Harris Fire Update...

Until about ten minutes ago, I thought today was Friday – but it's actually only Thursday! That's a measure of how Debbie and I have been disoriented by this whole experience. We both were able to sleep well last night, which helps considerably...

The news on the Harris Fire this morning is 100% good news. It's just delightful to be able to say that.

First, the satellite map (showing the entire county and all the fires). The Harris Fire is the southern fire, and there's not a single hotpot remaining in it. The gray, black, and orange splotches show the extent of the burned areas – a huge area. As I write this, I'm listening to the morning news conference, with County Supervisor Ron Roberts speaking. He introduced the session with some statistics, calling this the largest fire or disaster ever to strike in California, and in some ways the largest ever in the U.S. The burned areas are about 350,000 acres in extent. Their best estimate is that 1,470 homes have been burned, and “thousands” of other buildings (note: in the Cedar Fire four years ago, these early government estimates proved to be low, so I won't be surprised if the numbers go up). They are estimating 560,000 people have been evacuated.

The photo at right is the north view from Lyons Peak, captured around dawn this morning, toward Lawson Valley and our home. It looks great; the only smoke visible is from very near the peak. We called our home phone this morning; the answering machine still picks up. It is amazing how comforting to hear that stupid greeting message… The satellite imagery above confirms what we've heard from every other source: the fire never crossed significantly north of Lyons Valley Road, and not at all north of Skyline Truck Trail.

The view east is at right. There is still a lot of smoke in the area, but it is far better looking than it was yesterday. In the distance, you can see smoke plumes coming from the Barrett Dam area, and even further east. These are all too far from us to be a threat.

I'm still listening to the news conference, and official after official is blathering on about how well the official emergency response went, and also about how well the community itself has responded. With some amazement, one official said that the evacuation centers are requesting residents to stop bringing in non-monetary donations – they have more than they need. Certainly from our perspective the official response is far better than it was four years ago in the Cedar Fire. The one sour note – actually a very bitter note – is that the news is reporting that many perfectly functional, manned, and well-equipped firefighting aircraft were kept on the ground for two or three days because of bureaucratic infighting between CalFire (the coordinating agency) and the agencies controlling the aircraft. If that is true (and I suspect it is), it is just awful…

The view south is at right. We can see the peaks south of us for the first time since Monday. Deerhorn Valley, in the foreground, is smoky – but I don't see any remaining burning areas. I'm sure there are embers and small fires out there, but the dozens of major hotspots that we saw yesterday are all gone.

The firefighters are now speaking at the news conference. A consistent note from them is that the end of the Santa Ana winds has greatly helped their efforts. The fire chief for San Diego City just announced that 10,700 acres burned within the city limits – that's hard to wrap my brains around. The Harris Fire (the one that threatens our home) destroyed 170 homes, and it still burning in the Lyons Valley area, which they see now as the major threat from the Harris Fire. That is the front that threatens our home, so we're not quite out of the woods yet (though things look very good now).

Finally, here's the view from Lyons Peak to the west, toward the coast. It looks a bit like a normal foggy morning, but all that white stuff is smoke, not fog. I'm writing this from the livingroom of my friend's home in Chula Vista, out in that smoke you see just the left and above San Miguel peak.

We are hopeful that we will be allowed to return to our home today, or tomorrow at the latest. We're feeling very fortunate compared to so many of our neighbors – all those that we love, all the stuff we care about, is still fine. The worst we've suffered is some anxiety, discomfort, and inconvenience; we're fortunate to be able to stay with friends instead of an evacuation center. We're looking forward to going home; our hearts are with those who don't know whether their homes have survived, or who already know their home has burned…