Cedar Fire Third Anniversary

Three years ago today I was in Front Royal, VA doing some quartet work, and as we headed to Dulles Airport for our flight home, we got a call from the wife of one of the guys who told us a huge fire was raging in Southern California and it was causing all inbound flights to be canceled. That call started an hours-long odyssey as we tried to get back home.

The Cedar Fire in San Diego County had been caused by a lost hunter who started a signal fire in the middle of a high Santa Ana wind event. The fire quickly got out of control and before it was done huge swaths of San Diego County were moonscaped, hundreds of homes lost, and a number of people killed. Our problems in Washington were minor compared to that, but it still created a tough trip home.

The fire that threatened the air traffic control facility at Miramar Naval Air Station causing it to be shut down. Consequently, air traffic throughout Southern California was stopped with hundreds of flights canceled. Our flight schedule had us going from Dulles to Phoenix, and then a connecting flight to LAX. Knowing we might get stuck in Phoenix, I called ahead from Dulles and reserved a one-way rental car to Los Angeles. Smart move, because by the time we got to Phoenix (sounds like an old Glen Campbell song) there wasn't a car to be had. We would have been stuck in Phoenix, possibly for a couple of days, without that call.

Upon arrival at Phoenix we found a airport that was an unbelievable mess. Thousands of stranded passengers and piles of luggage everywhere. We managed to find seven of the eight items we checked (our product dolly showed up a few days later) and we jumped in the car at about 7pm and started the drive to Southern California. I finally made it home at about 3 am.

A day or so later I drove through much of the area that had been hit by the fire. Several of my customers had damage, ranging from one total loss to several with varying degrees of damage. Driving through some areas was not unlike driving on the moon. It was a mess.

San Diego County has recovered fairly well, though I hear there are still homeowners fighting with insurance companies over their settlements. Many found that they were badly underinsured for the replacement cost of their homes. That will probably go on for awhile.

As I write this another Santa Ana wind condition is starting, and a big fire has just broken out in the Cabazon area of Riverside County. Here we go again.

UPDATE: This new fire has already claimed three firemen:

CABAZON, Calif. — A wind-driven wildfire near Palm Springs engulfed a fire engine Thursday, killing three firefighters, and up to 400 people were trapped in a recreational vehicle park when flames blocked the only road out, officials said.