San Diego Smoke Has Gone, but Still the Damage Remains

On Saturday October 27th, 2007 you could see the blue skies of San Diego once again after a week of wildfire damage. This natural disaster has created mayhem, destruction, sadness, death, and sorrow. So many families and people have lost their homes, love ones, and there certainy. However with this natural disaster came a wave of hope and unity when the community of San Diego came together in rescue and evacuation efforts. The wildfires in San Diego has affected each citizen. It has affected all the brave men and women fire fighters who worked long hours to prevent and stop the fires from spreading more. It has affected all the members of the police force that moved quickly as possible in trying to evacuate everyone in the areas of the fires. It has also affected all the public agencies and volunteers who spent hours and hard working making sure the evacuees of the fire had a safe place to go to and the materials to be okay.

This disaster has shown the kindness and generousity of people and that when everyone works together quickly and efficiently there is always hope. I’ve heard alot of people and the media compare this natural disaster to the Katrina disaster and so far this disaster may have been as big as Katrina but not as devastating because everyone was working together in a safer, quick way to get people out of harms way. The death toll of the fires does not compare to Katrina. However alot of people and families did lose there homes just like Katrina. Water damage may be completely different from fire damage but the thing that they have in similar is that time can fix them eventually.

So now the smoke clouds are gone but time can only tell how all this damage will be fixed. It may take several years for all the people who lost there homes to recover from the damage the fire has created. However we must give hope the like when the fires happened people will unit to fix these damages and rebuild homes and lives. Many insurance angencies are being sympathetic to the victims of the fires and are trying to be more opening to the needs of them. FEMA also seems more willing and ready to help the victims of the wildfires. Hopefully unlike Katrina they will be more organized and helpful. One thing that needs to be remebered is that even though the fire is out, the damage still needs to be repaired and that will take alot more time to do.

My heart goes out to all the people and families affected by the wildfires. I also want to give a big THANK YOU to all the brave FIRE FIGHTERS that worked non-stop for us. I know they also faced there own hardships by being in extreme heat for hours, and breaking in really bad quality air, and I know that many of them worked through it even being exhausted. Thank you again… I also want to thank police, public agency workers, government workers, media crews, and volunteers.. They also should be commended for all their efforts..