Rob and the California George Family

First off, we are completely out of the way of any of the Southern California fires and in no danger. However, the Santiago Fire is close.

We first saw the fire on Sunday night as we returned home from a Girl Scout event. The flames were visible from many miles away as they burned up various hillsides. Yesterday, I went to work and our building was directly in the smoke plume from the fire. The building's good ventilation systems allowed us to stay and work, but the Irvine Spectrum shopping area was nearly a ghost town for the day.

We live about 2 blocks from El Toro High School. As of yesterday afternoon, the gym there is being used as a Red Cross Evacuation Center for people that had to leave their homes due to the Santiago Fire. When I dropped Bethany off for school, I saw that it is definitely getting some use. There were lots of cars, RVs, boats, and people around. I saw a number of people walking their dogs in the area.

Tonight was supposed to be a Volleyball team practice for the girls, but that has been cancelled due to bad air quality.

We have had fires close to home before, but this is the closest we have been to the effect. Don't get me wrong, this is not a complaint post. It is more one of relief that with all of the devastation around, we are not directly part of it.

Anyone trying to figure out how to help can visit this Red Cross web site.
http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/profiles/disaster_profile_CAWildfires.html