Here Comes The Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga Fire!

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Solid Lifters

Solid Lifters

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I live in a large private home in the hills of San Antonio Heights. This is the city next in line of the Fontana-Rancho Cucamonga Fire which now has burned over 30,000 acres. I don't think our house will make it.

I packed all my stuff that can't be replaced, my gun collection, guitar collection, my studio gear, sports cards collection and family pictures and videos. The kids a scared, but doing well. The wife is trying hard not to cry in front of our boys, and the San Bernardino Sheriff Department just now arrived help us get out.

If you don't here from me in the next few days, you'll know why. Wish us luck.

Bye.

Solid Lifters
 
Good luck, Solid. My thoughts are with you and I will hope for a huge downpour in your neighborhood. Be safe and be strong,
 
Good luck, Solid!

I know exactly what you're going through - I live about 20 miles north of Valencia, in Angeles National Forest land, and I've had more than my fair share of wildfires. Our house was right in the middle of the '96 Marple Fire (we were surrounded on all sides by it), and had to evacuate 3-4 times that week... and the fire came within a few inches of our neighbor's all-wood house... but the firefighters were miraculous and somehow saved it.

So, best of wishes. 👍
 
Just a bit of an update for everybody...

The Rancho Cucamonga fire ("Grand Prix Fire") didn't take out too many homes - less than 10, I think - so hopefully Solid's was spared.

However, the San Bernardino ("Old") Fire, which is fairly close to Fontana, is horrendously out of control... 200+ homes gone at last count. The arial shots they're showing right now at 10PM makes it look like a war zone, because almost every house in the area is on fire or a pile of rubble and glowing embers.

It's really sad, especially considering there's strong suspicion of arson.
 
Well ****, now there's a fire that's just flared up a few miles from my house...

At least (I think) it's on the other side of the freeway, but these things jump freeways all the time.

On another note, the Rancho Cucamonga Fire and the San Bernardino Fire have merged into one gigantic 50,000 acre fire.

Ick!
 
Faark... Sage and Liftmeister !.. Good luck to both of you !... And take care of your loved ones !....
 
We made it! Our house is OK! It's a little toasted, but everything has been checked, and it's Solid! :D

Our neighbors weren't as lucky, sadly. ALL the houses somewhat near us burned to the ground! Our home is newer, and was built with this fireproof spray called "Fire Check." It worked!

I can't spend too much time here, we have a lot to do to get our house back to normal. Here is a quick rundown of events over the past 48 hours.

5:00 PM Friday - Moved personal items into our cars, and friends "Bobtail" truck just to be safe.

6:00 AM Saturday - Fire is dangerously close, and I woke up family to get them out.

6:35 AM Sat. - San Bernardino Sherrif's Dep. shows up to say get packing.

7:00 AM Sat. - Arrived at Grandma's house in Upland, just 1.5 miles south from our house. The boys are safe, and having fun watching movies.

7:45 AM Sat. - Insurance agent shows up and learns I've decided to call movers to remove as many items as possible. He photographs everything and anything, then helps me move out items. GREAT guy!

12:20 PM Sat. - Ordered out, leaving some items behind. (Washer, dryer and various furniture and lamps.)

3:30 PM Sat. - "Evil Neighbor" Mary-Jane's house catches fire. It burns completely down. Her house was just across a very small gully. I was sure our house wouldn't make it!

5:00 PM Sat. - House starts to get hit by intense flames. It smokes a little, but by 6:15 PM it makes it through! I don't know why, or how, but it makes it!

8:00 PM Sat. - I got some much needed sleep at Grandma's! Family doing much better!

4:45 PM Sunday - Got the OK to move stuff back in.

The power is out, but I have two camping generators, and one is running right now for power. I have to get busy building the boys bedrooms, and our master bedroom. The boys are at my sister's house, and she will drive them to school, if there is any, that is.

Thanks for the concern, Neon, Sage, S13 JDM, and Flerbizky! You guys are great!

Sage, GOOD LUCK! I wish you the best! Please, get out on your own! Don't wait for the word, OK?! I just heard that 14 people are dead, 270,000 acres burned, and 267 homes destroyed. Not everybody is being told to get out, so please keep yourself safe!

All this started because of two young little pricks! I hope we get them.

I'll talk with you guys later. There is so much to do now.

Bye.

Solid Lifters
 
Originally posted by Solid Lifters
Sage, GOOD LUCK! I wish you the best! Please, get out on your own! Don't wait for the word, OK?! I just heard that 14 people are dead, 270,000 acres burned, and 267 homes destroyed. Not everybody is being told to get out, so please keep yourself safe!
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Thanks. :) It seems like they got the fire that lit up just a few miles from here under control without incident, but our main concern right now is the Val Verde/Simi Valley fire... it's about 7 miles away right now, but as you've probably heard, the Old Waterman fire traveled at least 20 miles, so 7 isn't necessarily safe. I'm going to semi-pack my valuables before I go to bed tonight just in case the worst comes about (ironically, the Santa Ana winds were helping push the fire away from us, but now that they've died down, it'll pretty much keep trotting on now that it's fuel-driven).

Also, our house is tile-roofed and the walls are plaster-like, so it's pretty resistant, and we did some extra brush clearing today (3 sides of our property is forest land).

The magnitude of the whole southern California situation is amazing though - The statistics that you quoted, all driven by 8 large fires across the state. The cynical side of me finds it really suspicious that all of this fire activity is occurring on the decade-anniversary of the Malibu fires (to the very week).
 
Well, good luck, Sage. Hopefully you guys will come through.

Lifters, man, I'm glad you got the good end of the stick this time!
 
Glad to hear you made it through ok, Solid Lifters and stay safe, Sage. :)

You guys wouldn't happened to know how close the fires are to San Diego?
 
Originally posted by neon_duke
Well, good luck, Sage. Hopefully you guys will come through.

Lifters, man, I'm glad you got the good end of the stick this time!
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Thanks, but this was the THIRD fire here near our home and the firefighters have always done a great job for us. Even thought they just let it burn, I still like to think they did their best.

I'm very concerned about Sage. His biggest fear was for the fire to
jump the 118 freeway, and it did that sometime this morning. I hope things work well for him.
 
Originally posted by Solid Lifters
I'm very concerned about Sage. His biggest fear was for the fire to
jump the 118 freeway, and it did that sometime this morning. I hope things work well for him.
Click to expand...
Well, we're not that close to it. ;) We live along the I-5, on the western side of it, and again about 20 miles north of Valencia/the Santa Clarita Valley - Not really near Simi Valley. The smoke is horrid though... from my house, the entire eastern skyline from north to south is pure smoke, and we got a bit of an early sundown because of it. Luckily though, we can keep our windows open (no A/C), because the winds keep blowing the smoke south/east. 👍 Even though it's closer now than before, I'm not as concerned, because I've gotten more perspective on its position relative to us. It's still around 7-10 miles away, but I think the only way it'd hit us is if it shoots pass our house to the north-west, then loops back due to the winds. However, if it were to do that, it wouldn't run into huge fuel stores due to the '96 Marple fire, and we have very good brush clearance on the north-west side of our house.

Adding to that, there are only 3 houses in this area, so it'll be much, much easier for firefighters to try to save us/them, unlike the San Bernardino situation, where there were too many to try to save.

I'm just trying to be cautiously optimistic about the situation... unlike my mom, who gets a nervous breakdown every time she sees a fire close by (today she was driving 75mph in 3rd gear without realizing it, because she was staring at the smoke). Again, I'm just going to put my valuables together just in case we have to make a nighttime escape.

Come to think of it, the real danger right now is for my dad and his sister's cabin in the Twin Peaks/Blue Jay area of Lake Arrowhead. It's a cabin that my grandfather bought in the 40s, and has survived all kinds of natural disasters. But anyway, right now it's very much in danger, because that fire has already crossed Crestline, so it's but a couple miles from the cabin, with tons of dried, dead trees to fuel it.
 
AMAZING! I'm going buy stock in that "Fire Check" stuff; wouldn have needed it had I stayed in Gainesville...

Hopefully, everyone else will wise up about evacuating on time...like a hurricane threat, you don't want to wait it out, and you probably want do prepare, not wait for the police to forcibly remove you.
 
hey solid do you have any pics of your neighborhood? My cousins fiancee lives in Cucamonga. He's in Oregon right now getting ready for their wedding so I don't think they even know if their house is ok.
Anyway I'm glad your Ok!
 
Wow. I'm sorry that any of you has had to go through this...I dont normally cruise this section of GTP. I just hope that everyone who hasnt already dodged the fires or been blessed enough to come away from one without losing to much is ok and continues to be kept safe and sound. I know words only say so much but I feel really bad for everyone involved and I really am shocked to hear that it is a couple of ppl that started this. Good luck to all.
 
Originally posted by skylineGTR_guy
hey solid do you have any pics of your neighborhood? My cousins fiancee lives in Cucamonga. He's in Oregon right now getting ready for their wedding so I don't think they even know if their house is ok.
Anyway I'm glad your Ok!
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Sorry skyline, but I don't have a computer right now. Right now I'm using my MSN TV box that is connected to my HDTV set, and I can't do anything with it, but go to websites. I have several friends in Rancho, one house caught fire but it didn't burn down, and my other friend is close to Baseline and Haven, so they were a good distance from the fire.

Glad to hear you are fine so far Sage, and the smoke was unbeleivable. It was so thick, visibility was reduced to 1 mile during the worst part. The sun looked BLOOD red, it was an erie sight for sure. The smoke was completely around us, and if you want to know what it was like as far as smell, try this. Light your BBQ with charcoal, wait until they're red hot, then pour water over them. Then stick your head in the BBQ and then close the lid. I'm not kidding, it was that bad!

On the ground is a heavy layer of the finest ash I have ever seen in my entire life. This stuff is sooo fine, it feels like you are walking on water. It has a "wet" feel to it. It's hard to describe, but that's the best I can do for a guy who can't write for beans. Sorry folks. This fine ash covers EVERYTHING! There is also large white and black flakes of ash covering everything. It makes breathing a problem. The car race in Fontana Raceway will be canceled for sure, I think it will clog and ruin the engines. I'm not gonna bother cleaning it up just yet, I'm tooo tired from setting everything back up again in the house, plus more ash is coming, so why bother.

Well, the fires here in Southern California have killed 13 people, burned a total of 400,000 acres, burned down 775 homes, 100 structures, closed over three dozen schools, and have costed a financialy straped California a lot of money.

Some good news, they have a general description of the guys who set the "Old" fire. Two white males in their early twenty's, driving a 2000-2001 gray Chevy van. If caught, they face murder charges. I'm sure everybody here in S.Cal will keep an out for that van. I plan to.
 
Sage, Lifter !....

Glad you guys made it so far..! And Lifter - I can imagine that was a little too close to be real comforting !.....

Now someone get out there and catch the fcukers that started the fire and remove their balls with a wooden spoon :mad:
 
Wow. I remember living in oregon (near washington) and people telling me about the ash from mt st helens when it blew. it feel strange...like being on the moon. Once again I'm glad you're ok!
 
Flerbizky - Thanks too for the concern! 👍

Originally posted by Solid Lifters
Glad to hear you are fine so far Sage, and the smoke was unbeleivable. It was so thick, visibility was reduced to 1 mile during the worst part [...]
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Yeah, the smoke around here got substantially worse at around 2:30 today... the Santa Ana winds died down, so all the smoke drifted into the Santa Clarita Valley. When I stepped out of 7th period, I got some ash in my eyes, and the Sun was blocked out enough that it looked like a winter, cloudy day. When I got home, the smoke was even worse (it was raining ash), and the Sun was completely blocked out... full darkness by 5:00.

The weather forecasts look good, except for the onshore winds on Thursday and Friday. Again, I'm on the north-eastern side of the fires, so offshore flows help keep them away.

What a mess all of these fires are causing. Bleck.
 
This was in the newspaper this morning...
 

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Wow! Unfunkingbelievable! What an amazing shot! I always wanted to know what the fires look like from outer space. Just think, all that smoke will go someplace.

Nice pic Cobraboy. 👍

I'm still watching out for the fires, so my job isn't over yet. Our family shares a cabin in Big Bear, which is now going throught the same mess I went through on Saturday. I haven't heard as much about San Diego fires lately as I did several days ago. Probably because the fire is now closer to the homes of the news casters who are reporting the fires here locally. I admit though, I don't like watching the news much anymore. It's too depressing and stressfull. I have had enough of this fire business to last me a lifetime.

The ash buildup is thicker today and I'm still not cleaning it up. I went to the store to buy new trash cans. The old ones melted to the shape of giant frisbees. They are kinda fun to toss around. They have two handles on the edge to grip because the handles didn't melt as quickly as the rest of the trash can. lol I was looking at new lawn furniture too, since the old set burned completely to ash. It was a good idea to move the trash cans and lawn furniture far away from the house before we left. If I left them near the house, they could have been used as fuel to burn my house down.

Some good news, the insurance will cover all our costs and expenses, including the the cost for the movers to move our stuff to a safe location and the all the damaged items. Cool! 👍

How are ya holding up Sage? I hope all is still well.
 
wow those fires are biger than i thought.

there was a big fire in canberra earlier this year. it was massive and yet probibly only half the size of that. it was also set of by arson

i hope the police catch whoever started the fires and lock them away for a very long time. or set them on fire :p
 
live in Tarzana, maby 20 miles away from the fire.. but we are not in a county area. Sadly i dont know how my uncle Mark is dooing, he lives near San Deigo.

I didnt go to school today, the smoke burns my lungs too much. Oh and on monday the sky was orange :(
 
Things are holding up well. I actually didn't have school today, because I guess they deemed the smoky air too hazardous for many students (mostly the fact that ash is floating everywhere)... I still had Cross Country practice, though inside the gym.

Everything looks yellow at my house, because of the smoke from the Piru fire. Otherwise, no new developments concerning my house, though last I checked the fire near Stevenson Ranch was very close to jumping the I-5 (which is closed right now).
 

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