news conference.

"The situation has gotten dramatically worse overnight ... worse than many of us could have imagined just a few short hours ago," Metcalf said earlier Monday.

A smaller fire that merged with the Witch Fire -- one of the biggest in the region -- entered the San Diego city limits Monday, said Mike Mohler with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender said at a news conference the Witch Fire "will probably be the worst fire this county has ever seen -- worse than the Cedar Fire." See photos of the fires »

The notorious Cedar Fire killed a dozen people south of Ramona four years ago this week as it moved swiftly through the hilly terrain, eventually consuming more than 280,000 acres near the town northeast of San Diego.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered as the fires moved rapidly, Kolender said. "Please, when you are called, when you are notified, do what you were instructed to do," he said.

Crews that could be fighting flames have been tied up helping residents who didn't evacuate promptly, Metcalf said.

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"We've been unable to do any suppression effort because, in most cases, the fire resources are being used ... to do rescues," said Metcalf, chief of the North County Fire Protection District in Fallbrook.

Authorities said cell phone lines are often clogged, which hurts rescue efforts. They're also asking people to hold off on 911 calls unless there is clearly an emergency.

The winds driving the flames are expected to stay strong, coming out of the northeast, at least through Tuesday, according to CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano.

A long line of vehicles streamed westward out of Ramona early Monday in response to a mandatory evacuation order as the front-line flames of the Witch wildfire swept rapidly closer to the San Diego County community.

The Witch Fire was one of several major wildfires to ignite Sunday around Los Angeles and San Diego, fueled by hot, dry conditions and pushed by fierce Santa Ana winds. See where fires burn across Southern California »

A new fire broke out Monday morning in Lake Arrowhead, in the mountains east of Los Angeles. Resident Michael Beamis said that several houses in the area are on fire, but there are no firefighters around. Officials believe the fire was started when winds blew down power lines.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/U...index.html

CarrieLee said:

Oh Im out of here in a few years.... Just doing time for sons sake... Im very over Cali on the whole.

Ive got to get out your way invasion style one of these days anyway!

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

Is there one in the works? NYC isn't too far from me, but Boston would be much better!

DIE arsonists DIE! 90% of our fires here are started by these psychos. Seriously, I wish every time they would die in the fires they are creating. About 10 years ago, maybe longer, a crazy asswipe set fires in Laguna that burned down over 300 homes. The chaos and destruction and loss of life these people cause is just awful and I hope they get what they have coming to them.

I could see the fires in the Orange Mountains from my house when I got home last night and I am very sensitive to the smoke and slept like crap because of the air quality. Thank god I don't have full blown asthma or it would be much much worse.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

My house was burned along with 520 other homes in 1990 by an arsonist, in the "painted cave fire" The man was caught 10 years later, apparently he was drunk and confessed to someone!
[Edited 10/22/07 13:04pm]

PaisleyPark5083 said:

They caught that guy!?!

Thank the good lord above!

Damn, 17 years ago???!! I didn't think it was that long ago.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

They caught him!, he is now rotting in jail!!

PaisleyPark5083 said:

Hopefully it is FOREVER.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I hope they catch whoever has started these latest fires.

PaisleyPark5083 said:

2 of them were accidental causes but the rest are surely arson. God, remember like 2 years ago when we were literally surrounded by the fires? This is the satellite image of those fires:



Those fires were absolutely insane. You could barely see the wall across the street from my house in my neighborhood. It looked like fog but it was really the smoke. I went to Bingo during that fire where the smoke was like that and saw someone jogging in that crap WTF!?! I saw someone also riding their bike with a cigarrette hanging out of their mouth. At least in his case he's used to having wildfires in his lungs but that jogger?

Governator is on now...

This is all scary stuff we had a fire over the summer in our hills that lasted over a month, and burned 200,000 acres! That was called "The Zaca Fire"

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Smoke is getting to me now... I have a headache... I cant imagine breathing this for a few more days..

That looks scary. Hang in there Cali orgers. Hope everybody is doing okay.


[Edited 10/22/07 13:48pm]

rushing07 said:

*cough*

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

Is the smell really intense?
It's not too healthy to inhale fumes especially for prolonged periods of time.

rushing07 said:

I just went outside and it smells pretty bad, I can't even imagine being any closer to these fires, it must be horrible

The City of San Diego is surronded by fire.

There are now fires burning north east and south of the city.

The 8 and 15 are closed just outside of the city.

All my Central SD and Southbay orgers hang in there.

This is the largest evacuation in the history of San Diego. Over 250K people have all ready been forced to leave.

veronikka said:

Try to seal the windows and doors with some cloth.

ehuffnsd said:

San Diego orgers, hope you're doing okay.

ehuffnsd said:

Thats horrible I hope everyone gets to safety

Be safe Cali orgers

rushing07 said:

three of my coworkers are going home to pack for their looming evacuations.

the SD Fire Chief has said there are not enough firefighters to fight this in the county.

ehuffnsd said:

Add to this the fact that some of the winds have been recorded at 80 miles an hour which is the beginning of hurricane strength winds Scary when you consider how big a factor wind plays in the strength of a fire. Absolutely scary.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Oh shit.

This sounds really bad.
I still remember the horrible images from Greece.

ehuffnsd said:

I live in Irvine and we saw the fire last night from the freeway as well as massive smoke all day. if you go outside for a couple minutes your eyes begin to burn.

PEJ said:

I have never been able to see the fires in the mountains from my house before....

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

it's close real close to us