San Diego

Looks like things are getting pretty bad back at home. My brother Cameron and a good family friend, Aaron, are graduating from fire academy in November, so the two of them have spent the last few days helping fight the fires. They were on the Ramona fire but yesterday got moved down near the border to fight the Harris fire. I'm really proud of him but really worried too. As is his wife, Julie, who's holding down the fort at home along with her relatives that have been evacuated from around the country.

My parents have been sending me updates and I talk to them as much as possible. Apparently my house is right in the midst of a safe area, so they're safe for now. If you look at the google map, my parents live right between Fallbrook and Vista. I know it's kinda hard to find with all those little icons, but just look in the northern part of the map whre there's that nice open patch. That's home.
View Larger Map They've been really lucky so far, plus my dad is a part of the Vista Fire Board, so not only is he very familiar with the evacuation routes, he also gets a steady stream of updates from the fire chief. Here's one of the updates my mom sent:

"It's 6:30 and still dark as the sky is full of dense smoke. There is no breeze so hopefully the winds will not be as strong as predicted. We are still here as are the neighbors. The fires seem to be all around but not actually endangering us here. Down by the border where Cameron is picked up a couple of new fires in the night and it was very windy there all night. What he will be doing will be a bit safer. The water truck won't be right on the fire line. Will fill you in more as the sun comes up enough to see and get the updates."

I just found out from my parents that one of my mom's friends who evacuated from Fallbrook will be crashing with them for a while--along with her 6 dogs. While mom's really excited, I think dad just got a fast pass to his own personal hell.

Thanks everyone for your concern, I'll keep you posted as I get more news from home.