Answering Some Questions...

Quite a few people have left comments or sent me email with specific questions. In many cases, I know little – and the situation is so fluid that anything I do know now could change five minutes from now. But we know well how hungry people are for information, so here's my best information in response to those questions where I have any information at all:

Kaye Kids poodles on Cinnamon Road: this is out in Deerhorn Valley, on the northeast side, near Elena Peak. I cannot be sure about the situation in that specific area, but there is good reason to be optimistic, as we could see that the ground crews were working hard in that area and had much success. However, we also heard on news conferences that between 40 and 100 homes were lost in Deerhorn Valley, so their success was not 100%. There does not appear to be any fire in that area right now.

Hidden Ridge Road in the town of Jamul: this is about 8 miles east of our home. To the best of my knowledge, that area has not had any burns yet – but it is quite close to Jamul Highlands, where there are quite a few hotspots burning right now. So long as the winds stay down, I'm quite optimistic that that area will remain undamaged.

Several people asked general questions about the town of Jamul and the Steele Canyon area. So far as I know, the town of Jamul has not lost any homes, but there are several hotspots currently burning in the Jamul Highlands area. Steele Canyon I know less about, but I have not heard any news reports about damage there – just that there was lots of firefighting activity there. Also, we know that the Millar Ranch Road area was entirely engulfed in fire (though the firefighters somehow managed to save every home there, we've heard). Millar Ranch Road is just a short distance west of where Steele Canyon High School is, and also just west of the intersection of 94 and Steele Canyon Road.

To the other people who wrote with specific questions: I'm sorry, but I just don't know anything about the areas you've asked about. That's neither good news or bad news; I've been focused almost completely on our area, and ignoring almost everything else I've heard.