As I drove to work, early Thursday morning on May 15, 2014, I looked east as the sun began to peek out through the mountains on my hour long commute. As I left Riverside County into my hometown of northern San Diego I saw a haze covering the city with a smell of burning land and smoke.
Fire season started early this year.
I know my blog is about traveling and the great things about it. But sometimes we also need to realize in some of the most beautiful places, there can be much danger deep in its root.
I am a San Diego girl through and through. Born and raised as a San Diegan (I don’t really call myself that) this city will always have my heart. So when I see it under fire it just breaks it.
Gaining national attention, on Wed. May 14, San Diego County was issued a state of emergency by our Gov., Jerry Brown. The last big fire that devastated San Diego, especially North County was back on Oct. 2007. This was a time I still remember to this day that scared me to my wits. The feeling of having to prepare for an evacuation and knowing that at any given moment you can get a call or a firefighter will knock on your door and you have to leave your home will never leave me.
But what makes this fire a big blaze is the multiple fires that erupted within hours of each other, not to mention a Firenado that occurred at one point in San Marcos. A total of 9 fires blazed San Diego at one time on Wed afternoon and by Sunday there was a total of 11 fires that disturbed San Diego County. One of them actually started right next to my work building, the Scripps Ranch Fire as they call it. But don’t worry my travelers I am alive and running, I was lucky that we were not evacuated and that it was contained and put out immediately.
But as the weekend comes to an end, those hardworking firefighters and all the aid from militaries, etc., have joined together to help contain most of these fires so that the thousands that were evacuated can go back to their homes knowing the fire that was once by their house has been contained.
The main reason I wanted to write this post was to show the world that every place, no matter how beautiful it is, has its disasters and dangers. I want to show the world the fires that happened that gave the nation a closer look of the devastation that San Diego, known for its beautiful weather, has to go through and prepare for almost every year.
I must apologize in advance these photos are not the best. They were taken on my IPhone, as I drove to work and back home. (I strongly advise to not take photos and drive people, very dangerous!) But if you look up San Diego Wildfires on google I’m sure you can see some amazing, but also devastating photos of the May 2014 San Diego Wildfires.
Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be the last fire that San Diego will have, this year alone. Our fire season usually runs from June-October and it’s only May. So as our firefighters are still trying everything to fully contain the fires in San Diego, they must also prepare for any future fires that can happen a day from now, or a week or even months, but for as far as I know, they will do everything they can to keep San Diego safe and beautiful.
Cheers my travelers. But a bigger cheers to the firefighters that have been busting their all to contain these fires that have erupted into our beautiful city. These hardworking men and women along with their aid of helicopters and militia alike deserve big cheers for their tireless effort to preserve our beautiful city of San Diego. As well as keeping many families from losing their homes to a wildfire. This post is dedicated to all your hard work. And I thank you.
