Monday-Tuesday, November 3-4, 2003

THE LIST IS HERE!

Here's another Web cam of the Crestline area
 

For all of you volunteers.  I will be contacting you either tonight or tomorrow morning.  If you are able to start tomorrow with some stuff to do, that would be great.  More info to come.

Did you vote yet?  Remember today is Election day.  Go Vote!!!  Call 1-800-881-8683 for more info.
 

Remember that today is Election day.  Mountain voters can vote at 777 East Rialto or at the Norton Evacuation center.  Call these numbers for more info  800-881-8683  387-8300

There's no snow or anything on Hwy 138 up the backside to Crestline.  Clouds are gently rolling in.  Might rain tomorrow.
 

We have had contact with people spread over the mountain, some with power and others without.

Some homes in Valley of Enchantment, Top Town Crestline, Lake Gregory, Twin Peaks, and the Lower homes in Cedar Pines Park have reported power on.  I'm getting lots of emails from the Running Springs and Lake Arrowhead areas about power still being out. 

Ron Ferree, the Southern California Edison director of grid operations said, "Our crews will be replacing everything: poles, wire, cable, transformers, switches, circuit breakers.  They’ll be doing this in areas with limited access though rough terrain while working in very cold conditions.  At the same time, they’ll need to watch out for smoldering trees, which could split and fall on them or our equipment."

"We’ll work as quickly as we can to get them energized,” said Ferree.  “We appreciate their patience while we perform a difficult task under trying conditions.”
 

Current Stats

Acre's- 91,281
Containment- 93%
Cost- $28,900,000
Deaths- 6
Injuries- 6
Buildings Damaged- 35
Homes Destroyed- 993
Business Destroyed- 10
Personnel- 2,998

As I went through your hundreds of emails yesterday and saw your reaction to my Sunday 9pm post I was very happy to see how many people were willing to help out in different ways for the recovery.  There were tons of ideas and obvious experience in what I was reading.  I thought of this large group of neighbors so willing to help each other out.  Then I thought of all the different charitable organizations out there that help out as well.  But there's just something about neighbors helping neighbors.  So I decided to change my thinking a bit and start thinking about Recovery instead of just Updates on Fires.  After all, the fires are almost gone.  I think we can make a huge difference in this recovery process and maybe even in this world if we get back to the neighbor help neighbor ideals.

There are plenty of organizations out there that accept donations and distribute those donations. I don't want to mess with having to deal with that sort of thing.  Let's let the experts in money handling take care of that.  But we can decide what our neighbors need and then aim our donations accordingly to those existing charities.  We have over 20,000 unique visitors regularly to this site.  Let's all make a huge difference and act in this time to help our neighbors along side of those organizations that are set up for that type of thing.  Let's not sit back and do nothing while others do the work.  I want to get my shoes dirty. 

I created a new website last night. My last website (and my first real website) lasted a wild wild week, but it's time to move on.  Please provide ideas and suggestions these are just some of my ideas.  It's a lot work but it's worth it.  Let's go to Fire Recovery Mode.

Photo by Mike Bates