Questions, Thoughts, Observations…

[doublewide]

Hi all,

First off, hope everyone is hanging in there. We know of two people in RB who’ve lost their homes and it’s just heart wrenching…you really wish you could make it all better. The good news is they are taking it with humor and grace and have lots of support so will pull through eventually.

Had a questions for SD Realtor and any other Scripps Ranch Piggs. How did the Scripps evacuation go for you? How did you hear of the evac.? We were all home (Mom-in-law too since she’d been evacuated from Poway at 7:am). Kept an eye on the news and internet. Around 3:pm or so saw “Mandatory Evac. in Scripps” on Union-Trib. site and couple minutes later a neighbor came by and told us – never did get a reverse 911 call (even checked my caller ID when we got home on Tues.) We’d been packed since 2:am (I couldn’t sleep with the wind howling so decided to use my time wisely). Threw everything in our cars and hit the road – only to come to a full and complete stop! Husband wanted to take Pomerado Road but I made him u-turn back to Scripps Lake Dr. and got out pretty quickly down to Carroll Canyon. All in all everyone was very calm and cooperative – some poor people couldn’t get to their homes with all of us trying to get out so had parked their cars and were walking in and out of neighborhoods with computers, photo albums..We really wanted to help but they were traveling on foot faster than we were driving – offering them a lift would have been a joke :>) We stayed at a friend’s home in PB after trying in vain to find a hotel. Got up the next day had breakfast in La Jolla (did you all know they took down the IHOP on Prospect – it’s now some Panini place – I’m so NOT HAPPY – that IHOP was an institution!) Took the dogs to a park and started making calls to find out if we could get back into Scripps or get a hotel. Finally found a room at the Hotel Del! They had “refugee rates” – 199.00/night, so we booked a room. Went over to Starbucks to use their internet and found out (again through Union Tribune site – have to say I’ve suddenly become a big fan of the UT cuz all the news channels and sites were totally USELESS!) we could go HOME! Cancelled the Del reservation – which bummed out my daughter who really wanted to go swimming at the beach – so someone else could get a room and went home. We were one of the first back in our ‘hood – it was a ghost town driving down empty streets but it was good to be home.

Were any of you Poway/Scripps/RB people frustrated by the lack of info. coming out of this area? I understand why they evacuated us but when we left we had no idea if there was a fire climbing up our backsides or if we had time to leave in an orderly fashion. My family is very by the book, right up until we need to be agressive and there were perfectly good bike lanes all along all the roads that could have been used to get more cars out quicker. It was tense there for a while trying to get out, not knowing where the fire was and how immenent the danger.

Anyone have any luck with the 211 line they all kept talking about? I called many times to try to find out info. and never got through. Called KOGO to ask if they could check on the Poway area fire – had it moved? Where was it going? Never got through.

It was a surreal day on Monday. We went to Clairemont straight from Scripps for a park (had to let the dogs out) and internet to try to find a hotel. People there were just going on as usual, having coffee at Starbucks, shopping at Target. Down in PB and La Jolla the surfers were out in the water, kids were skateboarding and there we were not knowing if our homes were burning…

Not to ignite the whole renter vs. owner issue again, but are any of you renters now who were owners during the Cedar Fire? We owned in Sabre Springs back then and I remember the panic at the thought of losing the house. Sure we had insurance but everything was tied up in the house and insurance would only cover the cost to rebuild which takes time and where would we live in the mean time while still having to pay our mortgage, etc. This time around, being a renter, I was much more calm. Sure I didn’t want the house to burn and I didn’t want to lose our stuff, but starting over was very logical – we have renters insurance which would cover replacement of “stuff”, our cars were loaded with the important, irreplaceable stuff (thank god for photos saved to CD) and we could live at La Quinta or rent a motor home until we found another rental. I never thought of this aspect of renting, it really takes the emotion out of where you live which for us was an oddly calming thing.

Again, hope everyone is o.k. and hanging in there.
Our family is making donations to Red Cross figuring that’s the best place to funnel money right now to get help directly to those who have lost everything, but if any of you here know of specific needs let us know.

Doublewide

[SD Realtor]

Hi DW… we had the police boot us out later in the afternoon, like 3 or 4 pm. I was up on Spring Canyon watching the progress and could not figure out why they were pulling the trigger so early…however I am not a fireman…. yet I was clearly irritated.

We tried Spring Canyon south to get out… no go… then Pomerado… no go… so we snuck out via Avenida Magnifica and the interior roads which were not to bad. I think that since they had the evac order so early, they (the police) had no problem with the exit routes being clogged up. Like you said if flames were imminent they would most likely have closed eastbound lanes and let everyone flood thier way out.

SD Realtor

[SD Realtor]

Hi DW… we had the police boot us out later in the afternoon, like 3 or 4 pm. I was up on Spring Canyon watching the progress and could not figure out why they were pulling the trigger so early…however I am not a fireman…. yet I was clearly irritated.

We tried Spring Canyon south to get out… no go… then Pomerado… no go… so we snuck out via Avenida Magnifica and the interior roads which were not to bad. I think that since they had the evac order so early, they (the police) had no problem with the exit routes being clogged up. Like you said if flames were imminent they would most likely have closed eastbound lanes and let everyone flood thier way out.

SD Realtor

[SD Realtor]

Hi DW… we had the police boot us out later in the afternoon, like 3 or 4 pm. I was up on Spring Canyon watching the progress and could not figure out why they were pulling the trigger so early…however I am not a fireman…. yet I was clearly irritated.

We tried Spring Canyon south to get out… no go… then Pomerado… no go… so we snuck out via Avenida Magnifica and the interior roads which were not to bad. I think that since they had the evac order so early, they (the police) had no problem with the exit routes being clogged up. Like you said if flames were imminent they would most likely have closed eastbound lanes and let everyone flood thier way out.

SD Realtor

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