From the Wildfires in California: A Teacher's Diary

• PRINT
• EMAIL

For years, Linda Foote has been an advisor, colleague, and friend to many at Scholastic. This week, her school in the Poway Unified School District in San Diego County become one of many forced to close due to the raging fires in California. Throughout this tragedy, Linda has kept in touch with us via emails. We are sharing her correspondence with you here. Written, literally, from the frontlines of this tragic event, her correspondence gives you a look at how people throughout the state of California are coping with a constantly changing and dangerous situation.

You can also read diary entries about the wildfires written by Linda's student, Brooke. Read Brooke's student diary.

December 6, 2007
San Diego really is a great place to live. Our weather is moderate and wonderful most days of the year. If we want to experience a different climate, a 30-minute drive can take us to the beach to enjoy coastal breezes, swimming, surfing, or sailing. Or we can drive 30 minutes to the desert for warm temperatures, camping, hiking, and stargazing. If we prefer mountains, tall trees, coniferous forests, waterfalls, creeks, and snow, we can drive there in 30 minutes as well.We’ve actually experienced beautiful weather here ever since the fires. The days have been warm but it cools down enough at night to feel like fall, so that’s fun. But, I must admit that last weekend and again this weekend I was struck with the irony of our current situation. Last weekend some storms swept through and brought more rain than we’d experienced in a LONG time. Normally that’s great news. However, after the previous months of Santa Ana winds and fires, there are many hills with no plants left to prevent serious erosion and flooding during a rainstorm. Last weekend it rained so steadily, they actually had to use the reverse 911 calls that warned families to evacuate for the fires to warn all those same families to evacuate because of the danger of flash floods. Let me think about that for a minute. We had no rain; it was dry and warm winds swept fire throughout this area. Families were evacuated to save their lives. Two months later the rains finally arrive, and now everyone has to leave again because there is a danger of flooding.
My boss just raced out of the office early to pick up a LOT of sandbags and get home before it gets dark so he can get the sandbags in place to protect his home and property from the new storm that is rolling in tonight. He wants to dig a path for the run-off water and to block it as much as possible with the sand bags. Last weekend, the rains washed a river of mud down to the end of his driveway and he had to spend a day shoveling it away. He hopes he can avoid that this weekend!

On my way back to work this afternoon I heard interviews with several families who had just finished digging ditches to divert the rainwater and placing sandbags all around their homes and property so they could comply with the evacuation orders that were already issued for their area. A few schools in San Diego have also been warned of the danger of flash floods, so the teachers, parents, and students all pitched in to place sandbags around their playgrounds and buildings for protection.

Of course, the rains are causing a lot of problems for the families whose homes were partially damaged by the fires! Many of those homes have holes in their roofs or walls or rooms burned down on one side of them. It’s hard to protect the rest of the house from the rain during these storms. At least many of those families have been able to take all their valuables out of their homes already. But, rain damage will delay their chances of getting back home again soon, so that is disappointing for them. I know so many had hoped to be home by Christmas, but these delays in construction due to the storms have changed their plans.

You’d think people would be feeling discouraged with this new challenge, but somehow it seems that the resiliency and love that drew everyone together during the fires continues to serve our communities well. Thank goodness for all the generous and gracious people of the world who continue to give and give.

Wouldn't it be great if we all poured out this kind of love, compassion, and support on all those with needs around the world until EVERYONE had safe homes and all their physical needs met?
-Linda
 

Friday, November 30, 2007
Last weekend the Latter Day Saints church here in town held a giant open house for all the fire victims to come and choose new Christmas decorations. As people were preparing for the holidays, the sense of loss deepened as they began to realize how many decorations and outfits that were key elements of their "traditions" were gone. Of course everyone knows how fortunate they are and I hear people saying, "They were only things," everywhere I go. But after they say it so many times, it becomes wearisome and carries with it an edge of sadness too. They want to keep the right focus. They know the right focus. They ARE grateful for all they have and that they survived. They ARE hopeful about the future and work hard to see all the blessings in the situation. But there are moments when it is just all a little bit too much for them as well!

Thank goodness everyone continues to offer support and encouragement. The survivors of the Cedar Fires have been sharing all the information they learned while rebuilding their homes a few years ago.

The newspaper continues to have articles about everything that went right during the fires and what STILL needs to change in order to prevent such tragedies in the future. We are located near some outstanding military bases, but it seems that red tape kept them from helping during the early stages of the fires. Like every situation in life, we need to savor the blessings and reflect on the challenges to determine how we can improve.

- Linda

Friday, November 11, 2007
All week long, news has been trickling in from teachers at all our sites that were affected by the fires. A speech pathologist sent me the following note that reminded me about how resilient children can be at times.
“A 3rd grade speech kiddo on my caseload came into the room, sat down with his group of 3 others and stated, ‘Welp, the house burnt, the whole thing....down to the ground’ and then went silent. The rest said how they had heard about that. That was that and we moved on and he got right into things.”

Even though staff members that lost their homes were given 10 days off, I’ve heard over and over that most were right back at work on Monday. One of the librarians said:
"I'm not going to sit in the hotel room just because my house is gone, I gotta be back at work keeping busy!"

It seems that every day this week we’ve heard about one or two more friends that lost their homes. Yet, each time we’ve asked what we can do to help, most have been quick to tell us about all the groups and agencies that have been helping them already. The PTA, families in each school, staff members, churches, government agencies, the Red Cross, friends, and neighbors are all pulling together to meet needs.

Sadly, some of the pain that goes with losses of this magnitude has been hitting different students all week as well. Some are angry and hurt. Others are still very sad. One teacher has been surprised at how often he feels like crying. Some are feeling anxious or fearful.

So many of those who lost their homes have started speaking about the terror they experienced as they tried to escape the fires. The police had blocked off certain roads as the fires approached, but that meant entire neighborhoods had only one way of escape, often on one very narrow street. While they were stuck in LONG lines of cars, with flames and embers falling on the hoods and windshields, many believed they were going to burn to death trying to evacuate. Their fears quickly turned to relief once they escaped the flames. However, now that the initial shock and relief is wearing off, memories of those terrifying moments have flooded their thoughts again.

The newscasters have all been announcing that there are more Santa Ana’s in store for us this weekend. We actually have Santa Ana winds fairly often in southern California. Typically when we hear a Santa Ana is coming, we think of chapped lips and dry skin. Somehow I don’t think that will be the “typical” thought again for a long time. As soon as the news stations started predicting more Santa Ana’s, many parents and students were filled with anxiety. Neighbors were all out talking about it with each other in the streets. One of our neighbors said, “I keep thinking, all we have to do is get through one more weekend of Santa Anas. Well, we might have a few more in November. THEN we’ll finally be able to rest easier.”

Though so much has returned to normal and we’re all busy cleaning up and rebuilding, I think the enormity of what has been lost is just starting to sink in for many.
-Linda

Thursday, November 1, 2007
Here is a link to a news story showing some students going back to their home for the first time. It also shows Poway High. It was used as a base camp for the firefighters once it became too dangerous to use as an evacuation center. The fires were across the street from it for several days. VERY close!!!

View the Video: Returning to School
- Linda

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Last weekend when we were calling friends, one after another, to check on their safety and the safety of their homes, I connected with a great friend who teaches at one of our middle schools here in Poway. I was especially concerned for Meera because I know she is expecting her first baby next month! She is a very caring teacher so she was already concerned about many of her students she'd already heard from that lost their homes. In fact, 5 students in her ASB cabinet alone lost their homes!

I emailed her yesterday to ask how the first day back to school went considering her school site and so many students had lost so much. Here is her amazing response:

"Our staff was called for a meeting on Friday, Oct 26. We all met in the library and were very relieved to see each others' faces. Our principal was fantastic. She filled us in on many details regarding the families at our school who were affected by the fires and what our next steps should be. We were astounded by the number of families that were affected, approximately 71. When we heard we would be back to school on Monday, without another time to meet as a staff, many of us were apprehensive.

On the first day back to school it was like a scene that you could not imagine. So many kids were just happy to be back at a place they felt was normal. I personally have nine students who lost their homes completely and two who are displaced because of smoke and water damage.

These students were so amazing. They came in heads strong and thankful that they made it out alive. They expressed their appreciation regarding the response of the school, community and the firefighters who made such valiant efforts to save their homes and belongings. Having the kids come in and share their stories really created an amazing camaraderie. They were all very willing to help one another that day by providing simple things like school supplies and even lunches.

I was even more amazed when I met with our leadership group (ASB). In my case, this is the group that was hardest hit. Within this group of leaders five lost their homes completely and one is displaced for an extended amount of time. When we all came together, we (the advisors) expressed our concerns for the kids and their families. ASB has spent much of the time this year working on building a community spirit on our campus. Today was not any different. Even the kids who completely lost everything thought that it was more important to keep the morale up in our school than to be concerned about the loss of a week to plan. They pulled off many events this week alone to give our student body a boost in spirits!

Within two hours, our leaders decided to give up their lunch periods so that they could reschedule our dance and find a way to provide tickets for all of the students who lost their homes. They created a Halloween Fashion Show so that kids would be informed about how to choose an appropriate costume for our Halloween dress-up day. In addition, they came up with a lunch activity for Halloween so the kids would have music and fun at lunch today. They also scheduled a school spirit day for Friday, a day that we were not originally scheduled to have school. The kids were amazing. They pulled together some incredible things in a short time just to provide an environment that would be familiar to our Bobcats [school mascot].

This week has been one of the best weeks I've ever experienced. Our leaders for both students and staff have really pulled together as a family to help one another as best as we can. I expected to see a more down trodden group, but the truth is that our school is filled with a strong sense of hope and pride. I am so honored to be a part of this group. "
- Meera Navarro
Bernardo Heights Middle School
8th Grade Humanities and ASB Advisor

What amazingly resilient teachers, students, and parents we have in our community!
- Linda

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Today I continued to hear about friends who’d lost their homes. One of my friends sent me photos and videos her daughter took of their house that burned down. She and her husband have taught in our district for years and raised their two wonderful children in that house. Her daughter said it felt like 27 years of memories had been reduced to ashes. Most of the photos were sobering, but one was pretty crazy. She had titled it: “irony.” It showed their fireplace still standing, though everything around it had burned. What was odd is that the logs they’d arranged in it so carefully were still right where they’d placed them, completely untouched by the fire! How crazy is that?Another photo she sent filled us with gratefulness for the amazing firefighters who have been working these fires with such courage and compassion. The photo showed my friend discovering some framed photos and some of her family photo albums set neatly on the grass beside her burned home. They were in great condition. The firefighters had dashed in when they saw the house burning and rescued photos from the walls and a few albums for them! What a wonderfully amazing blessing in the midst of such sadness.
The district notified teachers and parents that all trainings, district meetings, sport practices, and parent-teacher conferences have been cancelled for next week so teachers are scrambling to rethink and write new plans. Students would have been off on Thursday and Friday for parent-teacher conferences so it will be a significant adjustment.

It’s funny, I finally got to visit with some students who had returned from the hotel their family had rented down by the beach when they were evacuated and they said the hotel was beautiful and the beaches were great: ”In fact, it was sort of a great vacation except we were so worried about our house the whole time we could hardly enjoy it.”

There is a layer of soot or ash on just about everything in San Diego. It is worse in the areas hardest hit by the fires, but it seems the winds have carried the ashes everywhere in the county. Some churches delivered cleaning kits and sent out crews to help with the efforts. Swimming pools are black and full of tree branches, shingles, and tons of blackened, “mystery” debris.

Some houses that weren’t burned by the fires had huge trees fall on them from the fierce winds. The trees made holes through the roofs so their homes are especially filled with soot, ashes, tree leaves, and branches. As you can imagine, there is a lot of clean-up to be done. Even plant leaves have to be cleaned so they can “breathe.” I think we are going to be very busy!
- Linda

Friday, October 26, 2007

It was a long week and though it’s hard to believe, the firefighters don’t expect some of the fires to be extinguished until the first week of November. While we’re so thankful the fires have moved past this area, it’s overwhelming to realize they’re continuing to burn wide paths of destruction in new neighborhoods around the county. It’s sobering to drive by all the charred, gray landscapes and piles of rubble that used to be beautiful homes, fields, bushes, trees, or colorful landscaping. Two story homes are now 18 inch high piles of ash and rubble with a few burned out appliances and perhaps a chimney still standing tall.

Late Thursday all the school district employees received phone messages from our superintendent to report to work on Friday to reconnect and prepare our schools and classrooms for students to return by Monday. It felt strange to go back to work when so many people were still displaced by the fires. As I was driving to the district office, I passed the National Guard directing traffic and blocking roads into areas that were still evacuated. It felt more like a war zone than our little “city in the country” recovering from the fires.

Obviously some people couldn’t make it to work due to the road closures. Others had not even been back to their homes yet. But school districts are made up of lots of amazingly dedicated people. I heard story after story about how far teachers and other employees had driven in order to meet and develop strategies to open our schools and our hearts to a community in need. I was amazed that some people had come in to work even though they hadn’t been back to their homes yet. One of the administrative assistants in our office was there working hard, smiling, and helping everyone as usual even though they had just opened the road for her to get back to her house for the first time since last Monday.

My office mate's brother and his wife just had tiny new twins two weeks before the fires. They ended up moving out to a time share in Palm Desert to try to keep the babies in fresh air. When it was time to leave the desert, their home still seemed too smoky so they moved up the coast to stay with a relative by the beach for a few more days. Friends and family were working overtime to put air filters in their house so they could finally come back home with their new babies.

At times it was hard to be sure we really could reopen by Monday. But, when some of the assistant superintendents went out to the neighborhoods where the fire had done the most damage and asked parents what they thought, every parent interviewed stated emphatically that the sooner we could all return to some of our normal routines the better. Their children NEEDED school to start again.

Students were calling their teachers with worries about band instruments, homework, or textbooks that burned. They needed their teachers' assurance that everything would be ok. At school they’d have an opportunity to discover that not EVERYTHING had changed. They’d be able to reconnect with teachers and friends for encouragement and support. It would also get their minds off the fires for a short time each day.

Throughout the day on Friday we were continually overwhelmed as we reconnected with friends and listened to each other's stories. It seemed that nearly everyone had evacuated at some point; everyone had to decide what to take with them and what to leave behind. We breathed collective sighs of relief over each house that was spared. Then, we began to hear story after story of staff and students whose homes had been destroyed. Their pain became ours as we tried to absorb the enormity of their losses and the challenges they were facing. Everyone wanted to help, and though there were times it was hard to know where to begin it seemed like everyone continued to pitch in wherever they could. By the end of the day on Friday we estimated 30 staff members and 380 students in our district had lost their homes.

Oh, I do need to tell you about one great thing that happened today. The horses in the Costco parking lot finally got to go home around 4:00 p.m.! But, do you remember I had promised the Costco manager that I would pick up all the straw after they left if he would let us spread it out in his cart corrals? Well, I made that promise when I thought I was going to be off work through Friday. So, my husband, my son, and a whole team of people from our church volunteered to be on standby to "muck out" the corrals as soon as the horse owners were given permission to return to their homes on Friday. When my husband showed up in his slacks and dress shirt with a shovel, the owner of the horses had a good laugh. He sure looked like a "city-slicker!" Costco provided a huge dumpster, and he and all the friends he brought along got to work. He can now say he knows what it is like to "muck out" a horse corral! My son said to tell you the straw sure was heavier than it was when we spread it out the day before.

I have to say that even though we heard so many tragic stories all day today, it seemed that the prevailing spirit in every conversation and every school was gratefulness! People were grateful for neighbors and strangers who were all watching out for each other. They were grateful for firefighters who fought through their exhaustion to save our homes and community. They were grateful for news crews that worked overtime near the smoke and fires, losing their voices, but staying on the air to announce where the fires were headed and who needed to evacuate or could return home. Most of all they were grateful that the most important things of all had survived — their families, friends, and lifetimes of shared memories.

Linda

Thursday, October 25, 11:55 p.m., PT

Today the fires moved beyond our area here in Poway and the police began escorting more and more families back into their neighborhoods to survey the damage to their homes - if their homes were still standing. It was quite an emotional roller coaster for us: we'd hear about one family whose home was the only one destroyed on their block and another whose home was the only one left standing. One of our school board members lost his home. One of the principals at our newest high school lost her home. In fact, by the end of the day we'd heard of 12 district employees who'd lost everything and had a list of over 300 students who'd lost their homes. One teacher who works with me said that five of the student council officers in the middle school where she works lost their homes.

It was also the day when we finally heard from several friends and teachers with whom we'd lost contact since the fires started. It was such a relief to learn they were ok, even though some of their homes didn't survive.

I heard from one teacher tonight who told me her sister had to let her 17 horses flee because she couldn't transport them out with her in time. On the other hand, we heard stories of many who were expressing their gratefulness for strangers who showed up with trailers and offered to help evacuate their animals, just as they were worrying what they could possibly do. Many didn't have time to organize a rescue; the fires raced through their part of the county too quickly, pushed on by powerful shifting winds.

It was very hot here today, so I ran up to the Costco parking lot where I'd seen so many evacuees camped out with their animals to see if they needed any help. (They had actually turned the cart return corrals into horse corrals.) As I walked around asking if there was ANYTHING I could do or get for them to make their time of waiting easier, most said they were surviving fairly well. But, one person I met said the only thing I could do would be to get her permission to return to her home. She was carrying bucket after bucket of water over to her makeshift corral that housed 7 or 8 horses.

Then she said she was becoming concerned for her horses because they hadn't been able to lie down since last Sunday when they evacuated. They were becoming uncomfortable and didn't even want to go to the bathroom anymore because it splashed on their legs from the asphalt. I asked if there was anything we could do that would help the situation and she explained that if she had some hay to spread out on the ground, she thought it would help. But, she was afraid if she did that, Costco might ask her to leave.

I ran inside to talk to the manager and explained the situation to him. I asked if I got some teens to help me spread out the straw and if we promised to come back and clean it all up when the horses left, if he would give us permission to help. He admitted it has been hard to find the right balance between ensuring his customers can shop and get what they need while also handling a huge number of families camped all over the parking lot. "But, I have to tell you that all the people with horses have been great about cleaning up after them and doing their best in horrible circumstances, so if you want to help and will clean it up later then it is fine with me."

I headed out immediately for the local feed store to find some straw. They were all out of course, so then I wasn't sure where to go next. One of the employees at the store mentioned that a local merchant had just put up a huge "pumpkin patch" display with bales of hay stacked up as a wall around it. She suggested I ask the manager if he could spare a few bales from his display. I figured it was worth a try so I ran home and called the store. The manager said he'd already given several to the people whose horses needed it in his parking lot, but guessed he could spare two bales if I promised not to send any more people there to ask him for more.

My son drove over with me in his truck so we could pick up the straw. The manager was so nice when we got there. He knew we needed more than two bales, so he told one of his workers to help my son get three bales from the display. We were so thankful for his amazing generosity. He looked so tired and worn from this long ordeal. His store had to close down for a while. His parking lot was full of tents, motor homes, dogs, cats, and horses. It was like a zoo.

On our way back up to the Costco parking lot I called more friends who are teachers and some kids at the church to see if they could help. But, before many could even get there, the woman who owned the horses and some of her riding students had the straw all spread out. Those horses were so excited to have a soft bed of straw under them. I think she was right about how many hadn't gone to the bathroom for awhile due to the asphalt because as soon as we got the straw spread out...well you can guess what happened next!

One of the teachers who had come to help us spread the straw told me she was concerned about another person she hadn't heard from yet since the fires started. She kept trying to reach her on her cell phone. When they finally connected her friend said, "I can't believe you thought to call me today. I have the craziest need. I promised friends who care for rare birds that I'd take care of an African Crane for them when they evacuated, but I ran out of food. The really bad news is that the food is imported so I have no idea how I can get some right away. Do you have any contacts that could help me?"

Well, my friend is a science teacher who used to work for Sea World here in San Diego. Within minutes she was in contact with someone at Sea World that agreed to give her some of their supply of "crane food." It has been absolutely amazing to see how people all over the county are working together to meet each other's needs, even wild needs for specialty foods for a poor African Crane.

Of course there are HUGE needs all over the county. Our hearts ache with the discovery of each new loss. A student we know at San Diego State University is married to a local firefighter who had to be taken to the USCD burn center today with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree burns on his feet. He had been fighting the fires since last Sunday.

My daughter who is at Wheaton College in Illinois called to tell me one of her best friends from Poway called her today to tell her about how her family's beautiful new home was completely destroyed. Yet, their "pool house" survived so her family is staying there.

The funniest story we heard today was from one of the young dads in our church. His family was finally allowed to go back home today and they were thrilled to see their house still standing. However, there was a lot of clean-up work to do. He had accidentally left the garage door open when they left, and even though a wonderful firefighter had closed it at some point, his garage was filled with debris. His backyard was covered with branches that had blown off all the trees. It was a disaster.

He decided that a great way to help his little first grade son deal with the events of the past few days would be to let him help clean up. So, he met with his little guy and told him he would pay him 10 cents for every branch he picked up. He gave him a piece of paper and told him to make tally marks for every 10 branches because that would mean each tally mark would be worth one dollar. Well, the dad thought the tally marks would probably add up to 20 or 30 dollars. But, when his little guy was all done picking up the yard, it turned out to be one HUNDRED and twenty dollars!!! (Do you know how many sticks that little first grader collected?) Our friend was shocked and said he wished he could change the math, but his little boy is too smart and had already figured out that he'd earned over a hundred dollars!!! How funny is that? (Well, I guess it wasn't too funny for the dad, but he's a great guy, so he's laughing about the good lesson he learned!)

Well, I found out that the teachers need to go back to work tomorrow so we can get everything cleaned up and plan for how to help students, staff, and their families when schools open again next Monday, so I'd better get to bed.

I'm sure we'll continue to hear more stories of heroism and great news as well as stories of tragedies that are still being uncovered over the next few weeks. But, one thing we're all learning is that there are hundreds and hundreds of wonderful people all over the country who are sacrificing to help those who are suffering through the devastation of these fires. Our Reading Recovery Teacher Leader said that President Bush came through his neighborhood today to survey the damage and offer his support too. Over and over I hear people who still have homes talking about how thankful they are and how much they want to help those who've lost so much. I couldn't agree more.

-Linda

Wednesday, October 24, 12:40 p.m., PT

I haven't been writing very carefully because we're always half-watching the news, half-watching the hills around our houses, fielding calls from everyone who is evacuated, checking with neighbors, and staying on top of the fires. I finally fell asleep at around 3 a.m. this morning and slept until 10 a.m. It was so wonderful to finally sleep more than a couple hours. We've been on watch since last Sunday.

I did spend part of yesterday building a quick Web page so all the families in our church could connect. It is hard to know where everyone is and what's happened to their homes. We know people who live in every area that is burning all over the county. It's funny, when I first posted the Web page I had some doubts if it would help or if people could even get to their computers, but when I got up this morning, there were so many entries I was amazed. We finally found out how some of our friends were doing and were overwhelmed with the amount of people all over the country who logged in just to say they cared, were praying, and would help by sending supplies.

Today it seems like our houses are safer, but they keep telling us if the winds shift again, we're likely to be in danger. So, most of our neighborhood has had to unpack cars a little (seems like everyone is looking for underwear today!! Haa Haa.) So, we're bringing in our suitcases, unpacking a few items we need and then leaving everything by the door in case we need to leave again. One of our neighbors left one car packed and one empty so they could actually go out now that a few stores have reopened. We may empty one car as well. I did find a store open late Monday and bought a few groceries, then walked out to the van and started laughing because we had packed it so full when we were evacuating that I had no room to put the groceries I bought. Luckily I could rearrange a few things and the groceries fit well for the ride home. (I did think it was pretty wild that I parked next to several horses that had been evacuated! In fact, as I drove past the local Wal-Mart I noticed the parking lot was filled with horses, dogs, and motor homes.)

Our phones are ringing off the hooks. Last night during a quick dinner we made for the evacuees who were staying with us, my husband got an urgent call on our house phone. Then his cell phone rang, so I answered it for him. But, within a minute my cell phone was ringing as well; it was one of our kids, so I had to answer it too. You really can't talk on two phones at once of course, so we had to juggle phones and write a lot of notes about who to call back and what phone numbers to use. But thank goodness for cell phones because that is the only way we've reached so many people who are displaced. We found out today that more people are down on Coronado Island in hotels than we had originally thought. It was good to know they were ok. We found out some others are actually in Arizona!

Our neighbors are all going to meet tonight at 5:00 down the street. Some have started gathering firefighting supplies that they plan to store in case we face the fires again. They have fire hoses, respirator masks, fire-fighting clothes, and even a gel you can spray over your house to protect it from fire.

One man in our church (retired University of New York administrator) had already gathered supplies to fight fires when he bought a home that is fairly isolated and hard for the fire companies to reach easily. He has a giant pump he can put in his swimming pool to use all the pool water to save his house. He is in an area where the fire is headed right now. But, he practiced using the pump a few months ago and knows the pump and hoses he has can reach all the areas of his home and yard, so he stayed behind when others left. He has the polymer gel to coat his home. He has all the fire-fighting equipment fire fighters wear as well, so he is taking a stand!

We'll see what the neighbors in our area decide to do when we meet tonight.

-Linda

Tuesday, October 23, 5:60 p.m., PT

On Sunday afternoon I was talking to Brooke (a student in my school) about a book I had given her to review. I asked if she thought it would be "meaningful" for the junior high students I teach. She assured me it presented excellent concepts that gave her some great insights. "And I don't think the words are too big for junior high kids," she told me. "I think it would be good for them."

Monday morning Brooke's family got a call around 4:00 a.m. telling them the fires were headed toward their neighborhood and that they needed to get out fast. As they jumped out of bed and dashed outside to leave, they saw their neighbors' house two doors down burning.

Today they found out their home burned to the ground. Nothing is left but ashes :( As I talked to Brooke this afternoon she said she was at a friend's house outside the fire zones, watching a movie to forget about fires for a few minutes. She talked on about the challenges for a few minutes and then said, "Oh, and I'm really sorry about your book, Mrs. Foote. I had it at my house and it's totally gone now."

Sweet, funny Brooke, always so responsible and gracious.

Another wonderful family we know just found out they lost their home too. They have four amazing daughters. They too lost EVERYTHING. It just hit some areas so fast that they had no time to pack anything or take any special photos or papers. It is devastating.

My niece and her husband called to let us know they decided to stay with their friend downtown for one more night at least because even though their area was just approved for families to return, the air is so bad that they can't breathe. My niece's asthma is bothering her so much that she has been using her inhaler far more than normal. She may have to go to the hospital for a breathing treatment. She doesn't want to leave her two little ones though. Her daughter is three and her little boy is just a few months old. Her husband did run back to their house to check on everything, but he got a bad headache from the smoke and he'd only been there around 30 minutes. They're not sure when it will clear enough to go home with their two young children.

Everyone is pulling together and offering to help in any way they can. Our Wal-Mart parking lot is filled with horses, dogs, and motor homes. So many people are displaced. A lot of my friends are running out to buy supplies to take to the evacuation centers. So many people are responding to the pleas for help that they often have to ask them to wait to bring more food the next day.

- Linda

Tuesday, October 23, 3:39 p.m., PT

Our email is a little sporadic, depending on the needs at the moment. We might have to evacuate again because the fire has flared up again and is coming over the hills toward us from a different direction. They have already sent out reverse 911 calls to all my friends who live at the end of the Garden Road School neighborhoods. They just said that the fire is extremely aggressive again. So, we have everything packed in the cars and are ready to leave at a moment's notice.

I do know that one of our schools is in the middle of a neighborhood where hundreds of homes were lost. Apartments across from the school lost six full buildings so we're sure they have a lot of students who've lost homes.

-Linda

Tuesday, October 23, 10:20 a.m., PT

We were evacuated from the school district command center right after I sent the last email, so we moved again. We just keep moving from place to place trying to stay safe. The fire marshal thought we'd be ok back in our area last night if we stayed vigilant. So, all our neighbors were great. We all slept in our clothes and stayed up all night watching the TV and the hill behind our houses. At 4:00 am our next door neighbor came pounding on the door shouting that we needed to get out so we jumped and ran to our packed cars. But, the fire marshal said it was worse going the other way and that we should stay here. They had set up a line that they were pretty sure the fire couldn't cross. So, we're hanging tight here and actually have some others at our house now. The fires are completely uncontrolled in their area so they are glued to the TV watching for news about their homes.

-Linda

Monday, October 22, 2:44 p.m., PT

I'm typing this with a mask on at the district office because every person who said we could come stay with them when we were evacuated has been evacuated too. So, I'm hanging out in central command waiting for the firestorm to pass through and hopefully we can return to our home. A lot of our friends have already lost their homes. It is crazy out here. It's burned around three or four of the schools in our district, but so far, they've been able to protect the schools. Crazy. They're trying to save homes, but the wind is NOT cooperating. Every school bus in the district is in use to evacuate people. They just finished evacuating every patient from the hospital here in Poway. Now they are using the special ed buses to evacuate every rest home in the area.

-Linda

 

A Restless Volcano Comes Alive
Scientists are keeping a close eye on Alaska's Mt. Redoubt, one of the state's active volcanoes. Last weekend, Mt. Redoubt rumbled and shot ash and steam into the air. It was the first activity at the volcano since a series of eruptions in late March and early April.

Flooded Southern States Start to Recover
After being devastated by floods for more than a week, much of the southeastern United States is starting to dry out. Over the last few days, students have gone back to school and many people have returned to their homes to review the flood damage.

ONLINE ACTIVITY	Earthquakes | Weather Watch Earthquakes are natural events that occur as part of the geological processes that form the earth's mountains, oceans, valleys, and plains....