Anyone in the San Diego area?

[Charlie Velasquez]

My daughter is a student at U of C in San Diego. With the fires we were nervous and trying to get in touch with her. There appears to be no cell phone service right now. Being stuck in Iowa makes me feel kinda helpless. Anyone there able to help her if need be?

[Joe Pelonio]

I'm sorry I can't help, not being down there, but do have a suggestion. Our daughter went to the University of San Diego a few years ago and got sick on a weekend and had no transportation to get to a doctor.

We were able to find on the website a number for "parental relations" and managed to get help for her that way. Perhaps you could find such a number and try calling.

Sometimes being a parent is pretty hard.

Best wishes for her safety.

[Joe Pelonio]

Charlie,

Have you heard anything yet?

My son reminded me about this website where people at the shelters can register:

https://disastersafe.redcross.org/default.aspx

[Lee DeRaud]

The fires in that area are bad, but as near as I can tell, they're a long way (like 20+ miles) from the La Jolla campus. (FYI, San Diego County is big: it's almost the size of Connecticutt.)

Here's a site with detailed info: http://www.sdcountyemergency.com/

[Joe Pelonio]

Lee,

From what I heard UCSD and USD were both closed for a few days, not so much from the fire itself but unsafe air from all the smoke. They were sending people to shelters where they have A/C systems with filtering. I know when my daughter was at USD the dorms had no A/C at all. I worked in Oakland during the Oakland hills fires of 1991, and I remember the smell of the drive in that first morning.

[Charlie Velasquez]

The fires were about thirty miles from campus yesterday They were seven miles from campus this morning.
Joe, thanks for the suggestions. I googled parents and UCSD and found a number that parents could call to get messages to their kids and also find out the disaster plan for UCSD. The campus proper sounds like they have safe shelters. She lives in off-campus graduate housing and I was not sure of her status. She was able to call this morning and this afternoon. She was preparing to evacuate if the need arose. Many in her area are leaving. It appears she will be physically OK, which is all I care about. She was also worried about the living room set and office furniture she just bought. I told her, "Who cares! I would get her new stuff if we need to!"

[Jude Kingery]

Charlie, glad to know you've established contact and she's ok. Just talked with a friend in Vista, similar there, heavy smoke, she wears a respirator if she goes out - but so far, so good. Keeping an eye. You're right, furniture doesn't matter, her safety of course is paramount. Glad she's ok! Let us know, you and she are in our thoughts! Jude

[Rich Konopka]

Charlie, If you can not get through via cell phone have you tried sending your daughter a Text message. It may be a quicker method than through the school and usually works when voice calls over the cell signal do not.

[Lee DeRaud]

Lee,

From what I heard UCSD and USD were both closed for a few days, not so much from the fire itself but unsafe air from all the smoke. They were sending people to shelters where they have A/C systems with filtering. I know when my daughter was at USD the dorms had no A/C at all. I worked in Oakland during the Oakland hills fires of 1991, and I remember the smell of the drive in that first morning.I can believe it. I'm directly under the plume from (probably) the Lake Arrowhead fire (but ~30 miles away)...my yard smells like an ashtray and I've been inside hunkered down under the A/C for the last two days.

[Jess Wetherhold]

Charlie I live in SD. I have to say that everything here is being handled very well. I was in La Jolla today and everything is fine there it is just smoky. As long as she is indoors she will be just fine. They are having issues with the fire in DelMar (north) but they are currently saying that it is headed north away from La Jolla. I don't know if this helps but any news is better than no news I guess.
I am a recent transplant here and all of my friends and family are back east so I understand what you are going through. Good luck to us all.
Oh, I am not having trouble with text messages or email. Calls are hit n miss though.
Jess

[Charlie Velasquez]

Jess,
Thanks for the update. We had a lot of trouble getting through Monday. She was able to get through Tuesday. My wife was able to get through after 3 or 4 tries this afternoon. I will try the text messaging. I have never texted before so I guess I should learn.

[Jess Wetherhold]

I don't know what news you are getting in Iowa but the fire I mentioned just north of La Jolla is no longer. They let everyone return home.
Finally the wind is cooperating so good things are happening. I guess you have heard that classes are canceled for the rest of the week.
The Harris fire is down by me. They are saying that they won't have it extinguished until 11/4. Geeze

[Brian Kent]

I live in Riverside, CA, about 100 miles from San Diego. I have a lot of friends in San Diego that I am keeping in touch with through e-mail and phone. The issues are property damage and severe inconvenience, even in the middle of the burn areas. The emergency communications and services have been excellent. UCSD is in an area that is safe now. They would be evacuated long before any actual danger would come to your daughter.

The word I have gotten from the shelters is good. Restaurants have been so good in helping that so far our churches have been asked not to rally food drives. I'm sure we will have plenty of opportunity to help as soon as the shelter needs are known.

I think you can trust that your daughter is safe, and will need some hugs.

[Brian Kent]

Jess, what part of San Diego do you live in?

[Jess Wetherhold]

Spring Valley. The air is finally clearing a bit here to see blue skys. Feels good.
How are things in Poway? To be honest I had to turn off the tube. 2 days of this and I am going a little nuts. I have resigned myself to animal planet for the next hour or so.

[John Shuk]

Jess my father is in La Mesa and he heard that Spring Valley had some fire activity today 10/23. He also heard that Mt. Helix might have some issues.
My step sister in Delmar had to evac yesterday 10/22. That isn't really all that far from La Jolla. I wish all the best.

[Jess Wetherhold]

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=913231193175173162/l=317855885/g=82349692/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
http://www.snapfish.com/default/images/spacer.gif
You can see the photos I took around midnight yesterday (posted courtesy of Melissa). By 6am the fire was down the mountain. Thank God it has reversed itself and we are no longer in any danger. That goes for La Jolla as well.
We have a friend in Del Mar Heights and she was safe to return home this afternoon. I hope everything is well for your sister in law.
Charlie,
Glad your daughter is safe and well. Let's give a cheer for the fantastic firemen and volunteers. It is really amazing the heart that they put into their efforts.

[James Yockey]

It's a real mess here. I live in Rancho San Diego and am looking at evacuating any minute. How am I going to convince my wife that my shop is equally as important as her pictures? It's interesting that we have displaced over 500,000 people with only two counts of looting. I have to admit I only got nervous when they said FEMA was coming to town.