Just thought I'd share my concern about our friends and families whose lives and homes are being threatened in Southern California.

Sometime-board-member lomb7 and also my sister have had to evacuate in San Diego County. I'm trusting/hoping that Sean, Bigwill, Craig and others are "only" being impacted by smoke and traffic so far.

Anyway, sharing this with my Axiom friends is part of what I am doing to cope/help in that spiritual/karmic kind of way. This is a horrific event, and since I believe in our connectedness, I wanted to raise awareness just a blip.

We are all following those terrible events. Hope the casualties will remain as low as possible. Our thoughts will be with you, your family and all the people in that whole area.

I'm thinking and praying for everyone out west daily, unbelievable what is going on out there. One of my best friends at work is married to a gal whos family originally came from Mexico, but now lives in San Diego. There are 13 in the same house, yes 13.

Sounds like they may be evacuated, but don't have anywhere to go, so my fried is trying to find motels to put them in, that is a difficult task as most motels in safe zones are all taken.

Thanks for the concern everyone, it appears we now have 16 major fires going on or just getting contained. My wife just e-mailed me this link California Fires
We have been planning a weekend trip to Legoland in San Diego for several months and are supposed to leave Fri. morning. The kids are so excited I guess even if I have to detour an additional 200 miles we are going!
Fortunately the Santa Ana winds that have been raging up near us from 40 to 80 mph for 5 days straight have finally calmed down to around 25 mph. That should help our firefighters to the south with containment of some of these fires that are causing tragedy for so many families.

Thanks for the update on Lomb7. I haven't been in contact with him for some time now. I'm sorry to hear he's been evacuated, but glad to know he's OK.

Just talked to a dear old friend who lives in Topanga, just one ridge away from the Malibu fires. He's been lucky so far. He can see the smoke, but the winds seem to be keeping both the smoke and the fire away from him. His wife evacuated their horses, however. A terrible time for all involved. Based on what he's been hearing, he believes one more day should see them "out of the woods," so to speak.

Michael, I'm SO glad to hear you and your family are okay.

I'm not sure I'd brave the trip to Carlsbad this weekend.

Jack, I wasn't actually able to get in contact with lomb7; I know his home is in the heart of a mandatory evacuation area. He lives only a few miles from my sister, who has had to relocate twice now from Escondido, finally landing all the way up on Lake Elsinore today.

As a former S.E.A.T pilot I know too well how these fires can affect a huge number of folks, I'm wishing the best for you and also wishing for the safe return of all the firefighters involved.

I hope everyone is okay down in San Diego. I just got home and have been catching what I can on TV. By far they are getting the worst of the fires.

It was a surreal drive to work this morning. Wish I had my camera to take pics. Everywhere I looked at the horizon there was a haze of ash and smoke. Right above us, though, was clear blue skies due to the last gusts of the Santa Anas. I'm about two hours north of San Diego, but there have been enough blazes scattered throughout the southland to affect almost everyone. My eyes have been burning since yesterday afternoon, and there is no escaping the smell of smoke. Now that the winds have stopped smoke and ash are starting to settle. Flecks of ash are everywhere. I imagine the ash will get worse. I've seen it before act like snow years ago when my local mountains burned.

I watch the news in relative safety but am stunned by the images. I'm in between San Diego and Malibu, but far enough away to not be in any immediate danger. One look outside, though, and there is no escaping the aftermath of the devastation.

Tom, and everyone else, thanks for thinking of us Californians. I, too, would like to send my support for all those affected in San Diego and anywhere else who have been touched by the fire.

My thoughts are with you all out west. Be careful and take care, God bless.

I just received a call that my Aunt has evacuated her home in Big Bear. I'm hoping this situation gets better for all involved and the weather starts helping out.
I'm going to take Tom's advice and wait until the end of the week to determine if there is still a risk in heading to Carlsbad, not only because of the fires but also the air quality. It may cause a little grief with the kids who have been counting the days, but nothing is worth risking their health or safety.

The winds dying down has been a definite help. I hope your Aunt and her house will be okay. My roommate watched his girlfriend's house in Arrowhead, which is right next to Big Bear, burn down on the news earlier today. Frightening.

Though we all have our opinions about the man, let's hope 2x6spds (and his stuff) is staying safe, too.

Not sure if it's been posted, but the LA Times has a "nice" google map of the fires. Pretty scary for those in the thick of it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-firemap,0,6179739.htmlpage

Thanks for chiming in, everyone. It helps me to share these kinds of things with friends.

I got good news this morning from my sister. I am so grateful.



A colleague said that her spouse - who works at a medical lab - had to pull double shifts the last couple of days because of the closure of similar facilities in SCal. Their lab normally processes 2,000 samples a day, but the LA lab processes 10,000.

Connectedness.

Everybody stay safe.

Well, so far the news from my family is good. My parents are in the Beach Cities near LA, and my sister's in North Hollywood. No problems yet, although they get a lot of ash and can smell the smoke.