Friday, December 8, 2017

25 race horses burned up and firefighter was thrown through the air by exploding propane tank at lilac fire

When they tried to release as many race horses as possible at San Luis Rey race track because of the fire about 40 ran away down the roads but 25 I guess were either caught and burned up by the fire and couldn't get loose or got scared and panicked and burned up. Also, a firefighter was blown through the air when a propane tank blew up from the explosion and his arm was dislocated but a medic put his shoulder back in place so he could use his arm again. The winds are driving the embers so fast on this fire and as of 11 pm the winds are picking up again and driving the embers and fires very quickly into Oceanside. I'm worried that street after street might be burned up going into Oceanside by morning because of the dry and windy conditions.

I had been driving through a fire trying to escape it a few years ago in Santa Barbara when gas lines exploded (not a propane tank which is even more dangerous) but when the gas main exploded in front of one of the houses I was driving by it shot flames 12 to 15 feet into the air like a geyser of burning natural gas. At that point I realized I couldn't get through because it was too dangerous on that road and had to turn around. But, I didn't know another way out of the fire to safety. I drove with a friend to the nearest Fire Station but they were evacuating the fire station because it was going to burn down too. But, luckily before they closed the station one of the firemen told me there was still one safe route out that wasn't on fire so we escaped in my wife's Lexus. But, she was mad at me because her Lexus was almost new and smelled like smoke for a few months after our near death experience with the fire. She was luckily already in a place of safety so she didn't have to experience this too.

Fire departments are very worried because of winds and flying embers moving so quickly that this fire could easily (The Lilac fire) burn all the way through Oceanside to the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

One of the worst spreaders of this fire are the Palm trees which when lit throw thousands of embers from top to bottom for acres through the winds and start newer fires as the wind takes them closer to the Pacific Ocean on the winds.

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