Mark’s Soap Box

** Welcome Michelle Malkin Readers** Pics are at the bottom of this post.

UPDATE 1345PDT 23 Oct: New Post here

UPDATE 0945PDT 23 Oct: Del Mar is now under mandatory evacuations.

All areas east of Crest Road, San Dieguito Road, Oribia Road, Avenida Primavera near Crest Road, Serpentine Drive, Gatun Street, Balboa Avenue and Zapo Street. City officials warn that if you’re not part of this mandatory evacuation order, be prepared to evacuate. Any Del Mar resident that can’t self-evacuate, call: 858-704-3694.

Get updates here at local CBS affiliate Channel 8. They are doing a great job.

List of destroyed homes

Good Morning Ashes

This morning I awoke to an ash covered world. You can see your footprints on the walkway. The bbq pit looks like it has a new paint job. The walkway looks like it has black snow. It’s cooler though and some clouds have rolled in, thank God.

The ash in the air is taking it’s toll on people. My headaches are still with me, my eyes are watering, and my throat is getting sore. Most of the people around me are saying the same.

We are still pretty much pinned in. Getting out would most likely be worse than staying. There are several areas that I can go to for safety near my home. I am not worried, not much anyway. If you look on the map below, I live where the 76 meets the 5, roughly.

Today’s Map – click for larger image.

yesterdays map – click for larger image

The fires are spreading and the evacuations are continuing . Most people are handling it well. This fire season is already worse than 2003

The devastation is already worse than the wildfires that ravaged Southern California in 2003. One after another, homes caught on fire. The governor has issued a state of emergency for seven counties all surrounding San Diego

However most people are handling it well. Even though the fire folks are overwhelmed the situation has been handled pretty well.

San Diego officials say fire conditions Monday would have overwhelmed even a larger, better equipped firefighting force. They point to progress made in the four years since the devastating Cedar and Paradise fires, including a better communications system, more air support and an automated evacuation call system.

500,000 have evacuated. Qualcomm is doing well, unlike the Superdome. Makes you think, doesn’t it. So far no stories about New Orleans evacuees having to re-evacuate.

Good news my former home (Las Vegas) is sending crews to help.

NZBear has a good resource on the fire.

Pics from Hell

Here is a quick sun shot so you can get the idea:

Sunrise over Oceanside, CA. Yes it did look like that.

I had a heck of a time to get this to look correct. Photographers will understand. The ash is in the air screwing up the light, and it’s more like after sunset than sunrise.

Keep in mind I am still a good 10 miles from the fires. This ash traveled a long way. Welcome to Oceanside!

How about a quick dip?

click for larger image

No, it’s not the camera. That’s ash in the pool. Yes at 8am it was that dark. I added the larger pic so you can see how bad it truly is.

Do you prefer the Pacific Ocean? Here is a shot looking that way.

Looking toward the Pacific Ocean (Oceanside Marina/Harbor)

That black stuff in the air is ash. Not sure you want to swim? How about a walk?

ash on the walkway, with footprints.

That is ash, and my roommates footsteps from when she took out her dog for a walk.

Bad news, Bar-B-Que is off.

No it’s not some cool new paint job, that is ash on the bar-b-que pit.

More pics — Sunday

Some pics from previous posts. These were taken on Sunday

Sunset at Oceanside Pier — the bottom of photo is the actual horizon.
everything from the photo bottom to the top of the palms is smoke

This pic was taken about sunset. It’s as close as I could get the actual “look”. The smoke is so heavy that the light is bouncing around like crazy.

While down on the pier I took this photo.

Oceanside Pier Looking West (north side of pier) into sunset

Normally you would see the sun go down. The smoke had obliterated the view. The actual horizon is just on top of the woman’s head.

Some may be wondering why there are surfers out. Well it was getting close to high tide, and the waves were 4 to 6 feet (twice the norm here). On the south side of the pier, it was almost comical to watch the frenzy of wave catching. At times there would be 3, 4 and sometimes 5 riders on a wave. Not all going the same direction.

Oh and the pier was rocking a good 6 to 9 inches side to side — in the middle section — due to waves. FYI: the pier is 1/3 of a mile long and during the winter you can eat at Ruby’s — on the end — and feel like you are in a boat due to the movement.

This is a pic taken on Sunday also. I am on the pier looking back toward Oceanside. the right hand side of the pic is Carlsbad.

click for larger image

Same shot but vertical and with the moon.

click for larger image

The red is the glow from the city lights on the smoke. Taken after sunset.

What a sunset in Oceanside is supposed to look like.

Previous Posts

• Late Night Update
• Fire Conditions
• Burn baby, burn!
• Four Years Later

Tags: harris fire, mccoy fire, rice fire, witch fire, buckweed fire, magic fire, ranch fire, canyon fire, malibu, san diego, wildfires, grass valley fire, slide fire, santiago fire, sedgewick fire, roca fire, coronada hills fire