Rus: I don’t know if they can actually compel you to leave or evacuate. The Sheriff came to our house and told us to pack up and go and I told him we weren’t. He said it was a “mandatory evacuation” and I told him again that we weren’t leaving.

At that point, he asked if we had sufficient food and water on hand and told me the evacuation route through Camp Pendleton if we chose to go later and was off to the next house.

I spoke to several CHP officers and Sheriff’s deputies during the next few days and none of them said anything about me being in town (I was at Albertson’s shopping on those occasions). They did tell me that there had been looters out and that, as a homeowner, I could employ lethal force if someone unknown was on my property and I felt that they were a danger to me or my family.

I’d check with your attorney and get his take on “mandatory evacuations” and what your rights are in that situation. I wasn’t rude with the deputy at all, I simply said we weren’t evacuating.