sdscuba

We were evacuated from our home on Sunday at about 11:00am. Still have no idea in regards to it's condition. It has been quite amazing seeing the level of devistation. From my Mom's house in Poway, where we stayed, we could see an entire hillside on fire last night.

News is that we can return to our neighborhood tonight.

Mexstan

Man, it must be hard not knowing if you even have a home to go back to. Please keep us posted on what you find and how you are doing.

eswartz

Wishing you and your family the best of luck that you may return to your home. Keep us posted.

bulabula

After reading your post, I called my cousin near El Cajon who I used to live with, and he said could see the fires burning down houses on the mountain about a half a mile from his house. Also said that all of my relatives have been spared so far too; I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.

tcb

i was just out there, beautiful place to live. i travel all over this great country and other than home that would work for me. word in the news is fires were set by morons with nothing better to do than ruin other peoples lives. if the catch em i hope they hang em. neve know could be the tree huggers at work again. hope every thing comes out ok.

tim

Mexstan

Here is something I just read that may have some connection to these fires. Read other similar stories in other publications a few days ago. Sure hope this is not the case here.

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
Al-Qaida planned
U.S. forest fires
FBI memo described plot
to set blazes in the West

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: October 27, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is a weekly online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com – a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for the last 25 years.

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com


As arson wildfires consumed nearly 200,000 acres in Southern California, destroying 850 homes and killing at least 13, the inevitable question arises: Who started the fires?

While firefighters focus on containing the blazes rather than the detective work necessary to prosecute arsonists, many are wondering about a possible connection with terrorism.

In August, Australian authorities launched an investigation into reports al-Qaida planned to spark bushfires in a new wave of devastating terror attacks.

A June 25 FBI memo to United States law enforcement agencies revealed a senior al-Qaida detainee claimed to have developed a plan to start midsummer forest fires in the U.S.

The terrorist hoped to mimic the destruction that devastated Canberra last summer, killing four people and destroying more than 500 homes, as well as in other parts of Australia.

The memo, obtained by the Arizona Republic newspaper, said an unidentified detainee revealed he hoped to create several large, catastrophic wildfires at once.

"The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies," the memo said.

The detainee told investigators his plan called for three or four operatives to travel to the U.S. and set timed explosive devices in forests and grasslands.

"Australian security authorities are aware of reports that al-Qaida has considered starting bushfires in the U.S. as a form of terrorist attack," said a spokeswoman Australian Attorney General Daryl Williams. "Arson attacks are just one of a wide range of scenarios which have been considered as part of our investigations into al-Qaida's ability to conduct attacks in Australia."

In fact, Arab terrorists in Israel have started dozens of major forest fires over the years. And al-Qaida has been known to learn from and take inspiration from the activities of Palestinian Arab terrorists – who, for instance, first pioneered airline hijackings.

As far back as 1988, Israeli police caught more than a dozen Palestinian adults in the act of setting fires, while other Arabs confessed to arson after arrest. Some fires followed specific calls by underground Arab terrorists. A leaflet issued by the Palestinian uprising's underground leadership called for ''the destruction and burning of the enemy's properties, industry and agriculture.''

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said at the time: ''The need to set fires, which also leads to murders, is in my eyes worse than fundamentalism.''

Israeli nature reserve authorities said 408 fires in May and June of 1988 destroyed 400,000 acres of land, nearly seven times the acreage burned from 1974 to 1986.

Last year, Gilad "Gidi" Mastai, chief ranger in the Galilee region of Israel, told the Jerusalem Post: "It's extremely hard to find arsonists, just like it's hard to close off the Green Line to terrorists. The forests here are on the front line."

But, he said, the vast majority of deliberate fires are started by Arabs with political motives.

Forest rangers often need the help of the Israel Defense Forces to battle the terror blazes.

Arson cases account for one-third of Israeli forest fires. "Political" arsonists cause the most with negligent hikers a close second.

jweir

I sure hope you get home and find your home untouched by the fire.

Wishing you the best.

Jim

Redleg

Hope you fair well. I've heard most fatalities were people that stayed to protect their home. The radio this morning said they were looking for 2 white males, charges of felony murder and arson.

sdscuba

We were allowed to go home last night. The amazing thing is that the canyon 4 houses from us were spared. Great thanks go out to the San Diego Fire Department and the wind direction for saving our homes. The air quality is so bad here that even at our office which is about 20 miles from any fire; people our coughing and having difficulty breathing.

The worst thing for me was that both my wife and I were away from the house when they started evacuating. I parked as close as I could get and had to walk about 2 miles to my house to get our 3 dogs. If I had not been able to do that the poor animals would have been stuck scared and without food. You would think that officials could arrange some way for those that are away from there homes to known that their animals are being taken care of. Because our home was never directly threatened, no one would have checked to see if there were animals.

I'm still ticked and the 'Retired Senior Volunteer Police' who flat out lied to me when I questioned at the start of the evacuation (If I had been at the intersection 30 seconds earlier I would have gotten through) about getting my pets out that it would be taken care of. All they needed to do was take down addresses of people who did not get through and had pets stuck at home. If it safe enough for the press to drive around, it safe enough to send someone in after pets.

sdscuba

I think I will need a new air filter at the end of this week. It is bad out here.

apache

hope your through the worst of it, we had a fire strart here in SLO county yesterday, they were able to get the upperhand on it in several hours. It could have been real bad as in years past, the hwy 41 fire and hyw 58 fire were pretty ugly

sdscuba

About 300 yds from my house.


If they had not stopped it at this path, the fire would have gone uphill behind a row of about 20 homes then to the backyard 3 houses from me.