Wildfire burning in 4S Ranch area of SD. This is breaking, I'm packing...

Good luck, update us as you can.

We (my Zip Code) are now under an evacuation alert rather than a mandatory evacuation. Others closer to the actual fire are under mandatory evac. I'm slowing and will probably repack the truck before sleeping. Tomorrow will be another windy Santa Ana day (hot/dry/windy) and all it takes is a wind shift. As it is, we are not in the wind's path, but we'll be able to leave quickly if things change.

I'm taking this seriously, but more as practice, looking toward the real fire season later in the year. Hopefully this fire just burns up a lot of fuel and creates a huge fire break in that area. Last report they hadn't lost any structures, just a lot of brush.

Officially the fire is 5% contained, but at the news brief, the fire chief seemed to be very confident that they had a handle on it. Maybe 5% is the part of the fire that is threatening structures, the other 95% is burning brush -- which won't be there during fire season. Controlled burns are not allowed, but this is an out of control wildfire...

I still need to repack the truck. Maybe re-prioritize ... Packing in a hurry is not optimum.

News this morning is 1550 acres and 25% contained. We smelled smoke last night after the wind shifted, but this morning it's cooler and clean. It's supposed to heat up again today with higher winds so we'll see. I don't think my residence is threatened, so at this point I'm just following the news. No injuries or structural damage at this point. Nice to see the various agencies involved cooperating and not stepping on each other. Lessons learned from past fires paying off.

Stay safe, Russ!

Russ,

Good luck, take care!

Hope the new firebreak will be a help in the summer.

Keep in touch when you can.

Jerry

Thanks. Jerry, the folks bordering that canyon are pretty much inoculated from wildfire issues for a couple years. If they get through this with no structural damage (fingers crossed) there will be a lot of well deserved kudos.

Apparently one of the Marine aviation units at Pendleton recently recertified (Cal Fire?) doing water drops. I haven't seen any Marine helicopters flying this fire but that ability gives SD a lot of depth in airborne fire fighting resources.

As for origin, apparently the fire started within yards of a high school. I have no idea how a fire could start there, no one in CA smokes, especially HS students on their lunch break

Stay safe! Glad the Marines can help.

Windy and hot up here as well. Glad things are looking up.