SoCal Fires - Pray for everyone, please!

[navane]

Most of you wouldn't know this; but, I am a certified Disaster Service Worker for the City and County of San Diego. I volunteer for a program through the City of San Diego and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department called San Diego Community Emergency Response Team. We are regular civilians trained to support professional responders during major disasters with things such as: search & rescue, medical triage, fire suppression (like wastepaper basket fires, not hillsides!), disaster operations, logistics and so on. Some people are on "special teams" such as the support team for Urban Search and Rescue and also Helicopter Operations (as I am).


At appx. 10pm last night, I received word from the CERT Liaison Team that my team was being put on standby for immediate activation. As the Team Leader for central area of San Diego, I spent a few hours calling down my team to solicit volunteers at 12am.


At approximately 2:30am I deployed to a local high school (Mira Mesa, for those familiar) to assist with getting our evacuees into the shelter. Let me tell you, the wind was whipping something fierce through the hours of 3am-4am. I greeted car after car of crying evacuees to get them parked and inside. Lots and lots of frail elderly people arrived by cars and buses - I think they evacuated a retirement community.


I've gone off-shift and am now home and attempting to coordinate the members of my team who are available for daytime support.


These fires are horrific and many are being evacuated. At the present time, neither I nor my family are in immediate danger.


Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers along with our professional responder firefighters, sheriff's deputies, CDF, etc.


.....Kelly

[LatinaAlumna]

Originally Posted by navane

Most of you wouldn't know this; but, I am a certified Disaster Service Worker for the City and County of San Diego. I volunteer for a program through the City of San Diego and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department called San Diego Community Emergency Response Team. We are regular civilians trained to support professional responders during major disasters with things such as: search & rescue, medical triage, fire suppression (like wastepaper basket fires, not hillsides!), disaster operations, logistics and so on. Some people are on "special teams" such as the support team for Urban Search and Rescue and also Helicopter Operations (as I am).


At appx. 10pm last night, I received word from the CERT Liaison Team that my team was being put on standby for immediate activation. As the Team Leader for central area of San Diego, I spent a few hours calling down my team to solicit volunteers at 12am.


At approximately 2:30am I deployed to a local high school (Mira Mesa, for those familiar) to assist with getting our evacuees into the shelter. Let me tell you, the wind was whipping something fierce through the hours of 3am-4am. I greeted car after car of crying evacuees to get them parked and inside. Lots and lots of frail elderly people arrived by cars and buses - I think they evacuated a retirement community.


I've gone off-shift and am now home and attempting to coordinate the members of my team who are available for daytime support.


These fires are horrific and many are being evacuated. At the present time, neither I nor my family are in immediate danger.


Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers along with our professional responder firefighters, sheriff's deputies, CDF, etc.


.....Kelly

I think what you're doing is awesome, and I thank you for it!!!

I don't live near any of the fire sites, but I work in one of the cities that has about 15,000 acres burned the last time we checked online. I am here now. The air is super thick, and I've only been out of the building twice (once when I arrived, and for about 10 seconds to throw out some trash). Each time, it took me about one hour to feel like I could breathe normally again (I'm asthmatic).

Please keep praying for So. Cal.! (And I wish the best of luck to the posters who are preparing to evacuate if necessary.)

[Sister Havana]

Yikes! Stay safe, everyone...

[aephi alum]

My husband was caught up in the fires. He was scheduled to visit a company in San Diego today. Around 6am, the hotel staff let the guests know that the area was being evacuated. The company DH was scheduled to visit, closed for the day. So he headed for the airport and rebooked himself on an earlier flight.

While he was waiting for his flight out of San Diego, he caught a news program that showed the area he had just been in - on fire.

Stay safe, everyone.

[DeltAlum]

The pictures on TV News can't convey the actual enormity of the fire -- and they are still frightening.

All of you take care of yourselves and those you care about.

ETA: Our network generally carries the SDSU athletic news conference on Tuesday afternoon, but it appears that it will be re-scheduled or cancelled and the football team may move its practice out of the San Diego area.

[navane]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

ETA: Our network generally carries the SDSU athletic news conference on Tuesday afternoon, but it appears that it will be re-scheduled or cancelled and the football team may move its practice out of the San Diego area.

I managed to briefly stop in to SDSU today to e-mail my students to let them know I was cancelling class tomorrow. About an hour after I left, the university made the decision to close down through Tuesday. The university is not in immediate danger, but they don't want students and staff to clog the highway for no reason and, of course, to make sure that people take care of their families first.

SDSU has opened a shelter for displaced students and staff in Peterson Gym and I imagine that athletics will be cancelled for the time being.

.....Kelly

[honeychile]

My prayers are with you all. My best chapter friend has already been evacuated, and my godson's family has been told to pack.

Navane, another friend of mine is a nurse, and is on an evacuation team. God bless all of you who are out there helping others. God bless you real good!