Ring of Fire

There is one pair of numbers that I think illustrates just how scary these last two days have been: Between 6 pm and 10 pm last night, the county estimate of the size of the Witch Creek fire went from 20,000 acres to 145, 000 acres.

At the moment, the only way out of San Diego is to the east, via the I-8. Or, by air.

My eyes haven't stopped watering since Sunday.

145,000 acres. And that's just one fire.

Depending on where you get your information, there are between 5 and 7 fires burning, and the city of San Diego is very much surrounded.

How badly stressed is our emergency services system? For most of the day yesterday, there was only one fire engine for the entire city of San Diego.

The scariest thing about all this is that friends and loved ones are in those areas evacuated, and I've lost contact with them. I called Sihaya yesterday and got her machine. If she went to work yesterday, then she's clear of the fires, but her cats are not. I called this morning again, and got her machine again, so her house is still standing, at least. For now.

Because bloggers are fond of lists, here are a few things I'm tired of:

1. Itchy, burning eyes.
2. TV journalists comparing burned neighborhoods to "a war zone".
3. Network television preempting local coverage
4. Network television's entertainment spin on our losses
5. The phrase, "the (absolute) worst that could happen"
6. The growing sense of helplessness
7. Video of fires and firefighting efforts that are so tight they don't show anything
8. Video of fires and firefighting efforts when what we need are maps
9. Matt Lauer
10. Smoke