[ElcinBoris]

First of all, please excuse me if this topic has been posted already, but I could not find it.

I was saddened to read about the California fires and I hope that everyone will be OK. How is the Kendo community? Is everyone OK? Are all the Kendo dojos in Southern California far from all of the fires?

[xsVfF9Em]

wow thnks for asking, Dervish. Our club: SDKB had many of our people evac'd & so far 1 person has lost her home. not sure about how the La clubs are holding up. I have several friends evac'd. The whole San diego is really pulling together and helping out, but unfortunaetly we now have 13 large fires; I can see a few of them from the roof of my job. my home is near central SD where there mostly concrete -- so my family is safe, but I'm sad for everyone else that are homeless now.

[kesFockplek]

I heard in the news that these are the worst fires California has had in its recorded history.
Hope the people and specificaly the kendo community is safe.

[Ijkavylo]

Thanks Bokushingu, I hope these fires end real soon. Has anyone heard from Kenzan? I think he's in LA.

[F1grandprix]

None of the fires are close enough to physically affect/damage any of the SCKF or SCKO dojo. The dojo are located within the urban areas of Southern California, whereas the fires are burning in the dry, wooded areas surrounding L.A. and San Diego. Like Bokushingu said, the kenshi most heavily affected by the fires belong to San Diego Kendo-Bu (SCKF), San Diego Kendo Club (SCKO) and TACC Kendo Club (SCKO). Unfortunately, I haven't heard from any other dojo members about how they've been affected.

On a personal note, I live in Irvine, which is a few miles from where the Santiago fire is still burning. My neighborhood's been smelling like a barbeque pit for the last couple of days and the smoke surrounding the area is the worst I've ever seen. We had some bad bush fires back in 2003 which were almost as bad, but this year is definitely worse.

Here are some maps to give you an idea where the Southern California dojo are located and where the fires are burning:

SCKF/SCKO dojo map

Southern California wildfire map - Google/L.A. Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...la-home-center

Southern California wildfire perimeter map - L.A. Times
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-102307-...la-home-center

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the fires, especially all the San Diegans. Hopefully you all will be able to go back home soon.

[syptopsygieds]

My brother and his family were evacuated Monday night, man am I glad I'm not living where I used to down there (Julian).

Here, I can't get anything to burn...

[MauroDarudo]

Has anyone heard from Kenzan? I think he's in LA.

Saw him last night. None of the fires are particularly close to us in the Pasadena area.

[elektikaka]

It's really big on the news here in Germany, I hope the fires will stop soon! I'm sorry for everybody who suffers from those horrible fires, and for the damage it is doing to houses and nature...

[Zebrabitch]

I just heard on the radio that we lost a power relay station to the fires & the other 3 have fires near them. Hope they stop them; don't want to spend a few days without power.