San Diego Fires

Hello everyone.

Just a bit of the story. Pretty amazing here in San Diego. This morning again
I can smell the smoke as I write this. They are saying over 100,000 acres
burned which is over 150 square miles. It happened so fast, in the morning the
sun had been up for an hour and it was dull red, easily observed without
protection, at times fading away. With binoculars, two large suns spots were
apparent. At that time the fire was probably 20 miles away but the ash was
falling rapidly.

A few hours later the fire had grown from 10,000 acres to 80,000 and was
crossing major freeways at will. Areas within 5 miles of here had been
evacuated and were on fire, of the three North-South interstates, only I-5 was
open. In the afternoon, the fire had advanced to within 2 miles of here and if
it had jumped one more freeway, it would have rushed down the San Clemente
canyon which is but a few hundred yards from here. We loaded the motorhome
with our most valued belongings and were ready to leave. Fortunately the
windshifted at that point and the fire retreated.

Other areas are not so fortunate and no one knows what today will bring. More
winds are predicted and there are many homes that could be at risk. The fire
fighters are stretched thin and understaffed because of the number of fires in
SoCal. Reinforcements are arriving as other fires in other places are brought
under control. There is apparently no arial support because of the wind and
because the smoke is so thick and also because the planes are in use else
where. It should be perfectly clear in weather like this but visability was
less than a mile for most of yesterday.

The entire city is essentially shut down except for those people necessary for
fire fighting and public safety. Nearly all schools are shut including the
University of California, San Diego where I work (22,000 students and probably
15,000+ staff and academics.) Only critical personal of the city and county
are to work today. Many companies are shut down.

And yet consider this.

11 pm last night. The skies had cleared, the stars were out and they were
dark. Darker than I have ever seen them here.

I was able to see M31 naked eye and M33 with averted vision using my 10x50's.
Never ever imagined I would see M31 naked eye from my normally 3.5 at absolute
best backyard.

Keeping my fingers crossed, best to all.....

jon isaacs

"Jon Isaacs" wrote in message
...

Areas within 5 miles of here

Jon, exactly where is "here"?

11 pm last night. The skies had cleared, the stars were
out and they were dark. Darker than I have ever seen
them here.

presumably the smoke blotted out the light pollution affects from the city?
terrible way to get dark skies, but it does offer tangible evidence that
good lighting practices can dramatically improve visibility of the night
skies.

keep safe--

mark d.

I live in LA about 2 miles from the Simi Fire. Unfortunately my yard has
been choked in smoke the last three nights, otherwise we would have had very
good skies. No moon and lots of wind.

"mark d. doiron" wrote in message
news6anb.16727$5c2.678@okepread03...
"Jon Isaacs" wrote in message
...

Areas within 5 miles of here

Jon, exactly where is "here"?

11 pm last night. The skies had cleared, the stars were
out and they were dark. Darker than I have ever seen
them here.

presumably the smoke blotted out the light pollution affects from the
city?
terrible way to get dark skies, but it does offer tangible evidence that
good lighting practices can dramatically improve visibility of the night
skies.

keep safe--

mark d.

"Jon Isaacs" wrote in message
...

In the afternoon, the fire had advanced to within 2 miles of here and if
it had jumped one more freeway, it would have rushed down the San Clemente
canyon which is but a few hundred yards from here. We loaded the
motorhome
with our most valued belongings and were ready to leave. Fortunately the
windshifted at that point and the fire retreated.

What are you waiting for? Take a few days off and head dark skies. Hope is
good, but hope from a safe distance is better.

-Stephen

Jon, exactly where is "here"?

N32° 50.373'
W117° 11.526'

San Diego, North Clairemont, near highway 52 and Genesee Ave.

A friend lost his house in the outback. Sherriffs were there but their escape
route was cut off by the fire. The circled their cars in a clearing and they
all huddled between their car and the fire passed over their heads, everyone
lived but the houses were lost.

Jon

On 27 Oct 2003 14:27:45 GMT, (Jon Isaacs) wrote:
Keeping my fingers crossed, best to all.....

jon isaacs

I join you in hoping for some good luck, Jon

And here's an interesting aerial view of the fires:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/f.../aerial01.html

Les Blalock
http://www.txastro.com

On 10/27/03 23:27 +0900, Jon Isaacs wrote:

Keeping my fingers crossed, best to all.....

Jon, if things look bad, don't be slow about evacuating.

trane
--
//------------------------------------------------------------
// Trane Francks Tokyo, Japan
// Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
// http://mp3.com/trane_francks/

There are some more NASA fire images here...

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Nat...rds_v2.php3?i=
mg_id=3D11806


-Florian

Hang in Jon,
We're less than a mile South of the Santa Susana Pass, in a corner of
Ventura County. Yesterday morning, the fire was Northwest of us, South of the
118. As of yesterday evening, the active front was Northeast of us. We've
been under an evacuation order since 1:00PM yesterday. There have been no fire
suppression personnel in our neighborhood. Our fire hoses are laid out and
standing by, and there's been little sleep for a couple of nights. Things are
looking better...maybe we've dodged another bullet!
Things could be much worse, the house is still standing, all the expensive
stuff is secure, and the escape route is clear.
We send our sympathy to those who have lost their homes, or worse, loved
ones.

John

Jon,

I know exactly where you are, I used to live not to far from there off=20
of Clairmont Mesa and 52. I feel for you. I'm in Orange County now and=20
while I don't have to deal with the fire, I do have the smole and ash to=20
contend with.

Craig

In article ,=20
says...
Jon, exactly where is "here"?
=20
N32=B0 50.373'
W117=B0 11.526'
=20
San Diego, North Clairemont, near highway 52 and Genesee Ave.=20
=20
A friend lost his house in the outback. Sherriffs were there but their =
escape
route was cut off by the fire. The circled their cars in a clearing and =
they
all huddled between their car and the fire passed over their heads, every=
one
lived but the houses were lost.
=20
Jon
=20