There is a fire on the ridge (skyline ridge) at Pauma reservation that
caught fire. For those that are not aware of the area. Pauma Casino
sits between Harrah's and Pala. The reservation said they have not
lost a home yet but they are fighting it. lets hope the winds don't
pick up suddenly. Pala (in the hills) has some fires but it appears
to not be near the casino for now.
Newest update on the fires
Thanks for the update, gamblinggrandma. My last email was via my cellphone, so it was hard to elaborate. Let me do so now (hopefully, my attempt to get to the casinos won't offend any SD residents; it was purely business on my part):
I wanted to head down to Harrahs on Monday night from my home in northern Orange County, but figured I could not due to the fires. I had been watching the LA telecasts, but they had scant information on the SD fires. I checked online (traffic.com) and saw that I-15 was closed in both directions around the Pala exit (Hwy 76). Not knowing how close any fires were, I called Harrahs to see if I could get a room, and they said that the hotel was closed but the casino was open. I called Pechanga to see if I could get a room there, and the gal said they were completely sold out, and had a waiting list even for evacuees. She said that I-15 southbound was closed at the Pechanga exit (Hwy 79/Indio exit). Also, the "shortcut" or back road to Pala (it's the Pala/Pechanga Hwy I think) had a roadblock, and police were only letting residents through. So there was no way that I could get to Harrahs, so I decided (wisely, as it turns out) to stay home on Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, I woke up and checked traffic.com to see that I-15 was now open in both directions....great! So I took off for Harrahs without calling them first (a mistake, to be sure). It was free sailing all the way to Pechanga, I-15 was open and flowing, and I had no problems whatsoever. However, just as I was pulling near to the Pechanga exit, I could see a huge cloud of smoke hovering over the hills behind Pechanga - that is, on the "shortcut" towards Pala (and Harrahs). After a brief stop at Pechanga, I headed down the "shortcut".
There was no checkpoint or roadblock like the night before, so I was encouraged. As I began the steady 15-minute descent towards Pala, I entered the smoke cloud, which had the density of a light fog that hadn't lifted. The smell of smoke led me to close my windows to cut down on the inhilation. I reached the "T" intersection near Pala without any problems or seeing anything interesting or dangerous, other than being in the aforementioned cloud of smoke, which wasn't heavy and could have been from miles away, I thought. I saw no fire engines or emergency vehicles, only regular cars and one police or sherrifs vehicle. I turned left and headed in the direction of Harrahs.
As I was approaching Pauma, which is only about 10-15 minutes from Harrahs, I saw some cones on the road and an official in fire-retardant gear motioning traffic to turn. That meant I couldn't make it to Harrahs in either direction, not by Valley Center Road nor via the Cole Grade back way around, which would also bring me to Valley View. I turned on the Pauma exit and went up to the parking lot, which is on the top of a hill looking towards Harrahs. The casino was closed, but the view from there was rather stunning and other-worldly. I got out of my car and looked southeast. There was a complete veil of smoke, which blocked out the sun to a color of blood-red. Also, there was an orange glow to the entire horizon, due to flames in the distance (perhaps not so distant). There were flakes of ash swirling in the air and falling to the ground. It felt like I was on Mars. I got back in my car and headed back in the direction I came.
When I got to Pala, I saw a police officer there blocking traffic heading east. I had bypassed this roadblock by skipping Pala and turning left from the back road "shortcut". Anyone coming straight from I-15 on Hwy 76 would have hit this roadblock. I decided to see if Pala was open, which it was, so I played there about an hour and left. The policeman and roadblock were gone, so I decided to see if I could now get to Harrahs, to no avail - the roadblock had moved eastward only a short distance, to just past the fork in the road to/from Temecula (Pechanga). There were several fire engines and other vehicles ahead, so I did a quick u-turn and headed back to Pechanga via the back road. After the short climb, I broke out of the smoke cloud into fresh air once again, which was a welcome relief for myself. Those left down below were not so fortunate.
I played at Pechanga all afternoon for the drawings (btw, I won the last one, how's that for fate?) Repeated calls to Harrahs Rincon yielded a recording, so I figured it was closed and headed for home. Let's see if Harrah's opens Wednesday night or Thursday.
My sympathies to all of you San Diego residents, as well as all other victims of these fires.
JD
···
gamblinggrandma <gamblinggrandma@yahoo.com> wrote:
There is a fire on the ridge (skyline ridge) at Pauma reservation that
caught fire. For those that are not aware of the area. Pauma Casino
sits between Harrah's and Pala. The reservation said they have not
lost a home yet but they are fighting it. lets hope the winds don't
pick up suddenly. Pala (in the hills) has some fires but it appears
to not be near the casino for now.
__________________________________________________
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I am glad you made it back safely. We had a similiar thing happen to
us during the Cedar fires (in the same area) - so I understand how
unnerving it can be. be safe everyone...
Just a quick note: Sycuan casino just announced that they are open
and the area is safe.
May the winds just stop. 
--- In vpFREE_California@yahoogroups.com, John Douglass
<john.douglass@...> wrote:
Thanks for the update, gamblinggrandma. My last email was via my
cellphone, so it was hard to elaborate. Let me do so now (hopefully,
my attempt to get to the casinos won't offend any SD residents; it
was purely business on my part):
I wanted to head down to Harrahs on Monday night from my home in
northern Orange County, but figured I could not due to the fires. I
had been watching the LA telecasts, but they had scant information
on the SD fires. I checked online (traffic.com) and saw that I-15
was closed in both directions around the Pala exit (Hwy 76). Not
knowing how close any fires were, I called Harrahs to see if I could
get a room, and they said that the hotel was closed but the casino
was open. I called Pechanga to see if I could get a room there, and
the gal said they were completely sold out, and had a waiting list
even for evacuees. She said that I-15 southbound was closed at the
Pechanga exit (Hwy 79/Indio exit). Also, the "shortcut" or back road
to Pala (it's the Pala/Pechanga Hwy I think) had a roadblock, and
police were only letting residents through. So there was no way that
I could get to Harrahs, so I decided (wisely, as it turns out) to
stay home on Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, I woke up and checked traffic.com to see
that I-15 was now open in both directions....great! So I took off
for Harrahs without calling them first (a mistake, to be sure). It
was free sailing all the way to Pechanga, I-15 was open and flowing,
and I had no problems whatsoever. However, just as I was pulling
near to the Pechanga exit, I could see a huge cloud of smoke
hovering over the hills behind Pechanga - that is, on the "shortcut"
towards Pala (and Harrahs). After a brief stop at Pechanga, I headed
down the "shortcut".
There was no checkpoint or roadblock like the night before, so I
was encouraged. As I began the steady 15-minute descent towards
Pala, I entered the smoke cloud, which had the density of a light
fog that hadn't lifted. The smell of smoke led me to close my
windows to cut down on the inhilation. I reached the "T"
intersection near Pala without any problems or seeing anything
interesting or dangerous, other than being in the aforementioned
cloud of smoke, which wasn't heavy and could have been from miles
away, I thought. I saw no fire engines or emergency vehicles, only
regular cars and one police or sherrifs vehicle. I turned left and
headed in the direction of Harrahs.
As I was approaching Pauma, which is only about 10-15 minutes
from Harrahs, I saw some cones on the road and an official in fire-
retardant gear motioning traffic to turn. That meant I couldn't make
it to Harrahs in either direction, not by Valley Center Road nor via
the Cole Grade back way around, which would also bring me to Valley
View. I turned on the Pauma exit and went up to the parking lot,
which is on the top of a hill looking towards Harrahs. The casino
was closed, but the view from there was rather stunning and other-
worldly. I got out of my car and looked southeast. There was a
complete veil of smoke, which blocked out the sun to a color of
blood-red. Also, there was an orange glow to the entire horizon, due
to flames in the distance (perhaps not so distant). There were
flakes of ash swirling in the air and falling to the ground. It felt
like I was on Mars. I got back in my car and headed back in the
direction I came.
When I got to Pala, I saw a police officer there blocking
traffic heading east. I had bypassed this roadblock by skipping Pala
and turning left from the back road "shortcut". Anyone coming
straight from I-15 on Hwy 76 would have hit this roadblock. I
decided to see if Pala was open, which it was, so I played there
about an hour and left. The policeman and roadblock were gone, so I
decided to see if I could now get to Harrahs, to no avail - the
roadblock had moved eastward only a short distance, to just past the
fork in the road to/from Temecula (Pechanga). There were several
fire engines and other vehicles ahead, so I did a quick u-turn and
headed back to Pechanga via the back road. After the short climb, I
broke out of the smoke cloud into fresh air once again, which was a
welcome relief for myself. Those left down below were not so
fortunate.
I played at Pechanga all afternoon for the drawings (btw, I won
the last one, how's that for fate?) Repeated calls to Harrahs Rincon
yielded a recording, so I figured it was closed and headed for home.
Let's see if Harrah's opens Wednesday night or Thursday.
My sympathies to all of you San Diego residents, as well as all
other victims of these fires.
JD
gamblinggrandma <gamblinggrandma@...> wrote:
There is a fire on the ridge (skyline ridge) at Pauma
reservation that
caught fire. For those that are not aware of the area. Pauma
Casino
sits between Harrah's and Pala. The reservation said they have not
lost a home yet but they are fighting it. lets hope the winds
don't
pick up suddenly. Pala (in the hills) has some fires but it
appears
···
to not be near the casino for now.
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Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]