Del Mar, CALIFORNIA — The last refugees were leaving San Diego’s famous Qualcomm stadium Friday as the home of the Chargers was becoming….well, the home of the Chargers. The game against the Houston Texans would start as scheduled at 1 p.m. Sunday.
This was a symbolic moment: the devastating fires that caused more than $1 billion in property damage in San Diego County — with nearly a billion more in damages elsewhere in Southern California — had FINALLY given firefighters and residents an apparent breather and raised hopes that it signaled a chance to return to normalcy. Two words about that: fat chance.
Earlier this week Mommy Nature had a fit and there were fires amid fierce Santa Ana winds temperatures. But by Friday Mommy Nature had calmed down. It was damp — and the winds died down faster than a debate hall after Presidential debates have ended.
In media imagery terms, to some the story was starting to wind down.
Perhaps…but not really. Because this is part of a series of events that are impacting — and imprinting a new generation. And even as an event, it is far from even STARTING to be over.
Up the I-5, the historic Del Mar Fairgrounds told a different story about the saga of the fires that scorched 810 square miles, more than twice the size of New York City.
The 40 year old stadium had been relatively accessible for volunteers wanting to get in and help and for media types wanting to see how displaced families were faring and file reports. But security was tight at the fairgrounds. Once it was announced that Qualcomm was going to close fire refugees and their families it was announced that people were allowed to go back to their homes (if they still had them) or at least go back and collect valuables until their areas were open.. So Del Mar became the prime refugee center in San Diego County.
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.