Added: 4 years ago
From: signonsandiego
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  • Why does that look familiar...

  • My family lives in Rancho Bernardo and Escondido. I grew up in Ramona. My whole family evacuated and though I live in central CA, I remember the worry and the fear when this was happening. Dozens of planes kept flying over our house to southern CA, to help put out the fire. The part in this video that terrifies me the most starts at 0:35, when it pans over to the left, as people are fleeing just as the flames rush on to their property. SO HORRENDOUS!

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  • my next door neighbors on both sides burned. it was terrifying

  • i remember not sleeping for three whole days while this was going on

    I live on pomerado too

  • woah its like a fire hurricane

  • i remeber freaking cuz of my neighbors shouting and banging on doors

    i live by lake hodges so it was some scary shit

  • dude in the beg i think that was my car

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  • i remember getting up at 4 by 911 and it was hell

  • i know it was worst week of my life

  • It was horrifying. . . it was like hell on earth that morning -- literally.

  • Just to set the record straight, we had NO notice! These are my neighbors across the street (we both lost our homes) who called us upon waking up and seeing the fire rushing over their backyard fence! There were no firemen (they were all down on Pomerado Road), 107 mph winds, embers burning our skins and literally 7 - 10 minutes (maybe) to get out. We are all very lucky to be alive. I followed the news all night - when evacuation was given, the fire was already on us..........

  • I'm so sorry about the loss of your home. I too live in San Diego and while we were not evacuated during the Witch fire, it was still scary. The fire never hit my area, but I was afraid it would. I live in San Carlos. During the Cedar Fire we did have to evacuate, but luckily my area did not burn. I can only imagine how scared you were during the Witch fire. They should have given you some prior notice, it's absurd that they didn't.

  • Yea, I live right by you man.. Pomerado Rd. That was one fucked up fire.. My house is ok, but a couple of my friends houses burned down..

  • i live right by there fire burned our backyard fence

  • I lost my fire in Montelena. RB people need to be grateful they got out alive. STOP blaming the firefigthter and the police....nobody knew when or where the fire was originated behind RB...so be grateful and stop acting as spoiled brats.

  • By the way, most firefighters were across the freeway, trying to save 500 elderly in a convelescent home. Our firefighting services are severly underequiped and I would gladly sacrifice my home to make sure the life of another was not taken.

  • FYI - This is the Smith Family evacuating after waking up 10 minutes before. Both boys are fine and we are happily living in the neighborhood again. Looking forward to the rebuilding process and making it better! Remember one thing, this was a close call for us but we did get out with the most important things of all, our two sons! It is only stuff and that can be replaced, lives cannot.

    J. Smith

  • I live at the base of the cross...we ran for our lives...glad you made it out...

  • this was the freakiest day of my life, waking up at 3 A.M. by the reverse 911, and looking at the huge red glow to the north. I will never forget it.

  • Huh? You're profile country says "Belieze" (sp?). Where do you live in San Diego?

  • you know that video could also help in the future if there is another fire it could provide a faster getaway and provide info on what caused the fire and help people rebuild their homes so they wont burn down if this happens again

  • i wonder if mrs Hoppus is ok

  • there shouldn't be so many videos of the fires. that was no time to be videotaping!one man was videotaping a family as they were getting packed and trying to leave. they kept screaming at him to help but all he did was stand there and videotape. seconds after they left their house went up in flames and he got it all on tape now it's on youtube. THE FIRES WERE NOT A TIME TO MAKE A YOUTUBE VID

  • It's utterly amazing that you criticize the videographer for what he was doing after he provided the world a video of being in the eye of a firestorm. Must have been a slow day because you went searching for thins type of video on Youtube. *shakes head* Let me ask you something.. Have you been to the Montelena developement before?? Instead of complaining, go help someone who got burned out sift through the ashes instead of whining over something so miniscule.

  • by the way i did help someone. emily. we did go to her house, or where her house used to be. we did go through the ashes and the only things we found was their safe and an old china doll of hers. don't you dare criticize me for making a statement that it completely true and how dare you pass off my anger as boredom! I WAS IN THAT FIRE OUR HOUSE WAS NEARLY DESTROYED

  • Our house burned to the ground, and we lost everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. The looky lous taking pictures and gawking at our loss was and still is disgusting. While sifting through the ashes so many people would drive by, laughing and giggling while taking pictures with their cell phones.

  • thank u very much outoftherubble

  • Shut your face.

  • WTF's up with youtube? I was replying to hansiege. Not the dude who lost his house.

  • my family and i also live in rb and thankfully our house is okay, but not by much. the fire came very close. The hill behind our house is completely black and my friend emily lost her home. we don't even know if she's coming back to school this year

  • Is this an act of your god? as it seems with all the catastrophies america is getting, he isnt to pleased with you. Now you know how the women and children of iraq felt after you bombed them leaving them surrounded by fire. horrible eh?

  • im so sorry dude hope you recover!!!

  • omg that sucks! the dude pulls out of his house right when it catches fire!

  • :36 to :56 gives me chills

  • I suppressed some of the comments here because they were so wide of the topic, of the content of the vid, that I felt compelled to do so.

    Thanks again for this offering.

    And God Bless, God speed to all who are rebuilding.

  • Oops! Sorry I posted twice. I didn't see my first comment and reposted. My bad.

  • I (Mark Jeannette) shot that tape. I am a freelance video/television producer.

    I shot 23mins of tape in RB that morning,most of that tape will never be shown to the public because it was so chilling and personal. There is 9mins of tape that rolled "accidentally" where we hear my own conversations with my evacuated family,my news dispatcher, the residents of Clousdley Lane, and the SDPD "Mobile Field Force".

    My heart goes out to all the fire victims, we will rebuild!

    Mark

  • Mark.

    Great job, dude.

    My son lives nearby, and his SUV and sedan and garage could easily have been the man in the garage.

    This was the most dramatic and personal of all the videos I saw on the fire.

    I was especially impressed with the cool headed efficiency and deliberate driving away (no rubber peeling) of my fellow San Diegan's.

    Thanks a lot.

    (I sent this vid to my sisters in New Mexico and Arizona and my brother in law in San Fran.)

  • Absolutely chilling footage. As I've said on a couple of other videos, given the speed and timing of this fire, it's amazing the death toll was not higher, especially in RB. But this video illustrates that in a way no words can.

  • We are housing a Montelena resident whose home burned down and we know lots of folks on Lancashire.

    Our friend was woken by a neighbor who screamed a warning before driving away.

    On his way out, our friend called his elderly next door neighbor and left a message on her machine, that was what woke her up.

    So where were the police and firefighters? Where were the bullhorns?

    Those people were left to burn.

  • My house is basically where this shot was taken from. I don't know who shot this video, but I personally am glad this was taken. I had such tunnel vision in my panic to get out, that I never noticed everything going on around me. Until I watched this, I never realized the fire was that close. I've sent this link to countless friends and family so they could witness what we went through. I feel for my neighbors who lost their homes. Ours survived, thanks to the firefighters.

  • I have nothing but the greatest respect for the firefighters, but the firefighters didn't do anything to save any of the homes in Montelena, not a single firefighter was in Montelena before or during that fire.

    We are currently housing a former resident of Montelena whose home burned to the ground and we spent days sifting through the ashes.

    Everything was bone dry. No water was used. Nobody even warned the residents. No reverse 911.

  • Webbwench,

    The current reverse 911 will obviously NOT going to work with the current set up. What i Mean is, when you move from one area and keep your phone number, it throws the entire system off.

    In this case, for RB, let's say the area that houses the 487 numbers needs to be evacuated. They'll send out the call for that prefix, BUT, because the heavy majority of people MOVE and KEEP their number, they'll be moving out of the 487 area, and thus, will make the reverse 911 system moot.

  • How does anyone here criticizing the person taking the video know it was not the homeowner? As it so happens, I personally know several friends who lost their homes in Montelena and The Trails, having lived there for many years. It looked like hell itself was racing over that hill. Thank God almighty they all got out in time. God bless and good luck with your recovery and rebuilding efforts. Hang in there and ignore the haters.

  • Can you arrogant europeans fuck off? Thank you.

  • And mmovmusic, really, c'mon!:D USA "cares" by threatning other countries "iraq" and "free" them for evil. And how that has helped people of iraq. Is it better that saddam killed 300000 ppl than after ur country came there, has been killed nearly million ppl. You wave ur damn flag everywhere. "We are americans, we come in peace." That's the line yankees said to indians. And what happened?:D:D

  • um....im basically saying what you are saying...i just think you are too dumb to understand when someone agrees with you

  • if i'm dump and u agreed with dump...something is wrong, like Usa and the president gwb. but for me, you articulate fuzzily. (second reading: i got your post :P )

  • s1mrs: You talked about ur nation. And NOT everybody rebuild homes who have lost them like u said ( WE WILL..).

  • Friss99

    Yes, im talking about the individual people of the usa. 3000 homes have been rebuilt after the 2003 san diego fires.

    and druing this current fire the evac centers were turning away volunteers because they had TOO many people wanting to help.

    100s of people spent nights in walmart parking lots and walmart gave out free waters, tents, chairs etc.. to everyone.

    to the 1000s of people at the evac centers, pizza & food companies delivered free food all day long.

  • Friss99

    Dont Judge all of us americans by the actions of our government. would you like to be judged by the actions of your government?

    our great country was founded on freedom and a small government directly accountable to the people. you can live and believe what ever you want to. that is how our country became great.

    total freedom in the individuals hand.

    I cant become mexican or italian or russian or chinese. But, ANYONE can become American.

  • for the last 60+ years our government has been making great strides restricting and removing our original freedoms. (F. Roosevelt imposing massive manditory programs on everyone, Nixon abusing high office power, Clinton banning & restricting guns & the 5th amendment, Bush growing the size & power of government etc.)

    now its completly out of touch & no longer represents the people, & is too powerful 4 the people to restrain it.

    our freedoms r being taken from us piece by piece.

  • however, we STILL have a high level of personal freedoms in America. we wish ALL peoples of the world as much freedom as possible.

    most people desire freedom, while their governments desire power and control.

    the trick is, keeping your government from gaining too much power and control for as long as possible.

    we americans succeeded at it for 150+ years.

    but its people like u who criticize us average Americans & then turn a blind eye 2 idiot governments restricting our GOD given freedoms.

  • 4real, i'm not criticizing You. Just ur goverment. But how dare u say that "we americans succeeded at it for 150+ years." first of all, What about the native AMEricans. they have haven't practically rights at all. You shouldn't say we because obviously u are european american, and then theres still native and african americans who haven't seen any rights and practically don't have even today. peace:P

  • U dont know much about america.

    or u would know that native & african americans have more "rights" than anyone n the usa. havnt you heard of affirmative action? what about the 100s of casinos n california, is there even ONE owned by a white person?

    no enslaved indians or africans n america. we banned that european practice 100+ years ago. not 2 mention indians & africans enslaved their own people long before america did.

    if ignorance is bliss,you must b the happiest person on the planet.

  • yeah. Native americans don't have anything else to make money. why then they are poorest citizens in us? when they have lived there much longer. btw stop saying "america did.." because i think u live in usa?:D Native americans enslaving were way different than your, european americans. For example they didn't slaughter innocent (europeans) people without reason. Are you european americans just too blind to see distress of the minor citizens or whaat?

  • Your still ignorant of american history and current events. indians did brutally war with other indians. its in the nature of all humans on the planet.

    and by the way, indians are NOT the poorest of americans. your knowledge of america is about 50 years old.

    i have 2 indian friends who (besides their regular jobs) make $40,000 and $70,000 per year from their tribe, just for being indian.

  • yeah. Native americans don't have anything else to make money. why then they are poorest citizens in us? when they have lived there much longer. btw stop saying "america did.." because i think u live in usa?:D Native americans enslaving were way different than your, european americans. For example they didn't slaughter innocent (europeans) people without reason. Are you european americans just too blind to see distress of the minor citizens or whaat?

  • yeah. Native americans don't have anything else to make money. why then they are poorest citizens in us? when they have lived there much longer. btw stop saying "america did.." because i think u live in usa?:D Native americans enslaving were way different than your, european americans. For example they didn't slaughter innocent (europeans) people without reason. Are u european americans just too blind to see distress of the minor citizens or whaat?

  • Native americans don't have anything else how to make money. why then they are poorest citizens in us? when they have lived there much longer. btw stop saying "america did.." because i think u live in usa?:D Native americans enslaving were way different than your, european americans. For example they didn't slaughter innocent (europeans) people without reason. Are u european americans just too blind to see distress of the minor citizens or what?

  • yeah. Native americans don't have anything else to make money. why then they are poorest citizens in us? when they have lived there much longer. btw stop saying "america did.." because i think u live in usa?:D Native americans enslaving were way different than your, european americans. For example they didn't slaughter innocent (europeans) people without reason. Are you european americans just too blind to see distress of the minor citizens or whaat?

  • I marked a couple of your posts as spam because this is not a political forum here.

    Take your business somewhere else, please.

  • I don't know where the hell you guys have been, but I live in Westwood, probally one of the hardest area hit. And not only did the police check to make sure EVERYONE on our street was out of their homes, but the fireman was able to save ALL our house except one. And the only reason why the fireman were unable to save the house, was because the attic was on fire and the building was collapsing.

  • No, it's not "only the houses that burned out". It was our lifetimes of memories, never to be replaced, that got destroyed.

    It's so easy to trivialize a tragedy when it's not your own.

  • this looks awfully like my street in montelena. i barely escaped with my life, and my house was destroyed. i never received an evacuation call or any kind of warning. neither did anyone else in montelena. i know for a fact not a single fire truck came to my street. forget the properties; they didn't even bother waking people, sounding a siren, calling on a bullhorn or even honking that obnoxious fire engine horn. NOTHING. they left us to die. we got out by sheer luck.

  • This footage is incredibly eerie and very sad. My heart goes out to the victims of these fires. Additionally, I hope, that So. Californians, and their politicians can use this tragedy to help raise consciousness about global warming. I have lived in So. Cal, and So. Californians are among the least environmentally conscious people in the state. It is time to use more public transit and carpool, and recycle more...or such disasters will continue to exist.

  • pomerado rd is in miramar rite?

  • Okay 1st off; no one died in Rancho Bernardo but many people lost their homes, including me. There was no warning. And no one was left behind to die. There have been 14 deaths reported but most of them were from smoke inhalation. There were two people in Poway that died in their house, but not because no one warned them.

  • This is more terrifying to watch then all the news stuff, which just filled the screen with flames.

  • how many people were left behind?

    did no one try to tell the people to get out??

  • I lived through this. Everyone got out in time.

  • This neighborhood, where my son lives, is a very

    family oriented and friendly neighborhood. My son went door to door to those homes on his neighborhood where he wasn't sure they got the word(no lights on in house) (at about 0410). It was actually before the reverse 911s went out I think.

    About two blocks south of Cloudsly. His house survived, but three directly across the street from his did not.

  • Insane... the police seemed to be there in the beginning. How come everything was quiet? No sirens - where are the firefighters? the bullhorns? are they sipping coffee somewhere watching RB burn because I heard this is what they get for not voting yes on that tax initiative. Read the SD Union Trib Forum. That's insanely close.

  • If it is out of the boundary, the other firefighters may not be able to help and all they could do is watch from behind their boundary. A SD county fire dept will help solve this boundary problem so that all of SD are served.

  • Since when did RB get "out of the boundary"?! RB is well within SD county and is every bit entitled to every service the city provides. We sure as hell pay for it.

  • If the resources are lacking or inadequate, this can become a problem. You have many firefighters with no adequate equipment.

  • The people who could not get out, and died, is the perfect example of the self centered society, where folks are connected to world but not with their neighbors.

  • well say

  • I live in this neighborhood. NOBODY got a reverse 911 call in Montalana or Vista Del Lago. Westwood got reverse 911 calls at 8:30, after the neighborhood already got hit.

    For those who think they left at the last minute, they had zero warning. I woke up at 4am, looked outside and my hillside was on fire.

    To the cameraman. You should be ashamed. People in that neighborhood did NOT get out alive and you could have honked the horn to wake them up but instead you chose to roll video.

  • No one in Montalena perished. The videographer is providing valuable evidence as to how the Cloudsley homes were destroyed which can be used in future reconstruction of the development as to fireproofing of the sloped grades to the East. As a former resident of Wessex Dr, I can say this area is not immune from fire. The burning of Battle Mountain seventeen years ago is case in point.

  • I disagree. People did perish maybe not in montalena, but in other parts of SD. Cameramen should be held accountable for such actions. If those people died, you wouldn't have the same opinion.

  • I am in Westwood and got the reverse 911 call at 0430 hrs. My neighbors who have cable phone service did not get the early call, but I went door to door.

    My question is why wasn't there anything on TV or the internet past 0100 hrs. that told where the fire was going. TV ran infomercials until ~0400! And 211 online said "Update at 0700". What's that about?

    From that time on, the coverage was wall to wall, which is good, but what happened in the early hours as the fire spread west????

  • The cameraman was basically standing in front of my house for these shots. I for one am glad this video was taken. I had tunnel vision in my panic to get out, I never saw the fire across the street from me until I saw this video. Maybe he could have tried to help more, but in a way, he did help by capturing the whole scene. It all happened so fast, I never saw what was going on around me. I've sent this link to countless friends and family so they can witness what I went through.

  • dumme1981

    I have been evacuated for 5 days. All of San Diego is dealing with this disaster 1000 times better than those in other recent disasters.

    We Americans built the greatest country on the planet in less than 150 years. We will rebuild the homes lost and will continue to build lives of fun, enjoyment, love and prosperity.

    But thanks for your dim witted comments. It sounds like you've done a good job becoming angry. I hope that attitude works out for you.

  • u build? Let's say you killed and deprive lands of others. Your country has been build with blood. lives of fun enjoyment etc. that's your one of biggest problem. You buy big cars and stuff like that and don't care of other people unless they aren't people whitch your government have praised up with this damn patriotism/natzism.

  • Yes, for the past 16 years I have helped build homes in America & in Mexico for people who do not have enough $ or means to do so. Right now my business is providing its services for free to any of those who have lost their homes just as we did at the last disaster in '03. It cost my business $1000s, but it is the right thing 2 do.

    U don't even know me. Yet u accuse me of killing, stealing, buying "big" cars & not "caring" for others.

    Maybe your stupid comments will help me learn how 2 "care".

  • that is capitol wild.

  • For those of you who are sceptics, you are witnessing something very real. A child is being strapped into a car seat by his father while the mother is packing bags and throwing them out the house door towards the cars in their garage. Additionally, this family did not receive a reverse 911 call. I believe that people should be focusing on how to help those affected by the fires versus making negativie assumptions as illustrated in a few comments posted below.

  • @sdlightsoutgirl

     i was ther wen it happend i had to evacuate

  • That's terrifying, I feel for all those people.

  • I'm sorry if I sound ignorant.. but where are all these people evacuating to?

  • Just about everywhere in Southern CA.  My family went to stay with relatives in LA. Some people went to stay with friends who were only 10 or 15 miles away, but in a relatively safe area.

  • to qualcom staduim...

  • Qualcome, Del mar fair grounds, and just random schools.

  • I grew up in Westwood for years, and now live in 4s Ranch. I woke up in the morning at about 5:00am and saw the Trails burning on the news. I watched from about 5am to 6pm as the fire devastated Rancho Bernardo and Rancho Santa Fe. In less then 13 hours it caused THAT much damage just in this small area.

  • My heart goes out to these people. I really don't know what to say to even make an accurate or meaningful comment on this. This has said it all for the last few days here.

  • Good job on showing this reality dude. Could have easily been one of my sons getting their stuff together and bailing out at the last moment. Awesome representation of what it was like. Did you lose your home?

  • this video is heart wrenching and horrifying and i get a rush of adrenaline just watching it. it's scary to see what would happen if you did not heed the evacuation warnings - it appears as though these residents did not.

  • its not that they didnt heed it

    wouldnt u stay at the last minute to gather up all that you can

    you have to think

    YOU ARE LOOSING A PART OF YOUR LIFE, YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS

    WOULDNT U WAIT BEHIND UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE?

  • i understand. it also must be horrible if you have to leave on short notice. maybe it doesnt apply to this neighborhood, but i was just thinking about how some people defied the evacuations and put their lives and other peoples lives in danger. i guess it's impossible to know what it's like until you are in that situation. would i be able to make that judgement call: to decide what's more important, leaving your property behind or putting your life in danger.

  • what part of RB is this o__O?

  • This is The Trails and Montalena.

  • whew, close. I lost the house I geew up in in RB. good luck you all of us, and I hope your homes make it.

  • Same here for my kids. It makes me sick.

  • let he who is without sin cast the first stone

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