Witch fire in San Diego - Notes from an evacuee

On the fire maps of the San Diego Witch fire, we are pretty much under the big red spot (directly under lake hodges, to the west of the 15). We moved to 4s ranch in June, on the intersection of rancho bernardo and ralphs ranch road. (pretty much right under the big red spot). We left on Monday at around 10 am with fire on 3 sides of our community. We got out with a couple changes of clothes, important documents, and the kids. Almost everything else is replaceable.

Getting out of 4s ranch was crazy though, traffic was jammed up through camino del sur, and the police were not helping. We ended up sneaking out through a backroad and coming out through Del Mar. Our final destination (and temporary home base) is the Ramada plaza hotel in Anaheim.

While it is rough having to flee from our home, we are much more fortunate than those people stuck at Qualcomm, or Del Mar, etc. While they have been sleeping on the cold cement for two days my family has enjoyed two queen size beds + a fold out couch. Kylie is a little shell shocked, I think fleeing from her home was a bit much, while Chris is just being a normal little two year old terror.

We have also been very fortunate to have many supportive friends. I thank everyone of them for all the support and help they have given. It makes things much easier when you know that you aren’t alone in this struggle. We have a couple standing offers of homes to stay in, a home cooked meal (from the best mexican food cook I have ever met) waiting for us tonight, clothes / diapers for Chris, pretty much everything we could have wanted.

During this whole ordeal I there have of course been challenges, but I am amazed how everyone is pulling together. In the hour before the police forced the evacuation neighbors were helping each other with information, people were grabbing hopping in trucks and running to help with the fire lines. While it was a post apocalyptic scene with the choking smoke, ash everyone, and blood red sun, people were helping each other. It is to see the best of people when they are under the worst conditions.

The two big questions every day are - Is my home still there? and If it is there, when can I go back? As of right now the evacuation order still stands for my neighborhood. It is directly downwind (about 1 kilometer) from the homes in Rancho Bernardo they have been showing on the news. When we left, fire was coming up the Ridge that separates our neighborhoods. On signonsandiego.com’s firemap it looks like we may have been spared, but we are still in the middle and downwind of the major fire. The only thing that will signal a change an all clear is for the santa anna winds to subside.

One thing that is important in any emergency is to go through a lessons learned.

The things that worked well were:

1. Having a 4×4, it allowed us to choose creative escape routes, and avoid the possibility of getting stuck in traffic with the fire behind us.
2. Having decent non-perishable snacks (granola, raisins, etc)
3. Having lots of water bottles laying around - dehydration is a big issue with the dry air.
4. Having travel kits ready - because I travel a bit, I normally have my carry-on bags prepped.
5. Bringing a toy, and a little video player for Chris - this saved lots of heartache for everyone

Things that I could have done better:

1. Inspected my sons bags before we left - we didn’t pack enough clothes, I forgot things like underwear, socks, etc.
2. Had the key to the breachlock on my shotgun handy - i couldn’t find the key to unlock my weapon. If this would have devolved to Katrina standards then this would have been essential. In retrospect I would have done better with a semi-auto handgun. It is easier to transport and conceal while traveling.
3. I should have had better radios. I am a ham operator, have my license. But I have always used peoples base stations tethered through the Internet (basically a big ip based microphone / speaker connected to their transceiver. Ham operators are a godsend in situations like this, and having a mobile unit in my truck would have added valuable information in a time when we had none.