It wasn’t enough that many folks in Southern California were burned out of house and home or at the least evacuated thanks to inadequate response of aid to the area. Hell no, they residents of areas that got treated to the whirlwind visit from Bus today today also got to deal with this:
Rancho Bernardo residents began their journey back home with a surprise today.
They were stuck in traffic for two to three hours sitting in their cars at a standstill because of President Bush’s visit to their community.
Police and the CHP had blocked off Interstate 15 ramps to West Bernardo Drive, which leads to the recovery center that was opened yesterday. Cars lined up for miles on the freeway.
The Santiago fire which forced our own Stuart O’Neill to be evacuated, has been confirmed as arson.
The Santiago Fire in Orange County was started in two places along a little-traveled road, according to Chief Chip Prather of the county’s fire authority.
The fire, which has burned more than 25,000 acres, was started in brush just off Santiago Canyon Road, not close to homes. It spread rapidly, indicating the arsonist had some knowledge of winds and other factors.
“It is a confirmed arson. There was evidence found at the scene. That is the purpose of our early declaration of it being an arson-caused fire,” Prather said. He would not describe the evidence.
Four more bodies have been found in the aftermath of the SoCal fires, raising the “death toll to seven, more than doubling earlier estimates.”
At least 75 people have also been injured in the flames that have consumed about 760 square miles and at least 1,800 homes since the weekend.
Newsweek has a very good piece about how “each catastrophe teaches psychologists more about how the mind copes.” This has been a heartbreaking week here in SoCal. My thoughts and prayers go out to all who have suffered loss when more could have been done.
Oh, and incase you missed it, Dead Eye Dick was caught catching some shuteye during a Cabinet meeting on the wildfires on Wednesday.
Sphere: Related Content
Pamela,
Hope you are not getting smoked out. I heard today that QualCom stadium is evictingt the people who were relocated from the fire areas. There’s a game Sunday…
Yeah, not only did I get my monitor working again, I am back from the job in hell I started in July.
Ginny
Welcome back! Thankfully the smoke isn’t bad in my area.
As for QualCom I guess games trump evacuees and the almighty sports dollar rules. Maybe FEMA wasn’t ponying up enough $$$.