Originally Posted by TripletDaddy (Post 139602)

Has anyone been following the SoCal fires at all?

The Irvine (OC/South County) fire was about 6 blocks from our home. The cops came to our pad last night at about 10PM and told us to prepare for a voluntary evacuation. Some families in our ward were evacuated. The stake center became a temp evacuation shelter. Those families have since returned to their homes, but it was a long night.

I spent a large chunk of time going the few blocks to get visual confirmation that the fire was being pushed back. The ash was pretty thick and immediately was landing in my eyes. We live about 2 blocks from the grocery store center for our neighborhood. it became a locals gathering place for looky-loos and people who wanted to snap pics. The smoke and ash were so thick that Home Depot was handing out particle masks for anyone and everyone who wanted them. The scene in the parking lot looked like a SARS convention.

We were not evacuated, but were told to be prepared to get out. We spent a few hours last night getting together essentials under the assumption that we would lose everything. It was a crappy night. But interestingly, in times of duress, we are able to see pretty clearly what is important and what is not in our lives. We went from room to room fairly quickly. The recurring theme of things we wanted to "save" was always photos/videos, documents/paperwork, and heirloom type stuff. To be practical, we were going to toss all our clothes and some toys in the car. Beyond that, you lose a couch or a bed....oh well. I must admit that I busted out the plasma tv guidebook to see how quickly I could take them off the wall. ha!

Now this morning, the fire nearest our home is fully contained so we are safe, but Portola Canyon and Santiago Canyon are still ablaze. Irvine looks like Mordor right now. Thick smoke everywhere and everything smells. The inside of our home has been sacrificed to the smoke gods. It is pretty annoying.

This morning the cops said that the cause was arson. the fire was started in 3 specific areas, not just one, so the intent was to do some major damage. Hopefully, that person is caught and tossed into a cell for a little while.

Crazy thing is, the Irvine fire is only one of about 7-10 other fires going on right now down here.

Ironically, this weekend was amazing for surf. there was a nice swell that came in and the beaches were largely empty. DDD....always looking to make some lemonade....

Originally Posted by cougjunkie (Post 139624)

Wow, that is crazy, I was just reading about the SDSU game possibly being cancelled due to the fires, do you think that will happen?

Also how many plasma tvs do you? "them"?

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy (Post 139634)

As for the plasmas....2. One downstairs (60) and one in my bedroom (42).

Originally Posted by FMCoug (Post 139638)

I can't believe you have 2 plasmas. Your conspicuous consumption makes me SICK! You should exercise restraint like I did. I only have one plasma (42" for the bedroom).


The 61" in the Family Room is a DLP. Not to mention the 720p projector in the theater or the 32" LCD in the Exercise Room. :)

Originally Posted by Black Diamond Bay (Post 139657)

Now admittedly I was already thinking about going to the doctor today to have her check and make sure I don't have walking pneumonia, but I'm seriously having a hard time breathing at work. I'm in Aliso Viejo. My eyes are stinging really bad too. I didn't get to sleep until 5:30 this morning because I couldn't stop coughing and from my eyes burning. Is it that bad where you are or is the smoke just all blowing my direction?

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy (Post 139662)

My OC office is in Costa Mesa, right across from SCP. It actually is wonderful comapred to Woodbury. In CM, you can smell smoke, but it is like being in an oxygen bar compared to how it was at my house last night.

Woodbury is really bad. My wife took the ddd's over to my brother/SIL's house and will likley spend the night there to get away from it. It was starting make me wheeze a bit and like you said, when you go outside, you either get small ash particles in your eyes or your eyes start watering.

The fire literally was blocks from our place last night, bounded by Irvine Blvd, Sand Canyon/134 toll road, and Portola Canyon road. The Irvine Blvd/Sand Canyon part is now out and smoldering, but the fire jumped the 134 and headed south towards Foothill Ranch area (this does not count all of Santiago Canyon, which is a little more inland). If you are in Aliso, you are likely enjoying the smoke from the Southbound Irvine fire heading towards Lake Forest/Foothill ranch.

I would imagine if you went home to HB, you could breathe way easier.

Originally Posted by Black Diamond Bay (Post 139665)

Yeah, the air in HB was much better than it is out here. Like I said though, it was bad enough to keep me wide awake for most of the night.

I am a bit hyper sensitive to these things to begin with. For the first 3 or 4 months after moving here I would wake up in the morning with my eyes all swollen from the pollution. A few times they were swollen almost completely shut. I did finally adjust, but I do still have those problems reoccur from time to time when the air gets really smoggy.