The latest fire in San Diego County, in Southern California, burned 400,000 acres of land reducing 1300 homes to the ground. The President declared a state of emergency and mass evacuation was forces as the fire spread across San Diego, Long Beach, Malibu, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Burbank and Santa Barbara.
Well, like all natural disasters the San Diego Wildfire has probably by now taken complete control over the space on your television, newspapers, magazines, & even your computer. If you're annoyed at being so bombarded by information about the fire-here's something interesting for you. Statistics reveal that 7 out of ten wildfires are caused strictly by human activities. The wind (Santa Ana, in this case) only plays its role in spreading the fire.
Crazy as it is that a single human act can cause such a natural disaster, there is hardly anything you can do about it!!
Every year a number of people migrate to California in United States. The number of immigrants to California increased from 1.3 million to 8 million between 1990 to1995 and further increased by a few more millions in 2000. That's a whooping number of people in one state!
In October 2003, a wildfire originating near San Diego engulfed 273,000 acres and destroyed around 4000 structures. The 2003 fire claimed 15 lives. The San Diego fire was one of 15 fires that started around the region. The cause of the fires was a hunter!!
In November 1993, Malibu Los Angeles witnessed a fire resulting from arson. The fire burned for two weeks and killed 25 people. Other devastating fires in the California region include the San Francisco Bay fire of October 1991, San Bernardino Mountain foothills fire of November 1980, San Diego mountain fire of September 1970 and Los Angeles national forest fire of November 1966.
Well there is hardly anything you can do about stopping people camping in the woods from lighting fires. The firefighters are doing their bit in stopping the fire. What you can do for yourself and your family is have a evacuation kit ready especially for forced situations like this. And, that includes:
Social Security Numbers and Identity Cards. Also throw in your documents-legal, educational, medical-whatever is most important. By the way, don't forget your insurance papers. That often turns out to be the most important.
Take your time to note down the most important contact names, addresses, and contact numbers.
Apart from this you would of course put a first aid kit, hi-calorie food, water, flash lights, and blankets.
Keep this evacuation kit ready and handy for just such a situation. This is about what you can do apart from cursing the government, the TV channels, and specters of hunters in forests.
