I live just south of Portola Parkway; the intersection of Culver and Portola is closed and the firefighters have beaten back a bed of flame that threatened homes at the 261 and Portola Parkway. All about 2 miles from my driveway.ÂÂ
With several more hours of daylight available today and Santa Ana winds being forecast as dininishing overnight, I believe we will dodge this bullet.
But we can all use your prayers today for the safety of the firefighters.
For those reporters, editorial writers and bloggers from the center-right (and mostly the far right), and you know who you are, your notes to think of firefighters today in the face of danger ring a little hollow to me. Aren’t you the ones who always rail against the unions that negotiate their contracts and don’t you usually imply these people make too much. That is until hell comes to earth and the homes and lives of your neighbors are at risk. Or maybe its your home and the lives of your children at risk.
Look at the pictures of the fire and the videos and ask yourself, how much money would you take to walk into an inferno to save the lives and homes of a stranger?
With today’s fire, the OC Register’s web site is proving that technology can get in the way o good reporting; slow response times and heavy loads are dragging the site’s performance down. Time for some new servers, load balancing appliances, and more bandwidth.
Jeez, Dan. This must have been frightening for you and your family. Well, I’m glad that you and your family are safe, and that your house is OK. However, I see that the fire is now threatening Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills. Our firefighters still have a tough task ahead of them, and I hope they’ll be OK this week, and that they put this fire out soon.
I hope you will be OK over there in Foothill Ranch tonight! I agree with you about the right-wing media who always rant about public employees “making too much” and their unions. But when the crap hits the fan, they sure are glad to have those firemen help them. Remember that fire a few years ago in San Diego? They had cut so many taxes and didn’t have enough firefighters to put out a large fire. Everyone complained. Typical.
Dawn,
San Diego County firefighters are underpayed, understaffed and underequiped. After the Ramona fire in 2003 there was either a measure to raise taxes or a bond to better equip, pay and hire more San Diego Firefighters.
The measure failed.
I remarked on this to a friend of mine after the election. I was told that San Diego County would rather bring the OC crews in, presumably, to save a buck or two.
Unfortunately, our guys are busy, as are Riverside, San Bernardino and LA County Firefighters.
Our first responders deserve good wages and because they risk their lives daily, and the best medical coverage and pensions should they be needed. They are in my thoughts.