Alright, here's a little more info. I live very near Cal State in the area that was evacuated earlier today. We had decided we were heading out as soon as we heard Cal State was being evacuated, but by the time I got back from Hemet, where I was working, to pick her up, the fire was right behind Cal State.

By the time we got our stuff and our two little girls in the car and drove out, we couldn't even see Cal State from the corner of Univeristy and Kendall, which is the next stoplight from the entrance to the university.

After I got my wife and girls down to Rialto, my Dad and I went up to see how things looked, and so I could be on hand to help if any members of my church (or anybody else) needed help evacuating. By that point the hill behind my apartments had completely burned, but the apartments were okay. I'm taking that to mean we're out of trouble, since there's nothing more to burn to bring the fire back to us.

In the meantime, the fire is spreading northwest towards Glen Helen/the area where the Little Leauge regional headquarters is located, and southeast into north Highland. My house is pretty close to all the burned up homes they're showing on the news around 40th st.

When I left for Hemet this morning, I could see almost the entire fire off the side of the mountain from the thirty. The radio said, at that point, it was 20 acres.

When I came back I couldn't even see the sun for the thick layer of dark black smoke that covered everything. It was literally like something out of an apocalyptic movie. As of the last report at incident control, the fires at 6,000 acres. (But if that's as gross an underestimation as the current "50+ homes" report is, we're in trouble).

There are few sites I've seen I will never forget. One is the way the smoke was gushing into the air a block away from me, as I tried to get my wife and kids as far from there as I could.