Any caches lost in the California bushfires?

[+Zork V]

LATEST: At least 16 wind-driven wildfires are burning from the Mexican border to areas north of Los Angeles, forcing more than half a million people from their homes on the third day of fire calamity.

[+boda]

Not yet. I'm on fire watch for my house right now. Fortunately, I anticipate the fire will stay away, but it is slowly headed this way. We are vunerable for two fires. One of them is the Arrowhead fire which can come straight south and get some of my caches along the way. The other, the Slide fire, just ran through Running Springs, and has crested the ridge overlooking our valley just to the east. Both fires have been destroyed over 100 houses each.

 

BTW, my daughter-in-law evacuated her Del Mar/San Diego apartment yesterday. With close to a million people evacuated at this time, we are grateful that we should be safe. That may change in the next few hours, however.

 

Believe me, a lot of caches are gone, and we think about them sometimes, but my thoughts quickly change to the cachers, and other friends, who are presently at risk. Keep them in your thoughts.

[+elmuyloco5]

Boda: I hope your house will be ok. My sister-in-law's home is there as well and they are packed and ready to go if they have to. It's such a shame that this happens so frequently. The house we're living in was rebuilt after a wildfire 5 years ago that took out almost the entire town (400 houses burned down.....it's a small town). Luckily, we were not here when it happened, but the environment is still struggling to recover. I'm sure the fires in CA will increase the damages come mudslide time this year as the vegetation won't be there to help combat the erosion. I wish you all the best and that the fires will die down soon.

[+boda]

Thank you. A few hours later, the winds changed and the humidity started to rise. At daylight the helicopters and tanker aircraft really attacked the fires and they are mostly contained now. There are still fires raging in the Orange County and San Diego area and I have noticed some posters from those areas have been silent. I hope all is well with them.

 

You, too, have a history with fires and you know that it is not over when the fire is out. The mudslides and loose rock caused by a lack of vegetation closed most of the mountain roads for quite awhile after our fires four years ago (much worse in this area than the two current fires). In fact, 14 people were killed in a fire-related flood just after those fires.

[+simpjkee]

I would like to see this thread stay on topic. I, like the OP, am curious to hear if any cachers in the San Diego area have checked on, maintained, or archived caches that have been affected by the brushfires.

[+stoneswivel]

I would like to see this thread stay on topic. I, like the OP, am curious to hear if any cachers in the San Diego area have checked on, maintained, or archived caches that have been affected by the brushfires.

On-topic is good. However, we may need to be patient. Those best able to respond meaningfully are likely involved with the mundanity of securing/recovering loved ones and property more important than ammo cans.

[+"we two want to play too"]

In the regional forums, San Diego has its own thread.

 

Alot of info about evacuations, links to burn area maps, etc....

 

Many caches are also listed and some enterprising person came up with a program that links caches in burn areas with Google Earth.

 

Some discussion going on about archiving versus disabling.

 

Seems after the fires a couple of years ago, some area were closed off to caching to allow nature a chance to recover. This may happen again.

[+NoWhining]

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...3b-3bd1d1e503bc

 

Our 'Wonder Where This Road Goes' cache has been lost. Just recovered the container.

 

We'll have to see what happens as far as archiving vs. disabling.

 

NoWhining though, this is a minor loss compared to others.

[+TrailGators]

Many of us in San Diego have lost caches. Most of the burned parks are off-limits until further notice for obvious reasons. To be honest, it's trivial to even worry about caches at this point when so many people have lost their homes.

[+NoWhining]

Many of us in San Diego have lost caches. Most of the burned parks are off-limits until further notice for obvious reasons. To be honest, it's trivial to even worry about caches at this point when so many people have lost their homes.

 

It is indeed trivial.. We can only hope that our greatest losses are a few caches.

 

Here's a picture of the burned out cache.

 

http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/displa...9d2a739ceee.jpg

 

It was really interesting to find the spiral on the log with just the lead of a pencil left in it.

 

On a more positive note, I drove over to another unaffected cache in the area and saw a family of ducks swimming in a pool of the creek. Nature continues to survive.