October 26, 2007

San Diego Firestorm Sadness and Relief for my Sister - The Images

Coming up Honey Springs Rd from the 94. Void of traffic except emergency vehicles
Spot fire still burning
Miles of scorched earth.
Another large spot fire burning.
A very large fire burning from where Anne's front door looked out towards. This was being attacked from the air by two-fixed wing aircraft and one helicopter when we arrived.
Same large fire off to the east, different looks.
First view of house coming up driveway. There's suppose to be a house attached to the garage awning. A large eucalyptus tree branch fell across the driveway. The propane tank is intact.
Next view of house coming around corner of garage awning.
John walking past what use to be the front door towards his office. Our first real look at the damage.
View from corner of garage area looking towards front of house. Large pile up is respectively where the kitchen was located. Mangled piping was the interior fire sprinkler system. The gazeebo stairs led to a second story, side of the house, hallway entrance.
Total destruction of the home. View from opposite side of home, further down the driveway. Stairs to left led to a jacuzzi area situated in-between boulders. Notice how the stucco walls collapsed inwards. Cement shingles from atop dining room area. Second story stairway leading to gazeebo ripped from house.
More images from corner where dining room use to be. Off to the left, the white refrigerator. Just to the right of the stairs you can see the fireplace. Just above cement bags, again notice how the dining room window and front walls collapsed inwards.
View of house from boulders above. This is the photo that gets me everytime.
View of area from boulders above. On left, (down the front door slope) a neighbors house is also in ruins. Another neighbor's house, in front of 2 parked cars...also gone. Fire the aircraft were working on before is now extinguished.
Fire continued racing upwards through the walkways between the boulders and continued climbing behind the house, burning everything in its path. The three verticle "sticks" use to be trees on the property of the neighbor up above.
View of what's left of neighbor's home, behind Anne's. Chimney and portion of wall still stand, but empty on the rest of the foundation. Interestingly, the tree to the right is mostly secure, while others on the left are torched. Area directly behind the home is 50% burned.
Back to front of house, a view of Anne & John's sloping front "yard". John's Q-hut office is seen at end of driveway. Tree in foreground only 30% burned. Indications of fast and furious fire?
View from John's office down driveway. The only saving grace was his office being unburned and mostly secure.
Some of Trajan's Tonka toys not making it through the heat. Bizarre how the bottom two in the first picture are totally gone, while the top, larger toy only has a partial melted wheel and bumper.
As we were about to depart, a Calfire helicopter flies overhead. Unfortunately, a few days late.
One last look at the carnage before our departure.
Border Patrol tape on the mailbox marks that the residents were warned of mandatory evacuation orders. Melted white fencing lays horizontal on burned ground.
More melted white fencing laying on the road.
On our way out, we saw our local ABC channel 7 reporting from a burned home on Honey Springs Rd.
We departed the area via Otay Lakes Rd. off the 94 after exiting Honey Springs Rd. You can see vehicles on the 94 seen across scorched land.

No comments: