"In grammar school they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fairy tale. In the university they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fact!" -Ron Carlson
You know, it's really frustrating when the media isn't very helpful in an emergency situation. Yesterday they were doing an admirable job of keeping up with the latest developments, considering how fast the fires were moving, and it was obvious they were stretched thin, and just keeping up was taxing all their resources. But today, they're back to being the incompetent media. Can't get any info out of them about the fires threatening our area. This morning, we were minutes away from leaving, but it eventually became apparent that we weren't in any immediate danger. But it took a while to get that out of the many news channels here, and even then it wasn't clear. Everyone on our street had their cars packed and ready to go, but no one was quite sure where the fire was. What's been especially frustrating this afternoon and evening is the fact that mostly all they're concentrating on are the already burned areas in Scripps Ranch, Tierrasanta and Crest, where people are being let back in. It's like they're totally ignoring the fact that the fires are still burning out of control. To them, the only important story is to catch people finding their house gone and crying, or getting mad. One network actually had three (3) different reporters, all in Scripps Ranch. All in the same spot!! It's like there's absolutely nothing else going on anywhere in the county. Ah well, the million dollar homes have burned, nothing else to report now. Nevermind the people who are still in the path of the fire and waiting to find out if they need to evacuate. Tonight I was watching one network (who shall remain nameless at this time *cough*NBC*cough*) and they were doing a teaser for their 6:00 news. The pretty little anchor thing said that new evacuations had been ordered just an hour ago, they'd have all the updates at 6. No word about where those evacuations were. So, if that's your area, you're out of luck. They're just gonna let us burn while they sit back and let the ratings roll in. Theoretically, police go through those areas, but yesterday they were telling us to watch TV to find out about evacuations; don't wait until a police officer knocks on your door. The media disgust me.
And while we're on the subject, where is the Emergency Broadcast System? They test the bloody thing all the time, but when a genuine, honest-to-God emergency hits San Diego, the Emergency Broadcast System may as well not exist.
"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. Had this been an actual emergency, you would not be hearing this. You would be watching Entertainment Tonight while your house burned around you."
