Another outstanding source of information. This time for the San Diego fires. This map comes courtesy of KPBS in San Diego. Click on the link below the map for a larger view of the map.


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Tags: fire, google, mashup, visualization, california, san diego county

One of the fires currently out of control in Southern California is about 5 miles directly north from our home. Called the Santiago Fire, it was started by an arsonist. The Orange County Register is maintaining an outstanding Google Map of the fire's progress. What's more, each of the points denoted on the map provides a wealth of information.


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Many thanks to the OC Register for maintaining this great source of information.

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Tags: fire, orange county, google, mashup, california

As a Southern California native, I have seen my share of fires, but this year is different. Every year it is the same week -- the week before Halloween. As of this writing, there are 16 major fires burning in Southern California, all fueled by some of the driest weather I can remember, coupled by 90+ degree temperatures and of course, very strong Santa Ana winds (in excess of 80 mph gusts in some areas).
The closest fire to us, the Santiago fire, is about 10 miles due north from us and was started yesterday early evening by an arsonist.

Below is a Google Map maintained by the Orange County of all the active fires.


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And after the jump (click "read more..." below), you can see an amazing image captured by a NASA satellite today of Southern California. Read More...

Tags: fire, google, mashup, visualization, nasa, california, orange county

Today, the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) held their annual Open House. With two boys that eat, drink and think all things fire fighting, today was all about visiting stations and of course the main training facility of the OCFA. While there, we saw a couple of demonstrations -- a car extrication and a fast attack. The photograph below was shot during the car extrication demonstration conducted by the crew from Truck 9.



To see a version of this panorama you can pan around within, head over to my full screen panorama page.

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Tags: qtvr, photography, panoramic, fire, orange county

Frontier Street Fire - Trabuco Canyon, California: April 2002

There is nothing quite like getting a call from a friend while you are 5,000 miles from home to find out there is a big fire in your neighborhood. Great work by the Orange County Fire Authority saved our whole neighborhood.

[ View: See this image of the Frontier Street Fire in fullscreen ]

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Tags: qtvr, panoramic, travel, fire, bridge