During the 2004 San Diego wildfires I lived in Chula Vista, so I wasn't in the danger zone. The 2006 San Diego wildfires I was in New York for my brother’s wedding. My husband, was at our condo in Mira Mesa, and strategized with me what he should bring if he had to evacuate. But yesterday was the first time I really experienced directly the effects of an urgent situation. At 3:40 pm I was in Spring Valley in a home when the electricity went out. I assumed this family just blew a breaker. I went outside and saw a small fire on Dictionary Hill and assumed, this must be the issue. As I drove to the freeway I heard on the radio people all over San Diego County had lost power. Not only San Diego county, but El Centro, Arizona, Baja California and parts of Orange County. I turned my radio to a Los Angeles station and they were business as usual. I became fearful because I was very low on gas. I tried to stop at a gas station, but they were closed. If my car runs out, I thought, how can I get help? You see, both my work and personal cell phone could not make calls or texts. It was extremely hot. I was also worried about the stop lights out. I was nervous there would be car accidents and injuries to others. On the radio they advised people be courteous. They also stated they could not reach San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to see the cause of this outage.
My baby was at daycare. My husband was supposed to pick him up, but I had no way to reach either of them. I drove home to discover no parking spots in my condo complex. I parked on the street and walked home. I decided to stop and talk to my neighbors. They let me borrow their car so I could go get my son. I was finally able to reach my husband. I told him I would get the baby. He was stuck in horrible traffic. It had taken him an hour to get out of the parking structure at work. When everyone’s electricity goes out, everyone gets off work at the same time. As I was driving to get Des the radio broadcasted a press conference by SDG & E. They stated the outage was caused by a “severed” system in Arizona which caused all the other systems to crash. It was asked several times—Is this an act of terrorism? Perhaps because of being so close to 9/11 anniversary, perhaps because we feel like turtles on our back without power, this was a common response from people for an unprecedented outage. I got my baby, got home and decided to pack just in case. It could be anything, but it’s better to be safe. Even if we have to evacuate because this leads to other outages I wanted to be prepared. I had just told my in-laws I was going to do an emergency kit. I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. My husband called and told me to go to the neighbors to be safe. We spent some time together and when Brandon got home, 3 hours after leaving work, we stayed and talked for awhile. Only problem was I needed to put Des to sleep. We went home, put him down and talk for awhile by candlelit. We couldn’t open our fridge or freezer, couldn’t use our electric stove. So I ate a granola bar for dinner.
At 2:24 am the power came back on. I know because the light in our hot bedroom came on. Despite turning off our air conditioner, it came on too.
One thought struck me, those with solar power are laughing right now. The most important lesson—what is important to me? Is it TV and internet OR is it my family?
My list of what I need:
Flashlight
Batteries
Battery-powered radio
Water
Canned food
Lock box to keep important documents in one place
Cash at all times
Gas at all times
