Smoke Engulfs Carlsbadistan

After two days of wind protection from the smoke of the Rice fires to the north and the Witch fire to the south of Carlsbadistan, the clear blue skies gave way to heavy smoke and ash falling like light snow. As the sun came up this morning over Agua Hedionda Lagoon southern skies were dark orange. To the north it looked like a normal foggy morning, however, a few deep breaths let it immediately be known that this is not fog.

After spending the day indoors yesterday because he could not work Carlsbad resident Craig Hammon, of Hammon Constuction decided that a tour of North County was in order. “At about midnight, after watching all the news all day I decided it was time for a motorcycle ride,” he said. “I mentioned it to my wife and I was surprised that she said, ‘Go ahead, just don’t get killed.”

Hammon said he rode from Carlsbad down to the Del Dios Highway in Del Mar out to Interstate 15 and then back again and didn’t see any flames. “They were doing a really good job of keeping all the roads in the fire areas blocked,” he said. “The only place I saw flames was out on the 15 in what looked like the Pala area.”

So far no fires have crossed the border into Carlsbad proper. We will update the site throughout the day. For an interesting Google Map of the fires click here.