Folks, this is exactly the kind of disaster we all prepare for. If you're not in the affected area, then you're probably wondering what to do to help.

Let's start with the easy:

1. Don't call anyone there. The phone trunks lines are burning, the cell system is imploded, whatever capacity is in the affected area is needed for rescue and evacuee coordination.

2. If you MUST contact someone, use a text message to their cell phone. It takes less bandwidth, and has a "retry" method built in.

3. Send money (not clothes, not materials) to the Red Cross.
- Call 1-800-RED CROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish)
- Make at secure, online donation at www.redcross.org.
- Contact your local Red Cross chapter
- Mail a Donation to:
American Red Cross
PO Box 4002018
Des Moines, IA 50340-2018

4. Re-Think your GO plans after you read this:
"We began a simple gathering of important articles "just in case" but had no real evacuation plan, as we never thought it would make it to Poway"
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/23/gallen.fire/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
Let's not bust his chops for the fact that he packed an XBOX and DVD's and didn't pack any WATER....but read it to the end, it's a good look at what you're up against out there.

OK, now let's consider the 1,000 homes destroyed - if there's 4 people in each home, that's 4,000 new homeless people, and there are 300,000 displaced people, and we don't know how long before the fire runs out of fuel (hopefully soon), so at this point, it's a pretty big deal to figure out what to DO with 300,000 evacuees.

They are already calling for FOOD AND WATER because they are running out...so as I've said many times - water, water, water and more water. So important to maintain the water supplies - all the rest you can scrounge or do without.

Execllent advice. Also -- don't drive over to look at them. No tourist rubbernecking.

teacher

Death may be the great leveler, but fire does a pretty good job, too. No matter how much money you make, or how many possessions you have.

Having friends or family to go to is wonderful, even if their house is small. Just take your tent. Then you don't have to add to the problems at an emergency center. And try to take your own supplies so you're less of a drain on your friends.

I used to live down there, and those Devil's Wind fires were awful.

Sue

My guess with the xboxes and dvd's is kid entertainment.
I've put bugging out at a high priority compared to some because I'm in an older neighborhood in the city. As more and more of the houses around me become government supported I have more and more people around with the attitude that everything is someone elses responsibility. So I'll be one of the first to leave before they show up expecting handouts.
Some of the things I have done.
1. Fireproof safe: every receipt for anything we keep goes in there after being scanned. Folders are organized by rooms or person. Its heavy so there is potential to have to leave it if we have to leave fast. So I've recently taken some report covers and made small binders for each person which hold papers like their birth certificates, social security cards and cd's with bank statements and such. If we have to leave quickly we just take those.
2. Bank Access: People leaving NOLA found out they couldn't access their banks which were under water. I opened a second set of checking/savings/credit accounts at another bank and direct deposit my pay split between the two. I have all my recurring bills set up at both as well so I can make payments out of one or the other if I can't access one of them. I closed out all of our store cards to make fewer accounts to maintain.
3. Making important items portable: When considering a computer purchase for example I buy laptops, as long as you don't buy the cheap consumer grade crap they last many years, mine is 5 years old now and still works fine. if we have to leave its small enough to go with me, will fit in the pocket on the back of the seat or in my backack bob.

SAN DIEGO - Like Hurricane Katrina evacuees two years earlier in New Orleans, thousands of people rousted by natural disaster have fled to a NFL stadium, waiting out the calamity outside San Diego and worrying about their homes.

The similarities ended there, as an almost festive atmosphere reigned at Qualcomm Stadium.

Bands belted out rock 'n' roll, lavish buffets served gourmet entrees, and massage therapists helped relieve the stress for those forced to flee their homes because of wildfires.

...Sure beats the Superdome I guess.

If you think you may have to evacuate, I recommend you go to:
http://www.oism.com/nwss/ and print out Chapter 4: Evacuation

This contains get down & dirty instructions on QUICKLY getting organized, loaded up, & on the road in 2 hours.

wildman,

i think that something is wrong with the link you provided. could you check and repost (i would be very interested in what it has to say). thanks.

I never seem to post links right. Put: Nuclear War Survival Skills into a search engine, go there, and look at Chapter 4.

http://www.oism.org/nwss/

I tested this and it works!!!! Sorry for my confusion, it's getting to be a habit

Corrected: http://www.oism.org/nwss/s73p915.htm

Sue

Thanks Sue,,,,,Bo

The Qualcomm situation is orders of magnitude better than the Superdome. Attitude is an amazing thing. Del Mar, Miramar and other evac points were taking horses, the stables are full at Del Mar -- there are lots of horses in San Diego.

There are more people in evacuation status than Katrina. NO PROBLEMS HERE. There are several places for the horses ( The Westfield shoping Mall, and several LARGE horse ranches in the area) Shoping malls and several large businesses that have big parking lots have opened them up to people with motorhomes and trailers. The Motels and hotels have opened up all there empty room for people who don't have a place to stay. Most people don't care whether the U.S.Gov. gets here or not. Of course there are going to be people who will need them to recover there losses. Sure isn't like Katrina (I know I was there)

That's because of the average (BLANK) level of the folks involved in this evacuation versus the Katrina Debacle.

Fill in the blank as you wish & you will still have a true statement.

I can't find any better way to make that point. Clear as day to me. Its good to see the good people of So. Cal. pulling together proving once and for all, it can be done.

Craig.

"White House: Katrina lessons applied to California fires"
Which means they are studying the situation in order to get the paperwork . . . FEMA will always be late. Much better for local folks to help other local folks and keep the big government guys out of the way.

RAS: Don't get me wrong, Yes the Feds did respond with lip service to the Gov. But most of the people around here are taking care of each outher. AS Cody Lundin woud say "party on."

We're on the same page. While the mayor and governor have been talking to DC, the folks on the ground have been working the immediate issues. I haven't heard anyone yet asking for FEMA assistance. All they really need is to streamline the insurance clains and get teh rebuild process moving. Did I miss something? Did FEMA do something?

Maybe you're just forgetting that every October, this crap happens. SoCal explodes into fire, idiots don't learn to leave, houses burn, insurance companies cough money up. Which means that local and state level agencies do this drill annually.

Now looking forward to California's next turn of seasons: Flood. Always follows Fire. Only 2 real seasons in that part of the country

Quick note here. Victoria Principle and Mel Gibson's Publicists assured the gossip programmes both had evacuated safely and we could all breath easier.A Malibu 'Landmark' all of a 30 year old faux castle owned by one of Shaw Reza Palevi's daughters burned to the ground. But we were reassured many of the collectables were saved. You could see huge portraits of the Shah's family and lots of charity fundraiser party photos (I've never been invited) stacked up outside.I have single malt scotch older than that, and better friends in the persian community. And now to reality. A local Junior College is a designated evacuation point for horses. The media dutifully trots over there and throws " the experts here tell us ..." as countless horses are checked in with nylon halters that are prime burn mechanisms if a horse is caught in a fire. Then they mention that Stallions are not welcome. The director of this horse programme was beat up by a stallion years ago and has stud a phobia. The stallions all went to 3 other ranches where the horses were quietly led into seperate stalls, duh. One owner complimented how I handled his million dollar stud and asked " are you a horse whisperer?" I replied "No, I speak LOUD and CLEAR to my livestock, giving his baby a subtle pull on the lead rope and body language to pay attention. Bottled water is non existent. We had no problem getting resupplied in the Northridge Earthquake. This time instead of a few damged roads there are several main arteries blocked by fire or evacuation zones and Duh again, Lake Arrowhead, a major supplier is itself fighting a blaze. The many evacuees and fire personel have tapped bottle water to the max. My family members are suffering the pangs of Ulster drinking tap water but my supplies are still intact and hidden. The only looters I'll be shooting are my own duh! brothers. I have a bottle of Perrier I may offer the princess or Mel to for $50 later when I'm allowed back across to tend the horses. Malibu is 15% contained ( the fire, not celebrities) with %100 expected by thursday. We saw the DC10s fly down from Oregon and the Super Scoopers are amazing.

i have been getting "live" reports on a camp gear web site
from a fellow who is in one one of the evac zones..he and his
wife were up all nite packing 2 cars and trailers and
standing by to move out if nessary..even over the web i
can see the level of concern rise with each post..
its not a place i would want to be no matter how perpared
i was..

Chris, thanks for checking in- I had a feeling we wouldn't see you for a day or two.

I won't bust people for bring out electronics if they have time. Given enough warning, my computers are bugging out with me. I ever meet him, I might poke him for not bringing water, but he had no plan, hadn't thought about it, he knows better if this should ever happen to him again.

The numbers I'm hearing are closer to 500K have been told to get out. So far, the evacuation looks like it is going better than I had hoped it could- looks like there was actually a plan, but California has plenty of practice. The real challenge will be if they have to evacuate a major population center. Gods, Spirits and miscellaneous martyrs willing, we won't have to find out.

I'll tell you - given 2 extra minutes, the main chassis of my PC is going - I don't care about monitors, keyboards etc - they can be replaced - the DATA is what I care about - and yes, I backup my PC regularly.

As I sit here in the den (I'm in NYC) I see 3 big orange watertight boxes - 2 of them are Ham radio gear I'd need to help in an emergency - the 3rd is household stuff I'd want

What I want, but have not seen (sources please) is a case - big enough to hold letter sized documents (Legal would be better, but documents fold) say 8" thick - a portable file cabinet - but waterproof and fire resistant. Anyone know of a good one? I'd put all the super important stuff in there, and feel a LOT happier that I could just grab that one box and GO

I've had to bug out exactly once - with NO warning - long enough to grab my cat, and my parakeet, and go (Backhoe put it's bucket through a 4" pigh pressure gas main about 25 yards from my house). NOT fun - the good news - no fire, and they got the main closed down in < 5 minutes - they were doing reconstruction to a road, and all the valves were marked out. Seems they DID call in the pipe marking crews, but the pipe wasn't were the drawings said it was - the valves were

kc2ixe,

How about one of these?

http://www.sentrysafe.com/products/browseAllProducts.aspx

I may have to go buy one now that you brought it up.

thing that bugs me - the fireproof ones are not listed as waterproof

All of the waterproof boxes are fireproof as well, some moreso than others. Most are rated up to 1550 degrees for 1/2 hour. One is rated up to 1700 for 1 hour. You can tell by the Icons listed just above the specs. Your right though, not all fireproof boxes are waterproof.