on the Cal. fires, I heard there was a church, shopping center, business district that was destroyed.  is it just homes, or is businesses and churches effected?

How did these fires start?

I have a suggestion for people around the country that might want to help, but dont know what they can do. If you know anyone that was affected by the fires and can find any pictures that involve those people, make copies and send them when they are settled. I know, next to lives the most devastating thing to lose are memories and precious pictures can never be replaced. Perhaps someone more gifted than me could make a website to share old photos. I know it would mean a lot.
My son is in the Navy in San Diego and when he heard his neighborhood was being evacuated he rushed back to his apartment and grabbed his pictures and important papers and went back to his ship.

Yeah I just heard Matt ask if it was going to be better for the people who are displacethan it was for the people of New orleans. Of course it will be better they are not black americans they are mostly white upper middle class citizens not afro american lower class citizens.

I think it is completely ridiculous that there are people on the news crying like babies about their "things", when there are children all over the world going hungry, without breakfast.  How shallow!  And this is coming from someone who lost everything in a tornado.  However, at least I have the perspective to worry about the people, not the things!  Very sad!!!

How long will it take for the air quality to return to normal.  How long will it take for brush and trees to regrow?  What do people need?  I recently visited the San Diego area and found it so beautiful.....this fire is so sad.

My son, his wife and 2 girls age 2 & 6 are trapped in their house at camp pendelton. There are 3 fires going on around them and they cant get out cause the gates are blocked where noone can come in or go out of the camp. I am going crazy in Houston, I feel so helpless. Can someone please help them. Why cant they send boats to get these people out. They are only a mile from the ocean.

I hear this debacle being comparred to New Orleans and Katrina; let's not forget or overlook the main difference here. These victims of a natural disaster are not looting or raping or shooting at help as it arrives. The coordinators and victims are to be commended. God bless you.

I have an aunt in Cali and dont know if she and her family are ok or not. Hope the winds die down today.

I would like to a segment on Today about how the fires are effecting the schools in the wildfire area. Have any fires gotten to the schools? Are schools still in session?  How are schools coping with familes of students whose homes have burned?

It would be a slight retrofit for all the in flight refueling tanker aircrafts not used or mothballed by the different Military branches, to fight the California fires or any other large fire. Just think what ten of these could do by droping millons of gallons of water on the affected areas.

Estella, please try to not worry quite so much.  The base is in lock-down and they have firefighting equipment and trained firefighters. While they are probably scared, but not actually trapped.  The terrain doesn't lend itself to evacuation by "boat".  You don't want your family trying to scale down cliff walls to rocky shores for a rescue.

When I lived in SoCal, many of us would go down to Mexico and I am concerned about the condition of the Mexican City of Tecate which is a fairly major residential area and appears to be in the middle of the Harris Fire.  Little is said of how the Mexicans are faring in this horrible fire and I think this needs to be reported as well, especially since it's a part of the Harris Fire in San Diego!

To Kathleen in KY: I heard Matt Lauer interview the FEMA guy and thought the same thoughts. Poor blacks in New Orleans vs. Malibu beach millions! WOW No wonder Bush  and Fema are jumping in right away!

Why aren't we hearing updates about the San Diego Zoo and Wildlife Park from the media?  I feel these areas are of highest concern.  Within these parks, there are hundreds of exotic animals.  I care about people and their homes, but feel we need to see footage and hear more updates about the Zoo and Wildlife Park as well.  

Let's not forget that regardless of "status" these are people who've lost everything. They didn't deserve this just like the victims of Katrina didn't.

There are several ways to make donations including money , Gov. Schwarzenegger has an 800 # 800-750-2858 for businesses to make donations, plus you can make donations through the red cross (www.redcross.org) or 800-REDCROSS.

The couple that was interviewed this morning and told of how the government agencies didn't notify them to leave.  A neighbor knocked on their door @ 4:00am and told them the fire was close.  This is very typical and not unlike the Katrina "victims" that sat around and waited for the government to "save" them.  If  I saw on the news that the fire was 25-30 miles from my house being pushed by 40 mph winds, my butt would have been out of there so fast.  Especially if I had a daughter to stay with 15 minutes away. Please, no sympathy for idiots.

Please, this is not a racial issue.  The fact that this is an upper income area does nothing to help these people who have lost EVERYTHING.  Why can't this country get past black and white and love everyone as their brother without pulling a race card.

Does anyone know how or where to send relief items?  I have a group of students who like to donate clothes, toiletry items, etc to help out.  

before you start throwing out racism remarks, i've been volunteering at Qualcomm Stadium and ALL people were there, rich, poor, mexican, asian, whites, and blacks. These fires DO NOT discriminate only PEOPLE do, it's easy to judge those who are far away and compare but right now this is the second large fire in 5 years and the second time for many areas to rebuild, and rebuild they will because the people in San Diego haven been amazing. Please encourage these people instead of tarring them down. Oh, and enjoy your home,  and warm bed tonight as you read this!

I have been watching the news all morning and I hope that I can help as many people as possible even though I am on the East coast. I am a Mom and a professional photographer. I teach people how to preserve their memories. All of my digital and traditional photos of my children and family are backed up at www.mduggan.myphotomax.com. In the event of a natural disaster or WHEN my computer crashes, I will still have those photos of our memories that I so cherish. Please don't wait until its too late. Do it today. For all those people that lost their photos in the fires maybe their friends and family have photos that they could back up today and share. God Bless you.

There is a major difference in Katrina floods and SoCal fires. Take a look at the socio-economics, take a look at the ethnicity of the victims, and see who the press is interviewing. When the cameras pan the Qualcomm Center, there are faces of color that have not been asked to be on camera yet....hope that all voices of all colors and victims of all colors of this devastating disaster get the help that they need!!!

I'm very proud to be a Californian today.  Our citizens and government showed how everyone should react in a crisis. Orderly evacuations, reverse 911 calls, people helping people, no one sitting on their hands and claiming "victim", and plans in place for those that were displaced. God bless you all.

I can't believe that people turn natural disasters and its devastation on people and communities into a racial issue.  A disaster is a disaster.  Lives are lost, people are devastated, and lives will never be the same.  Also, for the person making the shallow comments, everyone handles stress and events differently.  Stop spreading hate and passing judgements on people that you don't even have a clue as to what they are about.

In response to Judy of NY... have you been WATCHING the news??? Of course homes have been effected besides businesses and churches. That goes without saying...

I truly feel sorry for the families and homeowners in Southern California.  Their tragedies will live for months and years.  Likewise and in advance, I feel sorry for the incumbant local, state and federal politicians and agencies that are managing through this situation with their God-given talents in a very extraordinary situation.  Today's new is about the horror and the compassionate responses.  Tomorrow will come the accounting and special interest stories of the '5% of population' crowd lacking the where-with-all to pick up and move foward.  Finally, our nation's news industry will move on the the 'blame' stories on or about 2008 election time.  Mark your calendars.

Just so you all know, as a San Diego resident, WE are not comparing ourselves to Katrina, the media is.  Yes, we are in the middle of a natural disaster as extreme as a hurricane, so yes we do need federal help. As for the the MISCONCEPTION that all the people evacuated are upper middle class, boy is that way off.  Were the only people that were evacuated because of Katrina poor?  NO! It was everyone from all walks of life, race etc.  So get over that misconception. Also, San Diegans take care of eachother, so those of you who want to call people who have just been made instantly homeless cry babies, we don't need you or your sympathy.  So post your negative, ignorant comments all you want.  That is also why are evacuees are doing so well, because we take care of eachother. As a city, as a community, we always have.  We thank the rest of you for your help, kind words, and prayers that our residents and our city will be safe.

the reverse 911 I not on the list because I only have a cell phone we had a water shut off last week. I was told I had to do to get on the list is go to my local fire dept to be put on the list was to walk in not call.

The best thing to come out of these fires is the invention of reverse 911. But it will not work if you do not have a home telephone. My daughter who is a college student in San Marcos had to get a call from a friend 1 street over to be notified to evacuate. And these people did not lose stuff, they lost more. If you dont have replacement value on your property insurance, then you may not even get enough to rebuild. This is what happened in 2003. I lived in Rancho Bernardo in the Westwood area where the fires hit and I cried and cried. These are really nice people in a nice community who would help anyone. Shame on all of you who say they will be ok because of their color or where they live. I struggled to live there because it has the best school district in the COUNTRY. A single parent can do whatever it takes if the sacrifice is for your kids.

Just to let some of you know that the 911 reverse calls only worked to those that had phone service.  We didn't sit on our hands and wait for the government.  Many of us had gone to bed with the fires at a distance and with the winds the fires were in our backyards in no time.  
For those that think at San Diego is primarily white, you have no clue.  
San Diego is not Hollywood or Malibu.  We are a hard working community that not only works very hard of our families but equally for our communities.
Some of you are worried about the Wild Animal Park and the Zoo.  They are both save.  The Wild Animal Park did evcuated the endangered species and I know the staff is at the park attending to the non-endangered.
One blogger asked how the fires started.  While the winds got up to 75 mph is some areas and some of the powerlines snapped.  
Fires in San Diego are not expected to be fully contained until Nov 7th, Malibu fire is almost out.
Please pray for us in San Diego it looks like we have a couple of weeks to go.

I know I'm not a scientist, but has it occurred to anyone in the scientific world that global warming is coming from the inside out and not the "ozone layer". My husband has been in the oil business all of his life, I'm watching what is happening to our earth and has it occurred to anyone that it is happening from the inside out.  Oil being extracted by the billions is, to me, like an engine being run with no lubrication, there is friction and things get hot from within. the earth has had this oil and gas in it for billions of years, and only for the last 150 years we've been depleting it.  It only makes sense that the core of the earth would react.  I would think there would be friction from the lack of oil which would cause heat, which would cause warming from within - not above - but who am I but a lowly housewife. think about it.

It is indeed a tragedy that once again, we see Natures' rage (though some of it was man-made (arson)), but with this and what happened along the Gulf coast with Katrena, can we not ask ourselves this question...could it be that there are some places that man really shouldn't be living in ? Of course, by now it's too late; the die is cast. I just wonder, when I see one of these million-dollar beachfront homes bulit on stilts, doesn't that tell you something...then when there is a storm, the home is destroyed...people, next time-don't build so close to the sea !

I agree with the people who say that at least their LIVES aren't lost.  We just had a fire alarm in our building - I grabbed my purse and my dog. Had I not had time for that, my dog would've been first out the window.
On another note: I used to work wildfires out west.  We sometimes worked for 24 or more hours.  California has what they call "Devil's Club" which is a tall thorny bush that rips at your clothes and skin.  I salute all the firefighters out there who are working under these horrible conditions. God bless you all.

I don't understand why the fires keep getting compared to Katrina - the only thing in commom is the fact that a football stadium was used to house victims - the MAJOR difference being that help COULDN'T GET TO  the victims of Katrina - because of high flood waters - that wasn't the case in California - so the race thing shouldn't even be played - each were totally different circumstances.  Come on people, let's move on. People are suffering!

Dear allday blog:
I hope you will print this poem I wrote, below. I just revised it from the earlier version I sent to your blog today. I had to make the change to reflect the real numbers of people evacuated (from my original poem). If it's too long, I will understand if you don't post it here. Thank you for your time. Here is my edited version:

California's Burning

 (Honorable winner)

This sunny, golden state turned another page,
from gold rush fever to fiery fury’s rage.
California's burning on a hot autumn day;
as a devastating inferno spreads its array...

Black smoke curls and wind hurls grey ash,
as displaced, panicked families flee terror’s flash.
Choking with the fires’ stench or forever hold their breath,
a million people evacuated amid glowing rings of death.

Animal shelters overflow with their faithful friends,
as wildfires feed on the cruel Santa Ana winds.
Precious life and property lost to the roaring flames,
and this gut-wrenching panorama is all that remains.

Emergency personnel lose more than blood, sweat and tears,
as loved ones see the reality of their dreaded, living fears.
I look up toward the melting sky and begin to pray,
as the sun hides behind God’s smoky firmament each day.
                                       ~
Real-life horror lurks where agonized souls dwell,
while pain freely flows in a nightmarish hell.
Despair, grief, shock, and instant insanity
flow in blackened rivers of tears to the sea.

The news on all the airwaves also flows free,
as endless flames soar for all the world to see.
This blazing state begs for immediate relief,
as onlookers stare and gasp in disbelief.

The fires spread freely as huge cinders fly,
investigations try to determine who, what, and why.
I am grateful for the efforts of many a heroic heart,
and feel empathy for all those now facing a new start.

As California’s fiery embers smolder into the past,
this charred state will turn a page, but it won’t be the last -
While fire and rescue crews fight the breaking news,
a mad arsonist flees the burning scenes he/she infused...

Author Notes:

This poem is dedicated to all the unfortunate fire victims,
and the fire and rescue crews of the California wildfires.

Copyright 2007 © Cynthia Gaines, All rights reserved.

I am doing a report on the victims of the California fires and people have died, 1,800 houses have been destroyed and 12 or more people have died in their homes. There has been a billion dollars in damage done. We need to support these people.I cant imagine what some of these people are going through, one of them quoted " Could you imagine having to pack up your whole life in a box in five minutes, knowing your house is to be set on fire?And then having to go back and see what is left of your belongings in the ashes?" and this woman was five months pregnant.

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