You guys following the San Bruno fire? Are you ready for that to happen in your area (too close, there is no getting ready) - You ready to grab stuff an GO - NOW

Looking at this time like it was a 24 inch high pressue gas main - shudder. They are saying at least 30 houses are gone

I briefly saw some footage on CNN earlier. Being near San Francisco International, people must've thought a plane crashed into their neighborhood because of all the flames. Being close to the 280 freeway, there must've been a lot of rubbernecking going on.

Actually, I'm surprised that as far as I've noticed, no one on ETS mentioned the fires that swept through Detroit a couple days ago. Around 85 structures damaged or destroyed, and not enough resources to fight them all. That must be an awful feeling from what I read by some residents--actually living in a major city, calling the fire dept because a house is on fire...and no one shows up.

And then there are the wildfires near Boulder, Colorado. Again, many homes burned, including homes of some of the fire fighters battling the flames.

Sounds horrific. Thoughts and prayers are with the residents and emergency responders.


“My house is gone. I’m trying to keep from just breaking down. Everything’s gone,” she said. “I was in my bedroom and heard a boom. My house is shaking. I thought it was an earthquake. I get the dog to go ride it out outside. We look out the living room window and it was orange. I had the forethought to put on my shoes and grab my purse and run out of my house. I could feel the fire from five house away. It was so intense.”

In the bay area, the local ABC/NBC/CBS/... affiliates have all interrupted regular programming to broadcast the fire live in high definition ... biggest media circus I've seen in 15 years
(by bay area standards, its mild mannered compared to other areas)

To evac permantently from your home in under 30 seconds? No. Holy crap thats scary. No time for thought, just grab immediate essentials and go. Gotta remember to keep my shoes and a jacket next to the bed.

years back I bought a lot to build on without thinking about what the underground natural gas line really meant. It did effect how I had to build though, so I sold it to someone not concerned about that constraint. Was that a natural gas line or a jet fuel feed for the airport?

my family of 2 adults, child, infant, can evac the house in the time it takes to put on or pick up the (seasonally dependent) clothes at the foot the bed (full set w/ footwear and jackets), scoop up the infant w/ stocked diaper bag, grab the family/house information folder outside our door, grab parents EDC bags and get out the door.

From realization to looking at the house from the sidewalk, about 4 minutes. About 90 seconds if we just grab clothes. 10 seconds of that is baby girl fussing about which dollie to take.

I have a 24" natural gas line running past 55' from my back door. It greatly changed what I do in the backyard.

The comforting fact is that if it goes it'll probably be a painless death.

-Blast

We have several evacuation plans, including one for zero notice. In that case we grab phone, wallet, car keys and BOB on the way out the door, if we can.

From time to time, I'll listen to a San Francisco AM newsradio station at night all the way down here in Southern California and last night, it was convenient to be able to listen to local radio coverage of the fire.

I notice that the local San Francisco newspaper's website can be rather sluggish loading webpages this morning, most likely groaning under a heavy user load because of the fire. It reminds me of the continued need for broadcast media like TV or radio, which has no limit to the number of people who can receive the signal compared to the finite number of people who can access a website.

Actually, there was a series of programs on the History Channel about 9/11 last night also, and I distinctly remember being in a news vacuum that fateful morning. Even though I was in Manhattan on 9/11, our small office had no TV or radio, and all the news websites were overloaded that morning, so it was very difficult to get any news about what was happening down at the WTC. I and my small group of coworkers were pretty oblivious to what was happening for a while that morning. Even a small radio would've helped a lot that day.