Contents and photos in this web directory at http://www.dtl.net/fire2007/ are copyrighted (C) 2007 Morgan Davis, all rights reserved. Contact me at http://www.dtl.net/contact.php Photo Guide and Updates ======================= October 23, 2007 -- 5AM The first photo (0098) was taken in the afternoon on the 22nd, which is a good "get your bearings" shot as many are all at night. From this vantage point, we are looking southeast, with Mt. Miguel due south of us about 3-4 miles. (See Photo_Origin.jpg) We are high on a hillside with a superb view south, with near 180 degree field from the east (Lyons's Peak, shown at the left) to the west (downtown San Diego and Pt. Loma, not seen here). The next shot (0117) is the same view, but taken just after midnight on the 23rd. At this point, the fire began to move up the south side of Mt. Miguel toward the top and continued to wrap around to the west side over the next several shots. The fire marched westward for a few miles heading toward Sweetwater Reservoir, and the line continued to move in a northward direction as it encircled the mountain. Shots 0143 and 0146 are my son, Ryan, watching with binoculars as the fire then raced up the south and west faces to the top of Mt. Miguel toward much communication gear, support buildings, and antennas. Shot 0169 shows the southern fire line now creeping up over the eastern side of mountain. The remaining shots, taken around 4AM show Mt. Miguel getting swallowed up as the two lines of fire move northward. At 5AM, from my vantage point, the fire has swept over about 65% of Mt. Miguel, and has moved as far west as Sweetwater Reservoir. The top of Mt. Miguel still shows lights blinking on the antennas and it appears that most of the fuel around the top has already been burned. -------------------- October 23, 2007 -- 3PM Additional photos, taken around 7AM, have been added showing the northern face of Mt. Miguel as the fire lines began to meet. The direction of the smoke was moving in a westerly direction at the time. Presently, the visibility has grown extremely poor and most of the mountain cannot be seen, except for smaller fires in the foothills. The wind appears to have reversed direction now and is moving slowly eastward. This is likely bringing back large amounts of smoke that had blown west earlier, contributing to the worsening air quality across our area. ------------------- October 24, 2007 -- 2PM Fires in the foothills burned all day yesterday and into the early morning hours. Currently, they are out. The wind is dead calm now as a pall of smoke hangs in the air. The sunlight casts a pale amber through it. Due to the winds having blown mostly westerly and then reversed, we've had virtually no ash (unlike the Cedar fire.) Word is that the facilities on the top of Mt. Miguel have suffered millions of dollars in damage. As of last night, only one of the towers had its red beacon blinking. We are told that some of the equipment is running on generators or batteries (unconfirmed). There is still too much smoke veiling the mountain to get a good view of the top to make out any real damage yet. ------------------- November 3, 2007 Added photo Channel_29_Transmitter.jpg: Interior of building on top of Mt. Miguel. The pile of stuff in the back, still in the steel racks, was the transmitter of channel 29, a Mexican station. Two of the 8 buildings on the mountain were gutted. -------------------