Fire Coverage From the U-T

The San Diego Union Tribune had an interesting article about people who didn't evacuate today. It talked about both those who died or were injured and those who were able to save their houses.

The story humanizes the fires by bringing to light an on-going battle we fight as human beings — is any kind of property worth risking your life for? It's easy to say no; but the question becomes complicated when you think about wedding and baby pictures, old letters and family heirlooms.

Even if you'd never dream of risking your life over a piece of property, you can understand how some feel a need to when you think of pieces of property as memories instead of paper, glass and wood.

A portion of the story:

On Sunday, four firefighters were injured trying to rescue a father and son who tried to keep their Potrero house from being destroyed. The father – Thomas Varshock, 52 – was killed and his son, 15, badly burned.

Yet as the fires progressed this week, even some firefighters couldn't find it in themselves to second-guess homeowners who remained on their land. It was as though the decision whether to flee or stay and fight was such a personal one that to question it would be like challenging someone's religious beliefs.

Jim Nadal, who stood ground Tuesday morning as the Rice Canyon wildfire roared toward his Fallbrook house, said he felt “a little sheepish” as firefighters approached him while he was attacking the flames with a giant hose. He knew he wasn't supposed to be there; his Red Mountain Heights Drive neighborhood had been evacuated the previous afternoon.

SEAN DuFRENE / Union-Tribune Jim Nadal, ignoring an evacuation order, sprayed down hot embers Tuesday morning as he battled to protect his Fallbrook home. Nadal said that had he not stayed behind, his house would have been lost.

Rather than yell at him or drag him away, the firefighters simply told him to be careful and to stay on the high ground. Then he and the crew attacked the flames together.

Nadal, 52, a real estate broker, credits the firefighters with saving his house. Still, they didn't arrive until dawn Tuesday, after he'd spent several hours battling the flames on his own. (His wife and 16-year-old son had evacuated the neighborhood on Monday night but returned Tuesday and joined the fight.)

“There's no question in my mind that if I weren't here, my house would have gone,” Nadal said.

View the whole story here.

Things You Can Do With A Macalester Education

Joe received this in the mail today from his Alma Mater:



They clearly have been thinking about him.

How I love my husband (name).

The Fire Through My Dad's Eyes

(from getty images, obviously)

My dad sent me this email this evening, which explains what the last few days have been like for him:

We had 3 days of fire to keep from burning our place. The CDF engine from across the road from us, our local guys were charged to save our home. They parked in front of the house from around 11am until the threat was over. God bless them, I can never thank them enough. I keep the grass low 100 yards or more from our house. Stucco house with stucco eves and a fire system inside. We were hit 3 times on the house. The first one came down slow and gave us some room from the big brush which was about 100 feet from the house. When the big hot fire came we had a dirt road to help, then a brush filled gully on our property that went up hot. The firefighters fogged my wife's garden that would have gone up next so it would not catch. I kept the horse and equipment barns alright by running around stopping little grass and wood chip fires from getting out of hand. After a neighbor's motor home went up the fire spread back to the north side of HWY 78 again which burned the Smokey the Bear sign, grass field and the old ranch house across the street. The old school house around the corner also went up as well many other homes in our valley. We are very blessed and lucky. It looked like a war zone that first day and night.

After the fire crew had the house secure they turned it back to me. I was alone and wound up stopping grass fires around the barn most of the night. It was super hot as you all know. Sometimes I literally could not see my hand in front of my face. Very scary.

The second day we had 3 engines on our west fence line as a grass fire was coming back into the wind which would have come to the house from down below. They handled it so professionally and at least one engine was here all day and parked across the road watching our hillside all night. We are so thankful. We have continued putting out hot spots up until 2am last night. Ironic as it is the last one was putting some dirt on what was left of the CDF Smokey the Bear sign. I was sitting there watching it finish up burning and the wind picked up so said goodnight to Smokey.

We are an evacuation facility for horses and have some here now. If anyone needs a place to go it is safe here now. We set up our stable area to protect the horses and it worked out so far. I did take the John Deere out and scrape a couple of places early on where I could not get to with water. The roads are not open. If you have horses and PM me to come here, I could meet you at the road block and help you get through.

Our hillside burned and we lost about 8 oak trees. There are still lots more there but from the front of the house to the road still looks normal. We are still on alert for spot fires.

On generator power and no phone. We are all helping each other out here and have no idea when power will be restored. Like camping now. We are all focused on water, food and power. We still have 16,000 gallons of water here. I am going to hook up my generator to the well pump eventually so we can keep our water supply up. Tim came by today and borrowed a water tank so we will keep water going over the hill for them for sure. Told Tim to come as often and take as much as they need and we will let him know if we get low.

We are fine so not worry about us at all. Now we can help some others.

More fire

I talked to my mom, brother and one of my college classmates that's in his senior year at USD today. My brother's fine and said he talked to my dad yesterday and he was doing well. My mom's doing well. My friend at USD said it wasn't raining ash there as it was in 2003, at least not yet. School's been canceled for the major colleges and all county public schools.

I had to share this pictures I saw under reader submitted images on the LA Times website. It's of a fire more in the LA area, but I thought it was striking.

Fire update

I got an update from my brother this morning.

Though fires are still raging strong in SoCal, the fire has passed my dad's house. As of 9 a.m. it was on its way to the town of Ramona, though Santa Ana winds are pushing it along quickly.

He's still alone up at his ranch, but he's just putting out small ash fires and doesn't have to worry about any big ones right now.

As long as we're all thinking positive thoughts, think a few for Brett's parents, who were visiting Brett and Amy in Iowa when the area they live in was evacuated.

With Santa Ana winds still raging, its difficult to fight the fires, which my brother said had now become four separate fires. They suspect the one that threatened by dad's house was caused by a downed power line, my brother said. He also said the 30-50 mph wind is so fierce that helicopters are unable to drop flame retardant on the fire.

We escaped the first fire, maybe not the second

My dad lives on a small ranch just outside of Ramona, CA. When the Cedar fire hit in 2003, his current house was in Escrow and he was lucky enough to have not been touched by the fire. My cousins, who also live in the area, had to evacuate, horses in tow. But, for the most part, everything turned out alright.

After the Cedar fire, which burned 300,000 acres in the area and sent ash raining down throughout the county and city of San Diego for nearly a week, a new fire station was put up across the road from my dad's new home. We always joked that his house was the best place to have a fire, because the proximity of the station. However, that station was put in specifically to protect the Cleveland National Forest — the forest in which the Cedar fire began. The firefighters always said they'd help my dad if he needed it but their first priority is the forest.

Right now, fire is threatening my dad's home. I don't know all of the details, but I know that my brother and step mom are safe away from the fire and that my step mom is not able to return because they have blocked all incoming traffic into the area. My dad is the only member of the house left to fight the fire.

I'm not exactly sure why it is safe for him to still be at the home (i.e. why he hasn't been evacuated) if there is fire threatening the home. However, that is the case. I'm not even sure if the fires he's been fighting are related to the massive fire burning in the area. All I know is that he has been fighting fires for a while, at least some of which are coming from piles of junk in his neighbor's yard.

San Diego is experiencing heavy Santa Ana winds, which create the ideal conditions for fire. It's possible he's fighting some sort of small backyard fire.

Though the fire department helped him the first day he was fighting it, they were called elsewhere today. I'm not sure if the firefighters that helped him were from the Ramona fire department or the forestry one across the road from his house.

My dad's very spiritual and I just wanted to ask that you think some positive thoughts for him, or pray, depending on your belief systems.

I'll post an update when I know more.

Art in Iceland

We launched a new section at work, which has been eating my time like a very hungry caterpillar, but I wanted to throw up a picture I took in Iceland.

I'm also working on a website, so stay tuned.

Spellbound Baby

Photo from our wedding
by Michelle King, MK Photography

As most of you know, we're expecting a baby around April 1st. The midwife due date has moved up to March 31. Maybe we'll have to get a pool started =). The baby and I are both doing great, now that I have recovered from my crazy bought with pneumonia. The illness doesn't seem to have affected Spellbound baby, who's measuring perfectly on schedule.

A few things about Spellbound baby:

First I thought it was a girl. Then we both thought it was a boy. Now I think it's a girl again. Whoever said the mother is 65% right, wasn't counting on me changing my mind =). At this rate, I'm going to be 100% right.

He or she is a wiggle-worm, ninja-kicker. Though I can't feel it yet, the baby was wiggling and kicking a ton when we had an ultrasound two weeks ago. Yesterday the baby kicked the machine the midwife uses to listen to the baby's heartbeat.

If our memory of genetics is as clear as we think it is (no guarantees) our baby will almost certainly have blue eyes, dimples and either positive or negative type O blood.

He or she will also have an awesome name we're not ready to share.

But we will share the sex, if the baby is willing to show us at our next appointment on a very special day, October 30. October 30 is also the anniversary of Joe's sister Jody and her husband Toby, as well as the birthday of their youngest, wrestler-dancer-kindergartner Joe E.

And, because the joke has already been said: Yes, this will be a highly photographed child.