VERY USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT

Jon Vick and Lael Montgomery have left the evacuation center and drove around in the Pauma area and filed the following report:

Dear Everyone,
Jon and I left the VC High School evacuation center this morning and are spending the day at home on McNally Road.
We've just returned from a reconnaisance mission to PV. We drove down Cole Grade Road and along Rte 76 in both directions covering the from a few miles west of the Pauma Indian Reservation and then east to the Pauma Store. At the Pauma Store we found chikcen breasts and a Forest Ranger. We also drove earlier this morning around 8A to the Pauma Valley Security Building at (just about) the corner of Cole Grade Road and Route 76 and met up with Augie at PV Security.

Here's what we saw and what the ranger and Augie told us.

The Valley floor -- on both sides of the road -- is NOT BURNED. Orchards are green, TY Nursery is green. Sam's Mountain up to the water tower is green, trees around the water tower are green. We saw no fire damage on the south side of Rte 76 between these two points. The Pauma Casino is fine. PVCC is fine. The San Luis Re river bed is fine. The farm is fine. Pretty much up to the first ridge line on the north side of Rte. 76 is green. The air is clearer than it was this morning. This morning we couldn't see the hills to the north of Rte 76.

Fires are burning though in spots about 1/2 mile north of the 76. The ranger told us that the fire was burning slowly now (at 1PM) along NORTH MESA ROAD. There is little to no wind. The ranger said that "they" are feeling that the wind has shifted; it is now blowing from the ocean, sending what remains of the fire back up the mountain into an area that has already burned. They are, he said, not worried about this section of Pauma Valley at this point. BUT, should the wind change the situation is still volatile.

There were (at 1PM) no air planes or heliocopters dousing these pockets of flame. The ranger told us that there are some ground crews up on the ridges. The ranger also said that some houses were lost on Quail (Road?) several days ago. He did not know the status of homes on South Mesa Road.

We saw Augie earlier today. He said pretty much the same thing AND that people would NOT be allowed back into PVCC until "Friday or Saturday." We've heard about "armed" National Guard folks at all the entrances to PV and VC but haven't seen them first hand.

South of Route 76 -- between Pauma Casino and Pauma Valley Country Club, is unburned. This is the only area we covered ourselves.