Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Under a blood red flag warning

Worried in San Marcos

5/14/14, 3 p.m.

The view from San Marcos is not encouraging. It doesn't feel good either. I'm in the unincorporated area, just off Deer Springs Road, right around the bend where it becomes Twin Oaks Valley Road. The sky around me is filling with audible but invisible helicopters and smoke. The worst is a ways off yet, but it's impossible to ignore.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The blackest plume is to the north. Probably Bonsall. Evacuations were ordered there a few minutes ago. I don't have cable or a land line, so I've got the U-T TV live stream going and am hitting refresh on the San Diego County Emergency website. And keeping my fingers crossed.

Earlier, just after noon, when I was going to the recycle yard on Las Posas, I had the bizarre sensation of seeing double — smoke from the hills to left and smoke from the hills to the right, on either side of the 78 freeway. I had a whole truckload of recyclables and it took me close to an hour to sort through the greens and browns and clears and good to know that you can't get any money from an empty whiskey bottle.

A crazy man was there who kept repeating the phrase, “Are you going to go back to your life?” And the word life was weirdly emphasized and enunciated: “LIE - EEF!” First softly muttered and then growled with disgust. I heard the young employee there say something like, “Hey, Richard,” but I couldn't tell what the response was.

From there in the parking lot I could see three columns of smoke. I didn't know which one to stare at. A horrible wind, drying out my lips and mouth and blowing up bits of dirt into my eyes. A violent image of Richard gouging me with a broken bottle, screaming about the end of days.

The thick manager who didn't do anything but check his phone the entire time I was at the recycling center said the county is going to hell in a handbasket. But he looks like the type who might think that even if there weren't a thousand acres blazing.

I waited in a drive-thru for a cheeseburger and something cold to drink, scanning the horizon and listening to callers on KOGO. It was at least 100 degrees. I went home and was relieved to find I still had electricity. This would be intolerable without electricity. I ate my food and drank my drink and when my mother called I assured her I would be safe. I will be safe.

The audio for this U-T TV live stream is strange and unsettling. Sizzling, hissing, birds chirping, a siren, choppers buzzing, muffled laughter from the firefighters, silence, suddenly a man giving out an email address, someone asking when the press conference will begin. More choppers chopping, more murmurs, more birdsong.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much

5/14/14, 3 p.m.

The view from San Marcos is not encouraging. It doesn't feel good either. I'm in the unincorporated area, just off Deer Springs Road, right around the bend where it becomes Twin Oaks Valley Road. The sky around me is filling with audible but invisible helicopters and smoke. The worst is a ways off yet, but it's impossible to ignore.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The blackest plume is to the north. Probably Bonsall. Evacuations were ordered there a few minutes ago. I don't have cable or a land line, so I've got the U-T TV live stream going and am hitting refresh on the San Diego County Emergency website. And keeping my fingers crossed.

Earlier, just after noon, when I was going to the recycle yard on Las Posas, I had the bizarre sensation of seeing double — smoke from the hills to left and smoke from the hills to the right, on either side of the 78 freeway. I had a whole truckload of recyclables and it took me close to an hour to sort through the greens and browns and clears and good to know that you can't get any money from an empty whiskey bottle.

A crazy man was there who kept repeating the phrase, “Are you going to go back to your life?” And the word life was weirdly emphasized and enunciated: “LIE - EEF!” First softly muttered and then growled with disgust. I heard the young employee there say something like, “Hey, Richard,” but I couldn't tell what the response was.

From there in the parking lot I could see three columns of smoke. I didn't know which one to stare at. A horrible wind, drying out my lips and mouth and blowing up bits of dirt into my eyes. A violent image of Richard gouging me with a broken bottle, screaming about the end of days.

The thick manager who didn't do anything but check his phone the entire time I was at the recycling center said the county is going to hell in a handbasket. But he looks like the type who might think that even if there weren't a thousand acres blazing.

I waited in a drive-thru for a cheeseburger and something cold to drink, scanning the horizon and listening to callers on KOGO. It was at least 100 degrees. I went home and was relieved to find I still had electricity. This would be intolerable without electricity. I ate my food and drank my drink and when my mother called I assured her I would be safe. I will be safe.

The audio for this U-T TV live stream is strange and unsettling. Sizzling, hissing, birds chirping, a siren, choppers buzzing, muffled laughter from the firefighters, silence, suddenly a man giving out an email address, someone asking when the press conference will begin. More choppers chopping, more murmurs, more birdsong.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Top Websites To Buy Instagram Likes + Bonus Tip!

Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.