I was driving up the I-5 last night at around 9 p.m. on a night when the fires continued to rage in California. I was heading north to Cerritos, CA, in the L.A. area — and did not expect what I saw shining in the darkness ahead. It was quite a jolt:

The hills were alive.

And not with the sound of music…

As my car moved closer towards Marine base Camp Pendleton I could see huge flames jumping along the hills in front of me. An eerie and frightening orange hue lit up the base of the skyline. It seemed as if the hills were were directly front of me. But, as I drew closer, it became clear the hills were actually on the east side of the freeway.

One of the reasons you could tell was that the side of the freeway was crammed with stopped cars with lookie-loos standing astride their vehicles, taking in the historical sight of part of Camp Pendleton in flames. Others took pictures with cell phones.

I wanted to get out of there ASAP before the fire jumped the freeway and it was closed — which is precisely what happened this morning:

Wildfires at Camp Pendleton prompted authorities to close a section of Interstate 5 and evacuate the community of De Luz on the Marine base’s northwest border.

I -5 was closed overnight between Highway 76 and Cristianitos Road due to the fires, according to Lesley Kirk, a county spokeswoman.

The largest of the blazes, dubbed the Horno Fire, has scorched about 6,000 acres, she said. Firefighters have also set back fires in the area in attempt to create a fire break.

Meanwhile, the dangers to Southern California increased:

(1) According to one website, the fire threatened the nearby San Onofre nuclear power plant:

RIGHT NOW San Onofre Nuclear (Waste) Generating Station is being threatened by the Horno Fire on Camp Pendleton. It sits along the thin strip of land which lies between the I-5 Interstate highway, which is just a stone’s throw from the nuclear power plant, and the Ocean into which it pours its tritium, krypton, argon, xenon, and more than 100 other radioactive elements, even on a good day (let alone after an accident).

The Horno fire has burned more than 6,000 acres in less than half a day, and it is within a few miles of the nuclear power plant, and MOVING TOWARDS IT AS THE WINDS ARE PICKING UP. This is an extremely dangerous situation. Power lines are also threatened.

(2) The fires also threatened San Diego’s electricity:

California wildfires created an electricity “island” of San Diego County on Wednesday as one major power transmission link to the U.S. West grid was shut and the other flickering on and off, said San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

This makes the San Diego area susceptible to major blackouts unless customers conserve power, said Michael Niggli, chief operating officer of SDG&E.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders implored residents to cut power use.

“You’ve got to conserve today. You have no choice,” Sanders said.

About 20,000 homes and businesses were without power late Wednesday morning, down from 33,000 on Tuesday, SDG&E spokeswoman Rachel Laing said.

SDG&E gets about half its electricity from outside its service area for the 1.3 million homes and businesses it serves.

Four days of wildfires have caused the largest evacuation in California’s history and burned about 2,200 homes, state officials said.

Never before has California faced as many shutdowns on the big power lines that are strung across the state and link it with the rest of the U.S. Western grid, said California Independent System Operator spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle.

Meanwhile, investigators now believe one of the fires was set deliberately:

CBS News has learned a task force of agencies, including the FBI, ATF, the Orange County Fire Authority and the California Department of Forestry will announce shortly that the massive Santiago Canyon Fire - which has caused an estimated $10 million in damage - is being officially declared an arson, and a $50,000 reward is being offered to find the arsonist.

Investigators have identified two separate “points of origin” where they believe the fire was set, CBS News has learned. FBI agents secured the scene to “maintain its integrity.”

The Santiago Fire has burned about 19,200 acres east of Irvine, officials said, and it is around 30 percent contained. Six homes and eight outbuildings have been destroyed, with another eight homes and 12 outbuildings damaged. Four firefighters have been injured fighting the blaze and about 3,000 people evacuated.

The devastating wildfires in Southern California have caused at least $1 billion in damage in San Diego County alone, officials said Wednesday, as easing wind gave firefighters hope that they begin to gain ground against the flames.

Other blazes were believed to have been started by downed power lines and a car fire.

How devastating and monstrous are the fires? Look at these facts from an article:

–So far the blazes have killed three people and inured 30.
–25,000 more structure remain at risk.
–Nearly 9,000 firefighters are battling the blazes.
–Fires destroyed 1,664 structures, including 1,436 homes
–Damage so far has impacted 679 square miles.
–Some 900,000 people have been asked to evacuate their homes.

Meanwhile, the unspeakable tragedy and impressive courage is seen first-hand (such as when I visited families at the stadium yesterday) and in news reports such as this:

Christie Williams, who lost a ranch in Ramona, said she takes strength from her 4-year-old daughter, who repeats after her mother: “We’re strong people.”

“So we’re going to make it,” Williams said.

And she said she’d rebuild her ranch, called Shangri-La.

“It’s my home. My kids took their first steps there. I can’t just leave it,” she said as tears filled her eyes. “I can’t just walk away.”

And then there is the air quality issue. Schools in San Diego County are mostly closed for the rest of the week and authorities urge parents to keep their kids inside.

At the elementary school I visited yesterday, the principal got up after my anti-drug program that also touches on anti-alcohol and anti-smoking and told the kids:

“Now we’re on our own no smoking program. Recess will be inside today due to a high volume of particulates.”

These kids knew what he meant…because you only had to look outside. It didn’t just seem like smog. Everything seemed to be in a weird pale shade of orange.

A day before I had walked for more than two hours talking with families at Qualcomm Stadium. Since then I had a cough.

It was a time to avoid being outside…for kids and adults.

But the firefighters and volunteers taking supplies for fire victims had no choice but to keep putting put their all into their angels-of-mercy jobs.

FOOTNOTE: Since the I-5 is now closed, this means that if it’s still unavailable tomorrow I will head back tomorrow night on the I-15 and my 2-hour return could be a 5 to 6 hour trek back to San Diego.

UPDATE: Time Magazine has some good news. Its report is titled: ‘San Diego’s Inferno: Relief Ahead?” and points to the diminishing winds as a good sign. It also says this fire was not the worst and could have been worse:

Fire authorities in San Diego say they have never seen a fire quite like the one they are facing. But for all its fury, the fire as yet is not the worst the county has experienced. This week’s fires have burned more than 263,000 acres, destroyed or damaged 1,750 homes and businesses and killed at least one person. Just four years ago, the Cedar fire, the largest in the state’s history based on structures destroyed, burned 273,246 acres in San Diego County, destroyed 2,847 structures and killed 15 people. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, San Diego had three of the 20 largest fires in the state’s history, including the 1970 Laguna fire that burned 175,425 acres and killed five, and the 2003 Paradise fire, which burned 56,700 acres and killed two.

While it’s too soon to tell the final damage of this week’s fires, the reduced number of fatalities and lost structures ultimately might be attributed to lessons learned since the Cedar fire. Among the changes since then is a new reverse 911 system that automatically calls homeowners with a pre-recorded message warning them if they are in a mandatory evacuation zone. All schools in the county are closed this week, mail delivery was halted and businesses ranging from corporate offices to sandwich shops were closed. People were urged to stay home. Those who did venture out became snarled in traffic jams with evacuees or scrambling to find alternate routes around closed highways. Adding to the county’s hardships, looters have been caught in evacuated neighborhoods and some scam artists reportedly have tricked people into evacuating so they could burglarize their homes.