Line Fire update from Big Bear Lake Sept 10th 9:30am

Big Beer Lake September 10th at about 9:30 a.m. out here in the lake the wind has started to kick up just started about 15 20 minutes ago out here just taking a quick little paddle to get a better view before we go back to our house house and uh watch and wait and see what the best thing to do is based on if they call I should say if or when they call the full evacuation order right now currently as of about 345 yesterday there Sid at about 3:45 yesterday they called the evacuation watch or warning which is to give everyone ample time to prepare to leave if need be pack up all their belongings and also give folks who are caretakers for the elderly or the elderly themselves as well as folks with livestock larger animals give them time to get out and uh be ahead of the rush so in 2003 during the old fire we were residents up here 21 years ago just like we are now full-timers and this was before social media before smartphones before a lot of the ability to access information through various resources on line as well as social media and it was the same situation where there was a lot of people in the valley waiting to see if we were going to have an evacuation order after the evacuation notice and then just like this uh Vine fire scenario we were uh all seeming to leave at the same time and there was only one ESS open Highway 18 going down to lern Valley currently that is the case the front way 18 and 330 are fully closed have been for a few days as is the case with Highway 38 so we are all going to be going down the same way Highway 18 to lern Valley and in 2003 we waited till the last minute my wife was a reporter on Channel 6 which is a now defun TV station up here in Big Bear and she was doing her best to report but basically everyone found out about the evacuation full um Valley Wide at the same time through uh kbhr which is the radio station that was the main source other than Channel 6 for the information on the Fire and everyone left and it took 4 hours to get down the hill to lern Valley it was bumper-to-bumper traffic and it seems like there's a lot of people who have not left yet we just drove through town it seems to be somewhat business as usual with landscapers Landscaping people coming and going but there is a lot less traffic I must say as well as a lot of business is being closed so at this point I think uh after we're done out here on the lake which is only going to be for a few more minutes we're going to go back home and uh watch and wait but maybe beat the uh Rush by leaving before the majority of uh the residents and people up here do there are in fact from what I could see um a few of the houses that are rentals uh with guests checked in that are still here so it's not just residents it's also folks who are up here trying to get their vacation in which I don't blame them you know if it's not fully blocked off then might as well give it a shot but at the same time if they're not ready to go at a moment's notice that is quite foolish and uh fool hearty to think about about uh their safety and their family safety as well as the additional traffic on the road that will make things further complicated so the line fire is I think at about 26,000 Acres as of this morning we have not gotten a Morning Report yet but what we're waiting for is that via the resources that are available online I can post more about that in the uh description here once I'm back at my house and in regards to where the fire is it's uh down into the Bear Creek drainage area and that drainage is what runs directly up to the Far West End of Big Bear at the Big Bear Dam and from there as they say where water flows air goes and with these winds expected to pick up this afternoon and into the evening so even a 50 mph gust reported uh forecasted um we're not joking around this is going to be a very volle situation and things could change at a moment's notice plus there could be a fire that breaks out um in another area that would further complicate to things right now Southern California is uh dealing with many fires including a couple of uh other large ones um I can't say that this is the largest one or the one that has the most Focus but I think it is currently threatening the most structures um so they're hitting it with all they can with uh I think upwards of 2,000 Personnel I'm not sure how many tankers and engines and uh dozers are on the uh scene right now but um it's been increasing throughout the days since this fire broke out uh middle of uh last week and it started off so small down in Highland mainly threatening the houses in Highland and then quickly grew to 700 and 1,700 then 177,000 acres and um stalled out a little bit because of the uh rain we had which was very much a wonderful thing but now um with uh the rain gone away the humidity down low again and these winds picking up and forecasting to be even stronger as the day goes on it's turning into a very very scary situation that uh we must monitor by the minute and um as a result it's probably best for people to uh consider leaving early before it's um the time when the majority of people will be leaving after the evacuation the full evacuation notice is given I'm not predicting that this will happen I don't have Crystal Ball I don't know what's going to happen but at the same time from my experience back in 2003 during the old fire I have a little bit of insight on what could happen so for now um thank you firefighters thank you First Responders thank you for everyone that's working on this and keeping us as safe as possible and um to all the residents of Big Bear stay safe do the right thing don't stay behind and uh get off the hill so we're not in the way of the uh firefighters if the fire truly is going to get into Big Bear this is going to be devastating but we can only pray and hope and uh think good thoughts and send Good Vibes for now for now this is Daniel and uh we'll see you later at the next report