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California Wildfires: A Fickle Twist of Fate Could Mean the Difference Between a Fortunate Escape and Total Disaster

Posted: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 9:12 AM by Jaclyn Levin
Filed Under:

 (From Dan Fleschner, TODAY Producer)
 
We've been bringing you live coverage of the wildfires from all over Southern California this morning. I've been with Matt and about a dozen others in Rancho Bernardo (San Diego County), where several neighborhoods have been particularly hard hit. Homes have been burned to the ground, and soot and debris floats through the air.

It's strange enough driving around a silent neighborhood at 2 a.m., which is when we headed out to do our live shot. But it's even more eerie when you know that it's not quiet because everyone's asleep -- it's quiet because there's nobody there. Here in Rancho Bernardo, everyone has been evacuated, leaving only police and the odd news crew to dot the roadways. In many cases, these fires have given the term "ghost town" a new meaning.

As we rolled into one of the housing developments here, we passed a community center that had a sign out front: "CAKEBAKERS NEEDED -- CALL SHERRY." Sadly, that sign was posted in happier times. Now, the needs of this community are more basic. The scattered people of this town are separated from their lives, wondering if their homes and possessions still exist.

What's most striking about the damage here is the randomness of it. Walking down the street here, you'll see a house completely intact, right next to the charred remains of what was once someone's home. A gust of wind in one direction -- a fickle twist of fate -- could mean the difference between a fortunate escape and total disaster.

For people like Jim and Carol Wall, whom Matt interviewed this morning (video), all is lost except each other. They'll celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary next week, which, I'm sure, will be a bittersweet occasion. But their resolve to put their lives back together is inspiring, as is the courageous work of the firefighters from around California and other western states, who are trying to control the uncontrollable.

 

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California fires   Crest/El Cajon area (in the middle this time)

for the today show....  good fire coverage
Some local fire facts not in the report....

 Low humidity?  It is between 0 and 2%.
 the fire safe shown is toast - they are rated for 1800 degrees for 5-10 minutes. I know. My entire contents of a large gun safe was lost in 2003 - they can not take 2500-3000 degrees for 30 minutes +
 2700 homes were lost in 2003 and 300,000 acres lost - the county has figured out thier budget willnot tolerate clearing the rural brush and maintain a county fire dept. the best solution is to just evacuate everyone.
 I and my neighbors are standing by with 500 gal water trailers to defend our homes - it took 3 1/2 years to rebuild a simple house in the county of SD and we will not repeat that. There are recent stories of those who stayed behind to extinguish embers and saved thier homes while the neighbors who evacuated lost thier homes.  The fire folks come to a neighborhood and tell the residents that they should leave because there is no one to help them.

Pat Riley (Sent Tuesday, October 23, 2007 10:35 AM)

Can anyone tell me if Glen Circle Road in Poway has been burned?
I am assuming that area was evacuated.  Please send comments - I have family there that I cannot get a hold of.  Thank you.

Marianne, Fort Collins, CO (Sent Tuesday, October 23, 2007 1:04 PM)

I PRAY FOR ALL! MY SISTER-IN-LAW & FAMILY LIVE IN LAKE ARROWHEAD .. ALL BE SAFE

J.GOADE.. BOISE, IDAHO (Sent Tuesday, October 23, 2007 1:22 PM)

"Fickle twist of fate" is all I've been thinking about. My elderly parents sat with no power in their home yesterday in Poway and massive fires literally closing in on them. My brother and I watched from Maryland as our old neighborhood, Rancho Bernardo, burned and reporters did their spots in front of the ruins. Images on the news resembled a steel furnace as the fires were driven by the Santa Ana and the ash was carried off horizontally to spread destruction. My parents could evacuate and be stuck in gridlock somewhere while the fire comes and burns right across the road and consumes them, or they could stay in their home and pray for the power to come back and be consumed just the same or die from the toxic smoke. Having them on the phone, when I could get them on the phone, was morbidly parallel to the people who had their loved ones on the phone for the last time during the incidents on 9/11. Who knew they should have been saying goodbye amidst confusion and uncertainty? We're not rookies to Southern California brush fires, but when a disaster is in progress and out of control and a half-million people are mobilized and running for cover, two little elderly people in the middle of it are like two children lost in a war zone. One simple twist of fate and mortal danger comes their way. At about 8:30pm E.S.T. I got them on a cell phone and learned that the Poway Sheriff's Department finally came and chased them out, they were on I-15 and by the grace of God my brother was successful in locating a hotel room for them on the coast. Presently we don't know if they'll have a house to go back to or not, and my deepest sympathies go out to the families who have lost their homes. My admiration and prayers go out to the personnel fighting the fires, overwhelmed and exhausted, wounded, and all the people doing whatever they can to help each other in the midst of crisis and uncertainty.                

Jay Peterson, Baltimore, MD (Sent Tuesday, October 23, 2007 1:31 PM)

Sorry to hear that Jim and Carol lost their place, but I don't understand how they were allowed in an area that I can't get in.  They were in Las Vegas at the time of the fire.  I live(d) at 17905 Aguamiel Rd. and still 30 hours after I ran out of my house at the last second because reverse 911 is BULL and does NOT work, do I not know if I have a home.  Can someone tell me that since the government won't let me in or tell me anything.  Please post it here if you know.  Thanks.

Tim Dougherty (Sent Tuesday, October 23, 2007 3:05 PM)

I wish the press would concentrate on the low income families who will truly be devastated by this disaster. While it is tragic when anyone loses their home this way, the major fire areas are for the most part where extremely wealthy people reside. Certainly it seems many have the financial resources to rebuild, low income families in these areas,though there are probably few......should be the focus of the media, not only do they lose possessions, but replacing basic essentials is not an option either without help!PLEASE Focus and find the most desperate victims of this disaster.

Chris Salm, Wausau WI (Sent Wednesday, October 24, 2007 8:40 AM)

I am so glad that the news here on the east coast has finally caught up with what is really happening. We live in Virginia but I am a San Diego native born and bred and still have family in Poway and El Cajon. When the fires first started this weekend and even into Monday night all we saw was Malibu. Well that is nothing new, I can remember from my childhood that happening all up and down the PCH.My mother who has left Calif alerted me that San Diego was worse than what we were all seeing. I am sorry that Malibu is in flames but small in comparison to now finally seeing all my memories from childhood go up in flames. Thanks Today Show for finally giving us displaced Californians what we all need and want, FULL coverage of the California wildfires.

Nancy Chesapeake VA (Sent Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:19 AM)

To those who are trying to find information about their homes: www.cbs8.com has a link to a list of "Totally Destroyed Homes."  

My sister lives in Rancho Bernardo, so I have been checking this list frequently.  While they caution about not being complete, they have been very good with updates.  
 

JMG, Cincinnati, OH (Sent Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:17 AM)

I'm looking for the best way to donate clothing directly to persons who have lost theirs in the fires in California.  I work with many women in a professional interior design business and we would all like to give.  

Susan Morley (Sent Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:50 AM)

Last night on the news, Brian Williams showed the results of melted wheel covers that had pooled and then rehardened in a puddle.  Then this morning a female reporter showed a plastic toy car in the midst of the ashes of a home.  Now who is kidding whom?  That toy car had to be a set-up.  Someone moved it into that spot (not necessarily anyone from NBC). No way the toy car survived that heat.

Marty Smith, Orange Park, FL (Sent Wednesday, October 24, 2007 1:27 PM)

How may illegial immigrants are helping fight the fires in California.?
They say the want to do the jobs that americans don't want to do.

jim pook, west bloomfield, MI (Sent Wednesday, October 24, 2007 3:04 PM)



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