Here are the statistics as of 8:30 this morning: The Harris Fire is 65% contained, the Witch Fire is 90% contained--this is the one that has done the most damage to both wildlife and humans--the Rice Fire is 100% contained, and the Pumacho Fire is only 50% contained.
8:00 p.m.
There really isn't any important breaking news that I can find; so here is some general information on what these fires have done so far. As of Friday at 4 p.m., the fires in San Diego County had burned approximately 26% of the total acreage in the county. One-fourth of our entire county was on fire. I don't expect the total burned acreage to increase that much, even though that total was reported two days ago; it really appears that the fires have not advanced much in the interim. But it's difficult to be sure, since they stopped reporting as thoroughly once the fires slowed down. Over a half-million people were evacuated during this past week; that makes about 20% of the total population of San Diego County. About 90% of those evacuees have been allowed back home--thankfully, it appears that most of them still had homes to go back to.
This was also found in the same series of articles from the local NBC website (Friday's news):
Although it is little consolation to fire victims, Cal Fire statistics also show the 2007 fires combined were still not as destructive as the fires in 2003.
The 2003 Cedar Fire burned 273,246 acres and destroyed 4,847 structures making it the most destructive fire in California history in both acres burned and structures destroyed.
The Witch Fire is estimated at 197,990 acres burned and 1,266 structures destroyed, making it the third largest fire in California history in acreage, and the fourth most destructive for structures.
So far, the fires of October 2007 burned 352,593 acres and 1,709 structures.
The fires in October 2003 burned 376,237 acres and 5,268 structures.
I say it's a little too early to be counting totals--not that I wish in any way for the counts to be higher; I just really don't see how they can have accurately tallied all the destroyed or damaged houses already. Some people are still evacuated, even though it's true that the vast majority have been allowed to go home.
9:24 p.m.
This has nothing to do with the fires. Thank goodness. I just discovered yet another great thing about living by myself: I ate my dinner tonight in my underwear, just because I could. And because it's too dang hot in here to wear pants. Oh, stop! It's nothing to get all riled up about; I'm wearing my comfy cotton undies and they aren't risque in the slightest.
And to top off all the fun, here are a few picture of my cat--it's been way too long since I subjected you all to the endless parade of Sylvie photos. And she has nothing to do with fire.
1 comment:
Kudos to you, Kathryn, for keeping us posted on the reality of the San Diego County fires. I watched CNN a couple of days, and it was always the same stuff -- Rancho Bernardo. Not a word about Poway (pronounced po' way), Fallbrook, and the less affluent communities. The news media is biased indeed. Thank you again for the reality check.
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