It seems weird to omit the fact that the cedar fire was started by a novice hunter who got lost in the Cuyamaca Mountains and intentionally made a fire to signal for help. This doesn’t feel like a thorough report, just personal anecdotes and faded memories.
I lived on the poor side of the San Diego River, across from Blossom Valley, when my neighbor called at 3AM to alert us of the fire. Thanks to the help of a stranger spraying uphill, (possibly an angel?), my immediate area was spared, to within 20 feet of my house. As I was spraying hot spots, I looked across the river as the flames reached up to Blossom Valley, and said : "Wow, even the rich guys are getting it." Fortunately, the power and the pump stayed on until about 2:30PM, after the flames had moved on past. The next morning sky was a dirty orange, and I thought: "Welcome to life on Mars." You could look right into the sun, as it was the color of the inside of a toaster. I had slept with a wet towel across my face, due to the smoke . If I had a complaint about the coverage at the time, it was the continuous focus on Scripps Ranch, as if the rest of the county didn't exist. I believe 12 or14 people died trying to escape Wildcat Canyon, yet there was almost no mention of the area. Years later, Dateline NBC did a retrospective on the events, and featured the victims in Wildcat Canyon area, where most of the fatalities occurred.
Would like you to follow up on how changes to building codes have reduced the risks of a house burning down? No more shake roofs, standard double paned windows, residential fire sprinklers, etc. Our house was built in 2002 and have these features and more. What is the chance my house would burn down if the Cedar fire happened today? What other improvements could we make?
Sad to say, but the homes in that last shot were virtually backed up to eucalyptus trees. Roman candles in a wildfire. I lived in Alpine and the Cedar fire, luckily, missed our home by a quarter mile. Wildfires are and always will scare the landscape of the left coast. Build or buy with that in mind. Buyer beware.
I was a proud San Diegan from 1994 to 2001 with a German passport who has now lived in central France for the past 23 years. God knows I had a special relationship with the trees of the Cuyamaca and Laguna forests. Nowhere was I as mystified as among them. My relationship with them can only be described as Treebeard's with his flock. "Many of these trees were my friends. Creatures I had known from nut or acorn. Pippin: I'm sorry Treebeard. Treebeard: They had voices of their own." The news of the Cedar Fire devastated me. I heard my friends crying from yonder.
This is basically a couple reminiscing about their time together and pretending to care. And yet people still make stupid decisions; like living in crowded downtown or other concentrated areas with narrow roads. Or to buy homes there. So if 9/11, an earthquake, fire, flood or tsunami or other major disaster, there is no way to escape because there isn't any feasible room to drive away or for emergency crews and agencies to get through.
