The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Raph:

Mez @ #19,

I wasn't so much giving the example "schoolteacher = lower income" as I was attempting to illustrate that the affected are not just the stereotypical "affluent SoCal people." I just get irritated at blanket generalizations that ignore the human dimension.

Me, I'm affluent. :P A former co-worker (who is way more affluent than I) actually fought the fire from his multimillion-dollar mansion with a hose and saved the structure from burning (stupid, but brave, I suppose). His kids and wife got out of the area with literally minutes to spare. Had they not made it, it would still be a tragedy.

Four bodies were found in a canyon -- probably extremely poor illegal immigrants who were hiding out there. Still a tragedy.

P J @ #18,

I actually found the SD County maps very frustrating in terms of planning our return (we ran clear to Anaheim), because they showed our immediate area, as well as south of it along the 15 through Carmel Mtn Ranch, as under mandatory evac for two full days after people were back... apparently, they only went by zip code. Same for the 211 line. The street by street and neighborhood openings were only available on the blog and Twitter.

#14, I live in Rancho Bernardo; my office was about two blocks from the fire, and my house about two miles, maybe. (I evac'ed on Sunday when I saw the fire coming over the hills).

When returning, I did in fact hit that same traffic jam caused by the presidential visit. I do have to note, just for reality's sake, that it was pretty trivial to go down I15 to another exit, and bypass it. It was pretty dumb that it blocked easy returnee access to the assistance center, though.

There was a plane flying around right overhead while he was in RB, though; we speculated that it was probably from the govt. :)

To me, if there's a big story in terms of how the fires were handled, it is the way in which blogs, Google Maps, and Twitter became the best info channel, while standard websites were inadequate (and even then, better than phone and TV). Special kudos here to KPBS, who did a stellar job, and SignOnSanDiego, which had not only a great newsblog but also offered forums broken up by neighborhood.

KPBS Twitter: http://twitter.com/kpbsnews

KPBS fire map (constantly updated): http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571&om=1&ll=32.949911

SignOnSanDiego fire blog: http://sosdfireblog.blogspot.com/

SignOnSanDiego fire forums: http://forum.signonsandiego.com/forumdisplay.php?f=156

A silver lining: the way the moon looks in the rippled smoke and clouds in the sky tonight.

http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/10/26/the-smoke-does-help-some-things/

I live in San Diego. I was evacuated. I wasn't at Qualcomm, but I was at Mira Mesa High School for some of the time.

Pretty much everything was organized locally. FEMA didn't really show up until near the end -- more than midway thru the week. High schoolers were the volunteers. Local restaurants provided food. I don't know what it was like in the latter half of the week at Qualcomm, but I can tell you that early on, when it mattered, it was the people here who pulled together.

By the way, plenty of lower-income areas, rural areas, and apartment buildings were hit by the fires, right along with the affluent ones. One of the victims was a schoolteacher. Rancho Bernardo is probably half retirement community. It is dangerous to generalize.

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