We have had ash all over the place at work all week, but this morning my car, yard, and house is covered in ash. I heard on Friday that the mechanics at the Carrier dealer in Fontana between the Ca. Speedway and the 10 were wearing painters masks in order to breathe at work. As overcast and foggy as it was yesterday I had hoped the weather might help the fire fighters, but those mountains are pretty rugged. I don't envy anyone trying to fight fire in there.

 

Yea, we've got lots of ash over my way too. Its cloudy outside too... smoke clouds, that is.

 

I just got the Times, and looked at the front page on the fires. I had heard of the fire in Waterman Canyon, but hadn't realised the extent of it. If the Waterman Canyon fire meets the Grand Prix fire, a good part of the Inland Empire is gone! That whole area along the 18 is a rugged place to fight a fire without Santa Anna winds!

 

I live near some of the fires. It's disgusting here - the air is all smoky, the horizons are brown and the rest of the sky is orange. The light coming in my windows is brownish orange, and the air just smells like fire and smoke everywhere. It's like being inside a fireplace. Funny thing, though, is that a lot of the ash seems to blow overhead rather than land here.

 

Heat rises, so the hot embers and ashes rise up then the winds carry them till they cool and drop.

The Santa Anas though blow hard and low spreading the hot embers like water out of a fire hose.

 

Yea the fires are horrible. I have a couple buddies from work that lost their homes from the fire. Every night I can see the hills and mountains ablaze. The smoke comes in thick at times but so far the ash isn't coming down as bad as it did when I was in OC and there were wildfires. Luckily where I am in Redlands, I really don't have to worry about the fire reaching me.

 

Here is the view from my driveway looking toward the 118 and Topanga in Simi Valley/Chatsworth as of 2:00pm on Monday - 10/27/03:

 

wow thats brutal

 

Yeah our family is holding our breath right now...

We were planning on being at our cabin this weekend so my family can have a late B-day celebration for me, but theres a good possiblity that our cabin wont be there ...you all heard about the Old Waterman Cyn/Crestline fire, well Waterman Cyn ends about 500ft straight down from our cabin and we have been hearing that 25 homes have burned in our area and there arent 25 houses between Waterman Cyn and our cabin and the area below us, Valley of Enchantment, is now burning and only 5% containment...so its not looking too good right now



This was early in the fire, and that bridge is our Crestline turn off and about a 1/2 mile from our door step, according to reports this whole area has burned all the way up to our town...

EDIT: the loss count is now up to 32 homes lost

 

Here's the same view as of 4:50pm. Ashes now falling like snowflakes:

 

Bret, did you use telephoto, or are you closer to that area than I thought you were? Brittney, I hope your cabin is still ok. Is it insured?

 

No telephoto used. I'm on the fringe of the SFV just before the Ventura County line and can see the hills of Chatsworth from my driveway. The fire is a few miles away (about 10-15 minutes driving time) so my neighborhood is pretty safe, but since the breeze shifted we've been getting showered with ashes.

 

The California 500 isnt until May 2nd, 2004, my birthday. I sure hope the fires are out by then!!

 

My mistake, what are they calling the CART race scheduled for next weekend?

 

 

Oh, you were talking about CART. Its called the King Taco 500.

http://www.californiaspeedway.com/

I think the California 500 is the IRL race they had in September. The NASCAR race is the Auto Club 500.

 

Brets pics remind me of the Lemon Heights fire, where houses burned within 1000ft of our house. Fortunatily we were on the edge of the wind blown embers and only had a few landed on the roof.
The worst part is it appears some one just drove down the I-15 setting fires.

 

We think were still standing right now...Our current worry is that the western front is now coming east towards us and is running towards where the eastern front just missed us(hopefully!) We know that a few homes are lost on the streets surrounding us, but were pretty sure it sounds like none of them were ours...The worst part is not knowing, luckily there are a few residents that stayed to help and drive all throught the town then update us a couple times a day on a few websites...there was also apparently a reporter brocasting from "Top Town" which is the little town at the bottom of our hill and all looked well apparently...

Yes we are insured, but not for the contents(all because we have fuses and not circut breakers!) We really dont care about the structure(last owner did some hack job remodeling/wiring/plumbing) but it was built in the 1930's, its full of all of my recently passed grandmother's antiques and belongings and all of our old family photos, and of course my dad has a couple grand in tools and wood working equipment up there...Guess we'll just have to wait it out and have faith!

Heres a cool pic of the smoke taken from space that my mom sent me:

 

I havent been here in a long time, but I see people comparing photos of the fire. We were evacuated sunday morning when the Grand Prix Fire jumped the 15 Freeway and headed south towards us. We were only gone for a few hours and it was a manditory evacuation. Here are some photos I took as we were making our way out of the area. We were given only a few min to get out, I didnt grab anything but my shoes and my camera. Had no time for anything else.







One of our friends who lives IN Lytle Creek decided to stay and defend their home. The wife and the daughter went to a motel, and the Father and the 3 sons stayed and battled the blaze. The used pumpes to pump water from the pool as well as all their sprinklers and garden hoses to soak their property and home. They live on a 1 acre property and actually saved it. The fire came with a vengance according to them, but they kept their respirators on and saved their property. I thought that it was a cool story.

 

This is from California Speedway’s site




King Taco 500 Postponed
California Speedway’s King Taco 500 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford event scheduled for Sunday, November 2nd, and the NASCAR Winston West Series King Taco 200 scheduled for Saturday, November 1st, have been postponed due to the state of emergency declared in San Bernardino County and surrounding counties as a result of the wildfires burning in the area. Potential alternative dates for rescheduling the events are being reviewed, according to Bill Miller, president of California Speedway.

“We have been monitoring the fire situation since it began last week in the northern section of Fontana, approximately five miles from the speedway,” Miller said. “As the fires have continued to spread, several issues were considered for us to arrive at this decision, including the proximity of the fire, the air quality, transportation issues and staffing requirements from a fire safety, medical, security and volunteer standpoint needed to stage an event. Based on the request of state and local officials, we are postponing this weekend’s events, and we will try to find suitable dates to reschedule them in the future.

“In addition, we have received a few comments from our guests urging us not to hold this event. We value the opinions of our customers. It is never easy to make a decision like this, but the bottom line is safety; the safety of the guests and the competitors. Based on the current situation, we can’t guarantee that this weekend will provide the appropriate atmosphere to conduct these events with the limited resources available because of the state of emergency, Miller said.

According to recent updates provided by incidentcontrol.com (a website monitoring the Grand Prix and Old Fires), more than 80,000 acres have burned in the San Bernardino area and more than 3,500 personnel are currently fighting this fire.

“We fully support the speedway’s decision to not run this weekend’s event,” NASCAR Regional Touring Series/Weekly Racing Series Director Chris Boals said. “We appreciate their efforts, in coordination with state and local authorities, in arriving at this decision. Conducting this event with the current state of affairs in Southern California is not prudent at this time, especially with several of our Winston West Series teams located in the area. The focus should be, and rightly so, on the situation at hand, and our thoughts are with all of those affected by the fires.”

Bill Miller concluded, “Public health and safety is paramount and the focus at these difficult times should be on family and helping your fellow neighbor. Citizens of Southern California have never experienced a fire of this magnitude and the devastation that it has placed upon our community. I’m committing the speedway to help in any way we can and will begin getting our staff organized to assist in relief efforts.”



Jerry

 

I was surprised that they waited this long to make the announcement. I thought it was obvious by Sunday that there was no way they could run the races this weekend.

Brittney, how close is the Stephenson Ranch fire to you. I hope all is ok at your house. I hope everyone else in the club has come through these fires ok, and that the fire crews can get them out soon.

 

King Taco 500 and King Taco are canceled per CAS web site.

 

Brandi & I are planning on going to the speedway this Saturday to drop off some donations for the victims. If you guys want to join us we can set up a caravan to the speedway.

 

Jennifer and I will be taking some stuff over there, since we will be in the area. We might bump into you.

 

Yeah to top off my week of worry frickin Stevenson ranch is on fire too, the fire is following me!!! Luckily Stevenson Ranch is about 20 mins west of me...and we had a guy drive by our cabin and it looks good and is still standing...the nearest the fire came was that it burned down a couple of houses 3 streets over directly accross from us on the opposing ridge Too close! had the winds been blowing the other way...we'd of been gone! Teh next question is when will they let us up there? We have chicken and meat that has been defrostion even since the power went out!(almost a week EEW!) and no gas for heating...

I hope everyone else is ok! Have a couple of car club friends in Simi and Porter ranch but I think everyone is ok...

 

Glad to hear everything is ok. A little spoiled meat is no problem!
Even a freezer full is nothing compared to losing it all, and two houses in the same week would be really bad!