The 2003 fires in the San Diego area left much of the county looking like Mordor.
Now, they’re saying that this year’s fires may be even worse by the time they’re done.
To the left is a map of the fire borders as of today (click to enlarge). The red zones are where the fire boundaries are. The purple areas are evacuation zones. The green dot is the approximate location of Catholic Answers.
Some staffers at Catholic Answers have either been evacuated from their homes or are unable to get to work due to road closures (or warnings that they may need to evacuate).
At Catholic Answers the sky is largely gray from smoke, and there is a burnt smell everywhere outside. Parked cars are covered with little bits of ash.
San Diego also needs to up the server capacity of a lot of their emergency web sites that serve up maps like this. Lots of them are slow as snailes or simply time out.
USEFUL SITES:
HOME-MADE ANNOTATED GOOGLE MAP
GEOLOGY PAGE AT SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY.
I was just wondering how close the fires were getting to y’all. Stay safe. You’ll be in our prayers.
We will offer our family rosary tonight for Jimmy, Catholic Answers, San Diego and SoCal generally.
You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
Say to the LORD, “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
God will rescue you from the fowler’s snare, from the destroying plague,
Will shelter you with pinions, spread wings that you may take refuge; God’s faithfulness is a protecting shield.
You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day,
Nor the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that ravages at noon.
Though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, near you it shall not come.
You need simply watch; the punishment of the wicked you will see.
You have the LORD for your refuge; you have made the Most High your stronghold.
No evil shall befall you, no affliction come near your tent.
For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways.
With their hands they shall support you, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the asp and the viper, trample the lion and the dragon.
Whoever clings to me I will deliver; whoever knows my name I will set on high.
All who call upon me I will answer; I will be with them in distress; I will deliver them and give them honor.
With length of days I will satisfy them and show them my saving power.
My grandmother’s place is threatened by one of the fires near LA (and she just finished rebuilding after losing her home two years ago to fire). It’s a bad time all around in SoCal.
Also, DON’T PUT ALL YOUR MAPS IN BANDWIDTH-HOGGING PDFs! GIFs AND JPEGs WILL DO JUST FINE!
The compression on JPEGs makes them awful and blurry. PNGs, ftw!
In all seriousness, though, I will say a prayer for California.
Yes, we should, but there was a time when pastors and priests would preach repentance when such things happen, and the Terminator just signed the bill establishing persecution of Christians in California. We shouldn’t be surprised.
Prayers said. And more soon.
My prayers are with you and all affected by the fires in SoCal. My sister and her husband, their newly married son, and their other son were all evacuated Sunday and yesterday. Each place they were evacuated to was subsequently evacuated. We haven’t heard from them since yesterday afternoon — they were told not to use cell phones. All of their homes are directly in the path of the Witch Creek wildfire (Poway and Rancho Santa Fe).
‘thann
Here are BETTER Maps from NBC San Diego — no EVIL PDFS!
County Fire Maps