My family and I just got back from being evacuated after a wildfire threatened our town.

I thought I'd fill in my international compadres on what's happening here in SoCal.

Since the rest of the USA doesn't know how bad things are here, I'm guessing that you guys in other countries don't have a clue either?

In short, there are huge, unmanaged wildfires all over Southern California right now.

In San Diego and San Bernadino Counties (Southern California), tens of thousands of acres and hundreds of homes have been destroyed.

Officials are calling this worst disaster this state has ever encountered.

All schools, mail and etc. have been shut down for the rest of the week.

The air everywhere you go is unbelievably polluted and unbreathable, as you can imagine.

Check out this local news websites for more info:

kgtv
kfmb
knsd

Before we were evacuated, you could look out the window and see a fast moving wiildfire moving toward us from two directions.

Luckilly the fire stopped short of the parkland around our home and moved in the opposite direction.

The fire that threatened our home is one of four out of control wildfires in San Diego County and is still buring thousands of acres of wilderness and homes with no hope of being brought under control.

Ths sames fire has now grown to almost 50 miles from end to end, and may well connect to the smaller fires around the county.

Airplanes and helicopters are having a minimal effect due to the poor visibility, and huge smoke clouds.

One interesting thing, as some of you Aussies may know, is that many Eucalyptus trees have been planted here over the past 100 years, and you know what happens when a firestorm encounters a grove of these trees, right?

Explosions of red hot embers into the skies, traveling with the wind and starting new fires.

People are seriously talking about outlawing eucs in high risk areas.

New fires and hotspots are popping up even as I write, so my house is still not out of danger.

We are packed and ready for flight if we get the word, so I will keep you posted.

yeah in aust we had a huge bushfire last year hundreds of houses destroyed and that, we had two of them air crane helicopters on loan from u guys, the incredible hulk and georgia peach if it werent for them, it wouldve been heaps worse. if it comes down to the point where u gotta get out fast, call up all ur mates with 1200 utes although u may need a few, as we all know they are quite small hehehe

yeah Mat, we have heard a bit about this on our local news here in Aus. And we know how devastating bushfires can be. Hope all goes well for you. When the fires get to this stage, it all seems to come down to weather conditions - so here's hoping for a change to come soon.

Good to hear about your house and Datsun werent damaged...but what about the other 12000 homes....we thought we had it bad in Australia, but you guys have totally copped it. 12000 homes lost has a significant impact...that means at least 50,000 people are now homeless...and many would be uninsured too. About half of the 500 homes burnt down last year in Canberra werent insured. We are kept up to date here with whats happening over there and our thoughts are with you guys. Saddam Hussein couldnt have planned that sort of devastation better...but I know that Americans ALWAYS get stronger in the face of adversity.

Hang in there, Mat.

Your mates in Oz are well aware of the devastation caused by bushfires. I know that I speak for everyone associated with this site when I say that our thoughts are with you and yours.

Man, I should come over with a few "warm and frosty" beers... One of my special Shasta - KOA Campground specials.

I hope everything goes well for you, and your family and friends.

Cheers,
Chris

Good luck Matt. As far as I know we didn't have any major fires up here. It's suppose to cool off significantly up here in a couple of days. I hope the same happens down there. The warm "offshore" flow is pretty evident in that picture.
After the big fire we had in Oakland, they started cutting down a lot more Eucaliptus. They're not native trees and they grow like weeds. Maybe Dattodude can bring some Koala bears on his next trip to CA. Don't they eat eucaliptus trees? That's what the old Quantas commercial used to show.

I wish you good luck matt.We have seen you here in greece and we are very sorry.
I hope someone arrest this creep and beat him
a lot...

Matbighat
My best wishes go out to you as i know what the fires can be like. I was involved in the operations that related to the fires that we had along the South Coast, the Southern Highlands & in our National Capitol of Canberra during the last two fire seasons. Not pretty.

Ang94541
The Koala is NOT a bear. It's just a Koala. They eat "some" species of Eucalipyus leaves, but not the tree.

Kegs
You are right, last year we in N.S.W. benefited from two of THOSE Sikorski Air Crane hellicopters, They were NOT on loan. We leased them from Erricson in the US & they cost us a bundle. I was told that the total cost ran out to be about $11,000 Au. per operational hour. They were worth every penny.
They were nicknamed by the media i believe.