Irvine is Burning!

[dodgersteve182]

Can't go outside here because the smoke is so thick. Voluntary evacuations are happening in an adjacent subdivision about 4 miles from where we are. Hopefully the 400 firefighters will hold their fireline on Trabucho Canyon, which is about 3 miles from our house. Kind of scary but I have some faith in the firefighters and mother nature to cooperate and put an end to this situation soon!

[earendel]

Can't go outside here because the smoke is so thick. Voluntary evacuations are happening in an adjacent subdivision about 4 miles from where we are. Hopefully the 400 firefighters will hold their fireline on Trabucho Canyon, which is about 3 miles from our house. Kind of scary but I have some faith in the firefighters and mother nature to cooperate and put an end to this situation soon!

Wow! Hope everything goes OK with you and your family.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Can't go outside here because the smoke is so thick. Voluntary evacuations are happening in an adjacent subdivision about 4 miles from where we are. Hopefully the 400 firefighters will hold their fireline on Trabucho Canyon, which is about 3 miles from our house. Kind of scary but I have some faith in the firefighters and mother nature to cooperate and put an end to this situation soon!

I am sorry that it's burning in your area Steve. When I called the girls yesterday both Emma and my father-in-law were saying that the smoke was so bad in Orange County that their allergies were really acting up.

I hope that they are able to put out the fires, though from what I understand, it's really windy, so it might be difficult.

[kusch]

Saw some of that driving back to Westminster last night after a birthday party at a neice's house south of Irvine. Yes, lot of smoke and tremendous wind here in Westminister still this morning.

Well, we hopefully will be off crusin around noon. Slight luggage problem as the daughter's luggage did not arrive with us yesterday. It wound up in San Angelo Texas--WTF?? but is to be here on an AA flight at 10:30AM--hope is does as we have already done one shopping trip and would need to finish shopping if it does not arrive. I have been informed that even if the luggage arrives daughter will be keeping the new threads already purchased. Gulp, the trip just got more expensive.

[fuzzywuzzy]

Can't go outside here because the smoke is so thick. Voluntary evacuations are happening in an adjacent subdivision about 4 miles from where we are. Hopefully the 400 firefighters will hold their fireline on Trabucho Canyon, which is about 3 miles from our house. Kind of scary but I have some faith in the firefighters and mother nature to cooperate and put an end to this situation soon!

Steve, we will be sending you good vibes and praying that they stop the fire so that the destruction stops.

fuzzy aka Kelly

[dodgersteve182]

Thanks everyone for your good wishes and prayers. It's still only 5% contained this morning but the winds have died down a lot right now, although the wind forecast is dismal. The 261 Toll Road going north is shut down this morning as well as the 241. We are in between the 261 on ramps and the first 261 Exit going South in Irvine. so we should be okay for now as long as the winds don't blow south. No new voluntary evacuations in Irvine this morning. Up to 60mph wind gusts (direction cannot be forecast), predicted for today, hopefully not blowing at all or not towards our house or anyone elses. Traffic is in gridlock, fortunately I do not have to drive anywhere today.

[christie1111]

Hope you are okay today.

Are all our CA BB's accounted for?

[earendel]

Hope you are okay today.

Are all our CA BB's accounted for?

I dunno - but I did hear that NOLA is having flooding problems, so I hope PSM and jsuchard are OK.

[minimetoo26]

Just add locusts, and we'd have us some good ol' Armageddon conditions, huh?


One of the boys at Rain Man's bus stop just moved back to San Diego two weeks ago. Maybe they should come back for a month until things settle down a bit...

[peacock2121]

California style shelter:

People have parked their RV's outside the shelter and use the shelter for water and food and bathrooms and live and sleep in their RV. They are doing the same in tents and cars.

That is innovative.

[wintergreen48]

The banking regulators are right on top of this:


OCC Allows National Bank Offices Affected by Wildfires in Southern California to Close

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today issued a proclamation allowing national bank offices affected by the wildfires in southern California to close at their discretion.

In issuing the proclamation, Timothy Long, Senior Deputy Comptroller for Mid-Size/Community Bank Supervision, said he expects that only those bank offices directly affected by the wildfires will close. Those offices should make every effort to reopen as quickly as possible to address the banking needs of their customers, he added.



Banks are supposed to remain open because they exist to Serve The Public: it is illegal for a bank to close on a normal business day (genearlly, that is any day other than a Sunday or a legal banking holiday), so technically any bank in the path of a disaster would violate the law if it closed, even if all of the customers in the area had been evacuated, even if the disaster was just minutes away from impact; so the regulators (especially the OCC) make a point of issuing 'proclamations' that allow banks to close 'if necessary' in the face of a disaster.

[MarleysGh0st]

Banks are supposed to remain open because they exist to Serve The Public: it is illegal for a bank to close on a normal business day (genearlly, that is any day other than a Sunday or a legal banking holiday), so technically any bank in the path of a disaster would violate the law if it closed, even if all of the customers in the area had been evacuated, even if the disaster was just minutes away from impact; so the regulators (especially the OCC) make a point of issuing 'proclamations' that allow banks to close 'if necessary' in the face of a disaster.

How did someone with common sense get appointed to head the OCC?

[dodgersteve182]

Sorry I took a hiatus yesterday and today. Yes we are fine in Irvine, me MrsDS and our pug dog Chloe. The air is thinner today, the fire stayed north of us although my thoughts and good wishes go out to those who are suffering more in that part of OC than we are. No homes lost locally, but San Diego lost many many homes, now Lake Arrowhead area has been burning since last night!
Just awful! The fires in Irvine were man made and deliberate with 3 flashpoints discovered by the authorities! Hard to believe there are "sickos" out here who would sacrifice other people's homes and endanger lives. I hope there is enough evidence to find and convict the culprit(s) and punish them to the full extent of the law!
Also in San Diego county a Van with several individuals was spotted with it's occupants entering several evacuated homes there. It seems more likely that these criminals will be found and punished because of the eyewitnesses. The winds locally have been much better since last night and we are even forecast to have cooler temperatures and maybe some precipitation by the weekend. We are all sleeping better today in Irvine.

[a1mamacat]

glad you checked in and are alright.

So scary and sad watching the reports of the fires, and the poor folks who have lost everything.

[SportsFan68]

Also in San Diego county a Van with several individuals was spotted with its occupants entering several evacuated homes there. It seems more likely that these criminals will be found and punished because of the eyewitnesses.

That happened in Colorado in '02; it was so creepy as to defy description. Several culprits were apprehended at a residence enjoying the fruits of their labors -- big screen televisions, nice artwork, etc. Some locals muttered darkly about lynching, flaying, and other unpleasant vigilanteism. They weren't serious . . . I hope.