Sunday-Monday, November 2-3, 2003

One of the questions I get asked most often is the question about looting.  I just wanted to post some information here to inform you about the preventative measures that are being taken to prevent it.  There are 30 active law enforcement vehicles patrolling the mountain areas.  Any vehicle seen traveling in a mandatory evacuation area is immediately pulled over and searched.  There has been 1 arrest so far and it had harsh punishment- Instant Remand - $500,000 Bail  Ouch!

Great Job everyone!  Just a little known fact about the evacuation.  We successfully evacuated the whole mountain last week without 1 injury or accident.

A couple more arrests were made on Sunday Night.  LOL.  Sorry I'm laughing but you'll see why in a second. 

One person was arrested after trying to run the barricade on Highway 18 at Waterman Canyon.  Comment- Where did this guy think he was going?  Its not like he would be hard to find if he would have made it through the barricade.  The only car on the highway!  LOL.

Another person was arrested stealing fire equipment.  This is the funny part.  He brought his own personal fire truck up the mountain and proceeded to fill the truck with any fire equipment he could find.  LOL.  I hope the cops that arrested him weren't normal guys driving around in their own personal police cars. 

It's 2 in the morning and I'm sitting in a quiet room by myself laughing my head off.  I hope this is as funny for you as it was for me.

Ranger Al should just drive his personal fire truck around.  There we go!  :)
 

Thank you to the hard working people of ESRI and the USDA Forest Service for this image.

I'm hoping Ranger Al can go about his business tomorrow without being stopped again.  How many people had to live another 24 hours without knowing their fate because of the restrictions?
 

All over Southern California there are newly homeless people.  Well over 3000 homes.  That could be well over 10,000 people figuring that each home could have some children.  The thought saddens my heart that you can lose your whole life like that.  I am very sorry for everyone's losses tonight.
 

Total area: 91,281 acres
Containment: 78% contained
Expected Containment- 11/8/03  6:00pm 
Total Cost to date- $24,036,743 
Total Homes Lost- 810
Total Homes Damages- 35
Commercial Properties Lost- 10

Lake Arrowhead and surrounding communities are still threatened.

More info in a bit.
 

Reports say that if you don't have a pass you can be issued one on the spot, but it takes more time and slows up the line.  So, go get a pass from an evacuation center so the rest of the mountain doesn't have to wait behind you.

Thanks to whoever just delivered me a pizza.  As soon as I saw it I realized I haven't eaten all day and I'm starving.  Good timing.  hey wait, who knows where I am?  hmmm.  Interesting.
 

7-11 is open for gas at this point
 

Status of the Road Block- (The Sheriff's at the Road Block have been really cooperative and nice.)  But, they can't let us through without permission.  When calling in, they were first told that we needed to get that permission from the CHP who actually closed the road, but when we gave them the name and number of the responsible CHP office to call for approval they wouldn't make the call and denied us at the Sheriff's Level.  Multiple calls to the command posts have turned up nothing.  We cannot get through from the operators to the people who make the decisions.

We've been told there is a lot of "politics" happening from people who don't like our site for some reason.  We are not "official" and therefore shouldn't have any special rights.  Again we are asking if there is anyone out there who can help us.  We have well over 10,000 unique visitors to our site every day, they call me to give me information to post because they know it is a good way to communicate with the evacuees, but they are stopping our ability to gather our own information.

Help is needed.  Give a call to someone and let them know that we are doing good stuff. Is there any media out there that can help us?
 

I have not heard anything about opening any more of the mountain for now.  For now it looks like from the Cliffhanger to the west.

We have some information about the slop-over that was mentioned in my post at noon.  It only burned about 1-2 acres.

A firefighter was injured today by a falling tree and was evacuated to a hospital.  Extent of the injuries are unknown at this point but he was conscious and stable.

New pictures were posted of the Cedar Pines Park area were posted in our pictures area.
 

We are still trying to get Ranger Al through the road blocks.  We are actively working with one new friend that might have some pull in this area.

Those who are going back home-  If you have a way to get pictures of damaged areas or homes to me (dacy@fireupdate.com) please send them to me and I will post them.  There are still thousands of people who need information about their homes who wont be able to get there today.
 

Still trying to get Ranger Al through the road blocks.
 

No fuel stations are available.  Come with a full tank of Gas.

Grocery services not available or limited.  Bring your own food.

You still need to get a pass from any Evacuation Center and go up the back side of the Mountain on Highway 138.

Food Disposal Centers -
Mountain Disposal Yard- 988 Old Waterman Canyon Rd in Crestline.
VOE Elementary School- 22836 Fir Lane in Valley of Enchantment.  
South shore Lake Gregory parking lot- Lake Gregory Dr and San Moritz
Lake Gregory Elementary- 24689 San Moritz.
 

I got some interesting comments when I posted the 3am post and was told by some that I shouldn't have posted it that early, but It was exciting to me and I wanted to share the news with you at that time.  I'm not used to how all this "Press" stuff works.  I've had a crash course in a lot of things during the last few days.  If you would have asked me last week if I thought I'd be running a website with over a million server hits per day and acting as a Press-type reporter, I'd say you were crazy.

To all those who I told that we'd be visiting your area today: Ranger Al is still stuck West of all the Road Blocks.  If anyone knows any body who can approve his movement into the Eastern areas, it would be helpful to many if we can make it happen.
 

Message from Edison
 

Maybe a small slop over (fire jumps over a fire break) in the fire NNE of Arrowhead.  We are told it is nothing major.
 

Highway 18 is still closed.  You must use Highway 138 only to get to any VOE, CPP and Crestline Areas that have mandatory evacuation orders lifted.

Data: Acres 91,281,  72% Contained.  Expected Containment- Nov 8.  4,211 firefighters currently on incident.
 

They are checking your address's with maps so only go if you are really in those areas.
 

There is no new information about when areas like Crestline and Lake Arrowhead will be open.  The information that was posted that it might not be 4-7 days before some areas can return to their homes is all that I have on the subject.  Please do not contact the Authorities about when it might be.  They are busy trying to help us return.  We will post it when the decision is made.  They are actively cutting dangerously burnt trees, rebuilding guard rails and preparing the mountain for our return.  Returning too early before these precautions are finished could result in injuries or hazardous conditions.  Keep watching, we will notify you as soon as we know.
 

I have some emails saying that I didn't reply to them.  The only ones I didn't reply to were the ones that didn't seem like they needed it at the time. (ie, thank you for your information emails)  I do have an anti spam program running and I have not checked my Junk Email folder for Spam errors.  I've answered 1567 emails since Thursday.  and my wrists know it.

The status on the fires remains similar to what was posted in the 3 am post.
 

Wow,  you people have been busy, My inbox that was empty just a few hours ago has now 150 messages.  I'll begin reading through them as soon as I check for updates to the status of the area.