Pardon Me For Not Returning Your Call/Email — But San Diego’s On Fire

by Jeff Brown

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Geez, another fire, no, two of the nasty boogers. Santa Ana’s suck. What’s a Santa Ana you ask? It’s when desert winds from the northeast come swooping down into So Cal, bringing super low humidity, and winds blowing the wrong way. It also brings mid-80’s temperatures in late October.

When a few years of dry weather come one after the other, this is never good for San Diego. Add to the mix all kinds of dry dead wood for fuel, and you have the formula for what’s on the news the last few days.

As I write this it’s now too dark to see the more southern of the two fires. I have a southeasterly facing balcony with a gorgeous view in San Diego’s East County. As recently as an 45 minutes ago I could clearly see the Potrero fire’s smoke plume. It appears we’re winning that one. From about 4 PM until 6:30 or so, it was losing size, and depth of color. A great sign, based on my experience with these huge fires.

The ‘Witch’ fire is another story altogether. It’s not looking good. As of yesterday, it had already burned over 8,000 acres. Personally, my home isn’t in danger. My aunt and uncle, plus a cousin and his wife, living in La Costa (North San Diego County) have fled to Dana Point. Mom, who lives near me, has been my ‘stringer’, reporting on all the affected family members. My sister and her husband almost left their La Costa home, but when, at the last minute the order to leave was downgraded to voluntary they stayed. My brother-in-law is prone to severe asthma, so traveling to their downtown condo through all the muck was deemed far too risky.

Brian Brady, a good friend and almost neighbor, was the gracious host for five families from a community nearby his coastal home, which is close to Del Mar. They were from the Carmel Valley area, which was under mandatory orders to get outa Dodge.

I spoke to Brian an hour ago, finding him in the parking lot, J-3 to be specific, of Qualcom Stadium, which is located in the Mission Valley area of San Diego. He said he was heartened by the uninterrupted trolley schedule, as the bright red cars kept coming and going as if it was just another day.

A local restaurant brought them some chicken, which when added to the wine and good company, Brian’s making the very best out of a scary situation. But then that’s quintessential Brian.

His wife Deborah, and his five year old daughter, have headed to a downtown hotel, along with Deborah’s mom. They left there coastal home he said, because the air quality was nearly non-existent.

The fires now have taken far in excess of 20,000 acres. They’ve also, tragically, taken a life, and sent 15 people to our state of the art burn center at UCSD. Many, many homes, condos, and apartments have been lost already. One of the firefighters was put into an induced coma to assist her recovery.

In my conversation with Brian, he was encouraged and inspired by the, as he put it, ‘fraternal atmosphere’ of the stadium parking lot. Many of the now 10,000 folks in that lot are there without knowing if their home is still their home.

I’m watching, again as I’m writing this, a home burning down, engulfed in flames and a total loss. Brian said he chose the stadium parking lot because he heard the Governator was to show up later, which indeed he has. There’s a band playing too. That’s what Brian was talking about — folks refusing to lose spirit when circumstances dictate otherwise. But again, that’s Brian.

I also spoke with our resident Blog Princess, Ms. Berg. Found her in her home — ahem, which neighborhood has been, ah, kinda sorta evacuated. She was enjoying her Chardonnay, and making, of all things egg rolls. She’s also been told their cabin in Arrowhead is also at high fire risk, and in fact, may already be history. She doesn’t know though. Her outlook? ‘I’ve been wanting to rebuild that thing for awhile anyway.’ Geez — I guess that’s the Princess being cool in stressful times.

I was just happy to find she and Steve well, and unharmed. In the last fire, back in ’03, she was taking cell pics of a neighbor’s property burning, while our former Governor played the lead part in a remake of The Keystone Kops.

Ramona, a vibrant town in the northeast part of the county, is now a virtual ghost town, as everybody has been evacuated. This could turn out to be monstrous in scope.

I ask you, as a San Diego resident to add us to your prayers. From what I’m seeing in real time on my TV, it looks like without Devine intervention, this could get way ugly with a capital U.

June 15th marked my 40th year here. These fires could prove to be the most devastating natural disaster in all those years. Pray for us.
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