Yes, we're still here. We are packed and ready to evacuate but the number of safe havens is shrinking as the size of the fires continues to grow.
Rather than address a host of questions individually I'll try to give you a snapshot of the Big Picture.
The key is the wind velocity. Measured at over 60mph here in San Diego county, it topped 100mph farther north.
The second critical factor combines temperature and relative humidity. It has been over 80F (and getting warmer) and the humidity has been in single digits, as low as 4%. Under those conditions it is fair to assume that the fire has an UNLIMITED supply of fuel. When pushed by even a moderate breeze it makes it extremely difficult to apply traditional fire-fighting techniques, especially if your resources are limited, as are ours.
Now INCREASE that breeze to gale-force; a wind so strong that it grounds everything but a wide-body. Now the fire is advancing so rapidly so rapidly that even with all the resources in the world it becomes IMPOSSIBLE to get in front of it and create a fire-break it can't jump - - the flames are 100 feet high and the skipped across a ten-lane freeway (I-15) as easily as a child playing hop-scotch.
As the velocity of the wind increased it became increasingly erratic, partly because of the hilly terrain cut by canyons, but also because of the fire itself, creating thermal updrafts of sufficient velocity to deflect the wind in a manner impossible to predict.
Then there is the fact that 'wind' is NOT transparent. It is an opaque mass of smoke containing a witches brew of embers and chemical irritants.
Without aerial assets it was impossible to determine the exact location and path of the fire-front, let alone stage any effort to suppress it using water or fire retardant.
Four years ago San Diego county was unlucky enough to suffer the effects of two such fires (code named CEDAR and PARADISE), which burned about 400,000 acres and resulted in 17 deaths. This time the authorities didn't wait to declare mandatory evacuations. Doing so put hundreds of thousands of people on the roads which created a whole new set of problems but it was the right decision. The fires continue to spread and there can be no effective containment until the wind abates.
Your messages are warmly appreciated, as are the offers of assistance. For the time being we are safe if a bit crowded, the kids (and grandkids) sheltering here since evacuating their home in Rancho Bernardo. If it burns, so be it - - we won't be here to see it go up. And I know how to build houses as well as airplanes :-)
-Bob Hoover