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ronamick
Oct 27, 2003, 10:22 AM
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I'm not the same person that I was 24 hours ago. Today my priorities were rearranged for me. A force beyond comprehension rained terror and destruction like nothing I could ever imagine. It completely anhillated anything it wanted- property, lives, and the very earth itself- instantly, randomly, and with unspeakable fury. For the last 16 hours I had no idea whether or not I had lost everything, and during that time, witnessed so many others lose it all that I didn't see how I could be spared. Somehow my life was returned to me though, and I see things different than I did a day ago.
When I awoke there was a massive and ominous cloud of dense smoke in the sky, which glowed orange. Fire! The TV told us it was far away. Today I found out that the TV is a dangerous liar. I left for work, and had driven a mile or two when I looked back, and realized that the world was on fire. Giant orange flames tore across hillsides in every direction, as far as I could see. Lines of fire, patches of fire, fire exploding into existence before my eyes. The densest, most evil brown black smoke belched into the air in unbelievable amounts as the flames consumed everything in their path. I turned around and jammed home, woke the wife and told her to get up, put on her clothes and leave NOW. When she lagged, I opened the door so she could see what we were facing, like looking into the gates of hell. She was dressed and on her way to her sister's at the beach in two minutes.
From where I work, I watched the most horrific fire imaginable get bigger and faster and hotter as it bore down on the valley where I live. People were dying, entire neighborhoods burning to the ground in minutes. Evacuations and road closings everywhere. Within an hour there was no route of escape to the east, west or south from where I worked. The fire encircled, and then began closing in. It became as dark as night. The power went out. Fire was now on every hillside, in every gully - everywhere. The embers of entire housing tracts glowed fiercely behind 50 foot high walls of flame. The firestorm raged with an insanity and explosive unpredictability that was chilling. A ruler straight flame front would be moving across an entire hillside with geysers of pure fire shooting 100 feet higher than the rest for a split second here and there. Then suddenly an orange line would shoot at a perpendicular angle from the flame front, covering hundreds of yards in a split second, and it would be a new flame front, moving in a different direction.
I let my workers go early to save their families, and I stayed, having moved my family to safety earlier in the day. Close to quitting time my son's friend called from my house. He was moving my son's car out of the path of the fire, and wondered if I needed him to take anything from the house, because he could see flames out my front door. I told him to get moving, and watched fire engulf my neighborhood for the next 30 minutes. I rode my motorcycle home, through oceans of fire and smoke, with ash and crispy things raining from the sky. The fire was at my door, so I grabbed some clothes and took off for the beach to meet up with my family.
I found that I couldn't leave the area, so I watched from work as brilliant orange fires turned my town into smoke and ash. I was watching everything I owned- my gear, baby pictures, doormat, dishes, computer, TV, golf clubs, clothes and toothbrush...my bed and shelter...every trinket I had ever collected, the clay ashtray my son made in kindergarden. You can't believe the despair until you have been through it. By about 9:30 pm the fire seemed to wane somewhat, so decided to chance entering the heart of the inferno to see if I could reach my place, in the center of an area that had been consumed by throbbing orange fire for hours on end. I held little hope of finding anything left. The TV had been showing hundred and hundreds of homes being incinerated throughout the day. Evacuation centers were everywhere. Some locations couldn't be accessed by any means.
I rode through the fields of armageddon, a smoking wasteland still ablaze, dazed people wandering in shock, talking, pointing.
Then I found my home, my life, miraculously intact. I had been spared. I don't know why I was spared, but I was.
I thought about the things that were important yesterday. Chipping holds, a guidebook to Canon Tajo, retrobolting...Such trivial nonsense. Such meaningless, silly, inconsequential nonsense. Right now I don't care if a guy named Ross is chipping a new route somewhere in Pennsylvania, or on El Cap for that matter. You can go ahead and add a bunch of bolts to my routes, or take 'em all off if you want. I really don't care. I have my life back. My priorities are a little different now. And I'm not the same man I was 24 hours ago.
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roughster
Oct 27, 2003, 10:49 AM
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Sorry to hear about your loss. It is very sad what is going on in SoCal. I have two brothers I have been unable to get ahold of for the last 3 days who live very close to a spot where I saw on the news that the fire swept through. My prayers go out to everyone affected by this :(
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marshall84
Oct 27, 2003, 11:44 AM
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I was actually climbing at Mission Gorge on Sunday morning. It was smokey, but the fire was way off. After about three hours on the crag the Ranger came through and told us to evactuate. By the time we cleared our gear and ran down the trail to our cars. The park was on fire, less than a half mile from the crag. As of about 6:00 pm it looked like the fire swept through the crag. There was so much dry brush around it looked impossible for it not to burn. Hopefully everyone got out of their homes safely and are okay. Some haven't and hundreds of homes have burned in three fires now totalling over 120,000 acres.
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mattdog
Oct 27, 2003, 2:21 PM
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I don't think I could ever possibly understand what you've been through. The only thing I could think if myself thinking about in that situation is my wife and son -- and you have yours, so thats good.
I'm really really sorry about your home, your neighborhood, your belongings, everything. Let us know if you need anything, bro.
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dontfall
Oct 27, 2003, 2:36 PM
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In reply to: Let us know if you need anything, bro.
Seriously, if there is anything I can do please let me or any of us know. I am willng to help you guys out that have lost so much in all of this. This kind of reminds me of September 11th. What I witnessed that day, watching those towers burn in front of me made me realize how much life really means to me and how much I take for granted. I'll be praying for you,
Chris
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blueeyedclimber
Oct 27, 2003, 2:43 PM
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That is unbelievable! I haven't heard about it. What caused it? I have a brother in Anaheim, is it only in the San Diego area?
Josh
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marshall84
Oct 27, 2003, 2:48 PM
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In reply to: ...is it only in the San Diego area?
There are a couple of huge fires in the LA area too. I think Anaheim is actually okay. Probably smokey, but not threatened by the fire.
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celticelement
Oct 27, 2003, 3:08 PM
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scratch.
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stizrizzo
Oct 27, 2003, 4:47 PM
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In reply to: 1) This could be a troll. I have not ruled that out, (I do, in fact, have a nagging suspicion that this may be the explanation that makes the most sense) though it would seem odd to troll with something so serious as a story about a forest fire that is really happening - not to mention showing astoundingly bad taste. :
Have some compassion, lest a worse fate befall you.
Ron: Glad the family's Ok.
Scary day in SD- definitely makes you appreciate the important things.
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miker
Oct 27, 2003, 5:43 PM
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I myself live in LA-Lakewood, many miles from the fires, but Sunday morning my house was covered with soot and the smell of fire was everywhere. The sun was an orange orb in the sky. I did not bike to work today because of the air quality.
Grandma and many friends and famliy in SD are not in there homes right now, no one is going to work, it is very scary.
My thoughts go out to all effected, friends and strangers, climbers and non-climbers, Trad climbers, sport climbers and even boulderers... ;) ...levity in these situations can help.
First let us hope everyone comes through this safe, second lets hope our homes are safe and third let us hope the rocks are still there when this is all over.
miker
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wc
Oct 27, 2003, 5:55 PM
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celticelement, you are a complete knob, as in door knob, dip knob, chit knob, etc. You admittedly have no concept of what is going on yet take an opportunity to criticize another man during trying times. You are an ass.
You obviously have no idea of the situation involved with the wildland urban interface during large wildfires. Where would everyone who is threatened by the fire go if they were to evacuate as you so brilliantly suggest? We aren't talking about a small town like Ft. Meade MD. That many people can't just head to the beach and wait for the fire to stop. The congestion on the roads out of town would be unbelievable, not to mention there is no infrastructure to support that many people either east or west of here. With huge fires in the LA area and I-15 closed at Cajon Pass there really is no place for people to run. The only option is to do your best at creating a "defensible space" around your property... and wait.
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rrrADAM
Oct 27, 2003, 6:19 PM
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rrradam moved this thread from General to Community.
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rrrADAM
Oct 27, 2003, 6:21 PM
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Mike... You don't live far from my house. Remember, I'm in South Carolina now on a job, so all I get is what I see on CNN. How bad is it out there ??? The closest hills to burn have got to be 15 miles from us, up towards Whitier/Monticelo/Rose Hills area near the 605 and 60.
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celticelement
Oct 27, 2003, 6:22 PM
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scratch
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telemarkist
Oct 27, 2003, 6:33 PM
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hang in there, the winds will die sooner or later. hope they keep all the firefighters away from the down wind areas. good luck to all of you who still live in southern cal.
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fyreflii
Oct 27, 2003, 6:56 PM
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I can't imagine what it must be like in the middle of all the chaos. Driving home from Jtree yesterday, I stopped in Ontario en route to Pomona. As I got closer it smelled more and more like the world was on fire and I could see the huge mass of smokey haze I was quickly approaching. My boyfriend described it best: You step outside and think it is the apocalypse. The sun was red, it was never actually daylight because of the dense cloud of smoke, layers of ash coated sidewalks, people walked around with a smokers' cough because of the harsh air, and the overall effect was erie. That was about 10 miles from Mount Baldy, which is certainly not the worst of it. I hope the best for everyone affected by the fires . . .
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miker
Oct 27, 2003, 7:01 PM
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rrradam your house is fine, but probably a little sooty.
Hopefully the cover is on the hot tub. ;)
miker
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climbsomething
Oct 27, 2003, 7:07 PM
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Everybody, think good thoughts for roseriae (Meg). While hanging out in JTree yesterday morning with her, artm, and others, she received a call from her roomate saying their house could have been among those consumed. The cell reception was typically bad in the park, and they got cut off, so we didn't know for sure- just that the neighborhood was in flames and the police weren't letting people in at that time. Poor girl, she had to be in shock, and I just wanted to cry for her. She's had a rough couple of weeks. Remember, she also witnessed first-hand the deaths at Tahquitz last week. So give her whatever good vibes you've got, alright? :)
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artm
Oct 27, 2003, 8:53 PM
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Dave (pirateclimber) called Meg, the status of the house is unknown. Her roommate managed to get a police escort into the nieghborhood yesterday and get out the cat and both computers. There were flames in the neighborhood, dangerously close to the house, but they are not sure yet if it actually burned.
She called me around noon and couldn't get into the neighborhood as the police are turning everyone back right now.
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rrrADAM
Oct 27, 2003, 9:04 PM
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Art, Meg, Ron, or anybody else effected by this... Let me know if you need anything, as my house is always open to climbers.
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philbox
Moderator
Oct 27, 2003, 9:38 PM
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All of Australia shows particular interest whenever the subject of forest fire comes up. We are no strangers to bushfire. Just last summer we had thousands of homes destroyed in our nations capital when a huge firestorm swept in. In our area fire came very close and in some cases right up to the edge of the town we live in.
The thing I find most amazing in any of these fire events is the random nature of which house the fire destroys. I saw pictures on the TV last night of houses destroyed and then right next door a completely untouched house with luscious green lawns.
A lot of the houses that were saved were those that owners prepared well for and stayed with to battle spot fires on roofs and to put out embers that blew inside. Your situation is a little different to ours though as you guys have a lot of asphalt shingle type roofs which erupt in fire seemingly with ease. Our roofs are mostly metal or concrete tiles.
I can empathise with you guys and send over my heartfelt sympathies to those affected by the fires. Hang in there it will get better.
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roseraie
Oct 27, 2003, 11:13 PM
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Thanks Hillary. We don't know about the house. The structure made it through the first big sweep of fire but spot fires and stuff are still burning in the area. The eucalyptus trees aren't helping. Last night, as Art said, my roommate was able to get in to get the cat and some valuables, so I have my pictures and my computer. We're at my roommate's boyfriend's house for now, no news when we'll be able to get back (I tried to get in to get clothes but no one is allowed in to Scripps Ranch right now, and flames are visible very very close to where I live.)
San Diego is fucking apocalyptic right now, the house I'm at overlooks the 52 freeway and we can see the fire trucks and the smoke. The whole city is covered in a blanket of smoke, and depending on how close you are to one of the fires, it glows gray, brown, or orange.
Ronamick, I am so sorry for your loss. Good luck rebuilding, if you need help please let me know, I may be up at the Mira Mesa evacuee shelter tonight to see if anyone needs help with childcare or anything.
Meg
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timstich
Oct 27, 2003, 11:22 PM
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Whew. Glad you got away unscathed, Ron.
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climbsomething
Oct 27, 2003, 11:59 PM
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Everybody who thought Ron lost his home and belongings, he didn't. He's actually okay, at least at the time he posted this:
In reply to: Then I found my home, my life, miraculously intact. I had been spared. I don't know why I was spared, but I was.
But good juju for all who sent him good wishes. You have beautiful hearts :) Continued good wishes for those who are still in limbo, or who realized the most terrible fates of this fire. The world of rc.com is here for you 8)
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epic_ed
Oct 28, 2003, 12:20 AM
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Ron, thanks for a candid and compelling account of what it's been like for you these past couple of days. I'm praying this gets much better very soon. Meg & Art, you guys have had a lot on your plate latley. I hope the outcome is better than it sounds. It's gotta feel completely helpless to be so many miles away from home right now, Adam. I can't imagine what you're all facing.
Ed
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