FIRE - update 9:00pm

Ok, here are some photos I took today after work. The first picture was taken from my back yard. It is looking west as the sun went down. It really was that orange outside. Kind of creepy, huh? It was smoky and there was a lot of ash in the air. These next two pictures are of one view of San Marcos, traveling north on Twin Oaks Valley Road. We live just up this road a bit further north than you can see in this picture. I wanted to show the smoke level over this part of San Marcos. Right at the bottom of this hill are a bunch of apartments and California State University San Marcos. The University (CSUSM) has been closed for this week. It's weird since there wasn't much traffic on the road when I was and it was even 5:30pm- rush hour. The Coronado Hills fire, the one that is now 100% contained, was up on the hill to the right in this picture. In the next picture, you can almost see the burnt areas near the road. Most of the fire was was up on the mountain. I couldn't stop to take a picture because the road is so steep and I didn't want to get in trouble with the Sheriff by being a looky-loo. This picture was taken looking west. I was at the top of the hill on Twin Oaks Valley Road. To the north (previous picture) is the City of San Marcos, and this picture is the community of San Elijo Hills, a community of about 3,000 homes on the south side of Mt. Whitney. No, not THE Mt. Whitney, the San Marcos Mt. Whitney. :) Anyhoo, this picture was enhanced. I used the sunset setting on my camera to bring out the colors of the hills and the sky. This sky is so smoky. I love how it makes for beautiful sunsets, but then again, it is smoke. Here is the road heading north on Twin Oaks Valley Road. The two hills that look like a part of a woman's anatomy (Did you know it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month? It was a cheap plug, but I'll take what I can get.) is where the Coronado Hills fire was. Parts of San Elijo Hills were evacuated because they were afraid the fire would jump the road and race through the canyon towards La Costa and on into Encinitas through San Elijo Hills. This is another view of the same mountains just to show the smoke coming from the east. Just beyond Coronado Hills to the east, is Harmony Grove. Harmony Grove is a very wooded homes area and the fire was very close when I took the picture. All the residents of Harmony Grove were evacuated. The next picture was taken in Escondido. I wanted to see if I could see the flames from the Witch Creek fire as it moved up Palomar Mountain but all I got was smoke. Palomar Mountain is east of San Marcos. Palomar has been the victim of many fires. It's just so sad to see it burning again. Tonight the fire is blazing on the mountain. The fire is on the ridge of the mountain and looks like a glowing snake. I can't resist taking pictures of the sun going down in all this haze. Such pretty colors. The last picture was taken while driving west on the 78 near the 15. You can see the smoke above and below the yellow haze. That's all I have for now. I don't think I will have any pictures of the actual fire. I hope I don't, anyways. If I get pictures of flames, it will because the Witch Creek fire has gone through Harmony Grove and up Coronado Hills again.