One of the things I hate about reporters hyping these stories is what it does to folks like you who are worried about a loved one. This type of fire generally takes out only houses within a block or so of a brush area. Even with houses on fire on both sides of the street, you can drive down the middle unharmed (I’ve done it). The deaths and injuries generally come from being asleep in the residence at the time the fire breaks out and getting overcome by smoke, running back into a burning house without any protective equipment, or getting trapped in the middle of the brush and having the fire blow over you. About the only physical risk in an urban evacuation is bad driving from distracted ‘flee-ers’.
The percentage of residences lost in urban areas that aren’t near a canyon is pretty small. We’ve spent the day today watching the Witch Creek fire burning across the wildland area to within about five blocks of us. We never got an evacuation order because the FD knew we weren’t at any real risk.
Thank you!!!