November 4, 2003
We Are Not Headline News Anymore
Thank you for your support during this stressful fire week. My family is safe, the kids went back to school on Monday, and we never had to evacuate.
The cool, damp, rainy, snowy weather has really helped the firefighters, and nearly all the southern California fires are contained. Containment is a huge step in the right direction, but it doesn't mean the fires are out. The word "containment" was all over the news, but none of us (at our house, anyway) knew exactly what it meant. So I went online (what else did you expect?) and found the National Fire News Glossary of Wildfire Terms, which says:
"Contain a fire: A fuel break around the fire has been completed. This break may include natural barriers or manually and/or mechanically constructed line."
I knew we were over the hump when the wildfires weren't front page news at CNN.com anymore. Whew!
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Posted by Barbara J. Feldman at November 4, 2003 8:02 AM | Comments (1)
Hi Barbara, I have been saving most of your online columns for a while now. As a grandma, I want to have things on hand for my little granddaughters (now 3 and 7). They are not quite into computers yet but I know the day is coming. In the meantime, I have told a couple of young moms about Surfing the Net with Kids.
The reason for my comment this morning is that I am a technical writer in Escondido (we are not too far from the Wild Animal Park), and I had no idea you were a neighbor of sorts. The Paradise fire got close enough for us to watch it on the ridge, and we could see smoke from the Cedar fire that probably looked closer than it was. Given the speed at which it had traveled Sunday morning, however, we felt we had to be concerned about both fires. I was very close to packing the cars when the winds turned. From what you are saying, it sounds like they headed your way. I am so glad we are all finally out of harm's way, and so sorry for the lives lost and the thousands of displaced families.
Regards,
Mary Lee Morgan
