San Diego Wildfires

Last night I was on the phone with my mom and she was telling me that there were three serious wildfires in southern California, and that one was near them. She said that they were evacuating thousands of people, but that they didn't think it would get to them. She said that the fire was burning in Ramona and coming west (towards their house), but it would have to go across the whole town of Poway before it reached them, so they weren't too concerned. But they did say that they let out church early yesterday and the air quality was very poor because of all the smoke and ash.

So she called me a couple of hours ago to tell me that their neighborhood was under mandatory evacuation. She didn't sound too concerned that their house was in danger of burning, and she thought that they would probably be allowed to go back in a few hours. But she did say that her friends, Rod and Angel DeGuzman, had to evacuate their home and that the house was on fire when they left -- the DeGuzmans have moved since I lived in San Diego, so I don't know how far they live from my parents now. My mom didn't want to worry me, and there's really not much that I can do to help from here, but she said that she wanted to call and let us know about the evacuation just so that we didn't hear about it and try to call and not get through (because the cell phone coverage isn't good down there right now), and be worried about their safety. At least the good thing about wildfires is that even though they are really scary, the people usually have enough warning to get out in time. And my parents have fire insurance, so if something did happen, it would be devastating to have to replace their home but they could get through it. At least I know that since they evacuated earlier, my parents and brothers should be safe. And now I just have to hope that their home is safe too.