Hi all... I am here in El Cajon, and so far this area is safe. My mom called me from Escondido at 2:20AM on Mon in a panic. She'd just received the reverse 911 call and didn't know what to take. Half asleep and scared to death. I told her what to grab and she did so, then knocked on all the neighbors doors to wake them and got out to an evac center. I told her to wait there until daylight and then figured out how to get her down to me using surface streets to get to where the freeway was open since much was shut down. I knew if we were evac'd from here, at least we'd be together.

Tues at 4:30 there was a fire 3 miles from my house. Mom and I packed everything up, but the firefighters were able to knock it down and put it out. G o d bless them. That was an incredibly stressful hour.

My ex (a cop) called Tues night to check on us. He asked if we had any idea if mom's house had burned and I said no. He took her address, as well as that of my best friend and HER parents as well, and checked on all 3 houses for us. He was working in Rancho Bernardo, but had friends in Escondido. He sent me a text around 11pm and all 3 homes were saved!!! Honestly, a miracle. We are definitely some of the fortunate ones. It was kind of him to do that for us.

The destruction is staggering. I am a Crisis Interventionist and spent 8 hours yesterday at police HQ answering the fire hotlines. We started getting lists of addresses that had burned down... and as people called in, had to break the news to them. I also spoke to a woman who had gone into contractions with twins, couldn't reach her doc, and her local hospital (Pomerado) was evac'd. She was in a panic. I told her to hang up and call 911. Another lady called who runs a care home. She had evac'd as many residents as she could, but still had 43 Alzheimers patients she couldn't get out. We made arrangements for them to be evacuated. She was near tears when we told her we had people on the way to get them. I came home physically and emotionally exhausted.

The fire in Jamul is still raging and is about 30 miles from where I'm at. I'm keeping an eye on it, but the winds have died down some, and as mentioned, we now have fire tankers and helicopters up fighting it. They couldn't get up Mon at all due to winds up to 70mph. The fire dept wasn't even trying to fight it that day... just getting people evac'd and safe from harm. Insane stuff. Like nothing I ever hope to see again. Of course, I said that after the Cedar Fires too.

I'm glad to hear that most everyone is safe. Here's hoping they crews get containment on this soon. All our agencies, fire, police, disaster services etc have done an amazing job... as has the local media in getting word out on evacuations etc.

I don't think it's gonna be safe to ride here for several months really. Too much ash and debris still on the ground. After the Cedar Fire I was out riding 2 months later and the wind kicked up... I returned home covered in soot. It was unnerving.

You all stay safe. Hugs...