Journal Entry from Rachel Morgan, Director, SCGSR, who lives in Sylmar, CA:

We are not sissies here. Earthquakes, mud slides and fires are what we get to cope with at times. Right now it is FIRES. I'm surrounded by them and it seems as if the whole state is burning. Marshmallows are at premium prices. Nearly rivaling gas prices.

At 1:00 this afternoon the sun was just a fluorescent pink spot in the sky and it looked like it was 6:00 PM it was so dark. Smoke is all you can see and smell. We are advised to seek medical attention if breathing becomes to difficult. Local channels are having continuous fire coverage and the news is not good.

Seven counties have been declared disasters and no doubt the whole state will get the same status.

I've been through other huge fires, once they enacted the emergency broadcast system. It wasn't a test. That fire lasted three weeks and we had other ranches evacuate to our ranch. All the small animals were moved to a vets in town. We had the stock trailer hooked up and the llamas, longhorns and horses corralled, just in case we needed to run.

There are several things you can do to help yourself in such situations.

1. One, pack ahead of time. Put your pictures, papers and VIP's (very important papers) in a file or box and put them in the car. When they tell you to GO . . . you don't want to run around trying to find things.
2. Pack your own little bag of clothes, medications and essentials.
3. It won't hurt to have a supply of food for you and the critters.
4. Keep those cages and carriers close.
5. Don't let the cat out for it's daily romp . . . . you need to know where everyone is at all times.
6. If you think your going to be told to evacuate, do it ahead of time. There's nothing you own worth losing your life over. You can't fight a huge fire with a garden hose.
7. Keep that brush cleared at all times. The local authorities will tell you how far from the house you need to clear. Use common sense and do what authorities tell you to do. If the worst comes to pass and you lose the home -- at least you are alive to rebuild.

I was helping dig a fire line/break once. The lead man told us that if he said "run" we were to drop what we were doing and run as fast as we could, opposite the way of the fire. About 40 minutes into the digging, he yelled "RUN, NOW" we looked up and there was a wall of flames coming down the hill. I turned into an Olympic Sprinter and for good reason. You cannot imagine what that does to you. It is so scary that you almost don't believe you can escape. Some people don't escape.

At this time, the wind is whipping up but not the 80 mph gusts of the last two days. The winds are not whipping more than 40 mph now and are not sustained. The air support is here and in force. The horizon is dotted with helicopters and planes dropping their water and fire retardant where needed.

A Journey Worth Making:



Sunday, I was honored to help transport a 12 year old Lab mix to Bakersfield to go on to her forever home. When we walked out to the truck, people were picking trees off their cars. High wind advisories were in effect and we had gusts up to 80 or 90 mph. We drove over "The Grapevine," which is part of Interstate 5. It's known for high winds but this wind was knocking over semi trucks left and right. We saw smoke from the Castaic Fire but it seemed far away. After visiting with my best friend in Bakersfield, I decided to leave early to be ahead of the traffic and just in case the Castaic Fire had changed directions. We were going along just fine until SUDDENLY -- near zero visibility. The sun was a tiny pink dot and our eyes started burning. Smoke was rolling across the freeway the way fog does. Traffic slowed down to about 35 mph from a zooming 70 mph. If they closed I-5, we had a 3 ½ hour detour drive.

We did get home just fine, the kids love anything that seems dangerous so they were thrilled. The next morning, the truck was covered with ashes. They headed off to school singing "I fell in to a burning ring of fire."

By Monday afternoon, more fires were burning out of control and we were literally surrounded by fires. It's hard to tell where and who are truly affected by the fires so everyone I know who lives out-of-state, has called me to check in and see if we are OK. I don't live close enough to the hills to be too concerned but anything is possible with unpredictable nature.

Tuesday:

We awake to yellow light. Smoke fills the air and it makes the sunlight eerie yellow. The sun itself is the bright pink dot again. Watching the news it's heartbreaking to see so many homes destroyed, lives turned upside down in minutes. My friend and I are on call, in case someone needs to evacuate horses. All in all, it's a tense and long day for everyone. Thankfully no call for help. More planes and helicopters endlessly making trips back and forth to water and to the fires. I have friends who live in the fire areas but you can't get through on the phones. You realize how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things. The fires do what they want, go where they want and destroy what is in their path, despite the efforts of truly heroic people. We will eventually win, but in it's wake is such destruction and devastation. Then the rains will come and we face mudslides. You can't be a sissy in California.