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Mount Miguel Village Residents Evacuated Overnight
SPRING VALLEY, CA (October 23, 2007) - Mount Miguel Covenant Village evacuated all of its residents late Monday night as a precautionary measure due to wildfires that threatened parts of San Diego and other areas of Southern California.
The Covenant Retirement Community (CRC) became the second denominational institution to evacuate. Alpine Camp and Conference Center evacuated around 10 a.m. Monday morning.
Mount Miguel residents were evacuated at approximately 10:30 p.m. Monday, Moraine Byrne, CRC vice president of marketing, said in a statement released this morning.
“Residents of the skilled nursing center are being cared for at local nursing homes and care locations,” the statement reads. Residents from assisted living and the residential community are at San Diego High School.
“Mount Miguel Covenant Village staff members are with residents, providing support, supplies and care as needed,” Byrne says. For safety reasons, staff members also are monitoring the campus. Byrne said in an interview this morning that the campus is “not in immediate danger.”
Although fires were within two miles of the Alpine camp as of 6 p.m. Monday, none had reached the camp as of noon today, said Alan Forsman, a leadership and congregational coach with the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. The fires continued to burn on the north ridge overlooking the camp, he added. Officials report that 113 homes have been destroyed in the area.
Hundreds of Canyon Springs Covenant Church members in the Scripps Ranch area of San Diego also were ordered to leave their homes. Approximately 45,000 people live in the area.
Craig Deane, associate pastor of Canyon Springs, said 80 percent of the 560 people who attend the church live in the area. “We’ve been calling each other all day,” Deane said Monday. “It’s hard because you can’t go in (to the neighborhoods) and physically help people move” because law enforcement agencies were not allowing anyone to enter the areas under evacuation orders.
As of late Monday evening, no structures had been destroyed, Deane said. The church meets in a Scripps Ranch school and was planning on moving at the end of November into a larger nearby school. “All that will be up in the air,” depending on what happens, Deane added.
This is the second time in four years that fire has threatened the Scripps Ranch homes. In 2003, several families who attend Canyon Springs lost their homes in the blazes.
Chula Vista was under a voluntary evacuation order, but John Rose, pastor of Rancho Vista Covenant Church, which meets in the community, had decided not to leave as of late Monday. Ash from the fires several miles away covered his sidewalk, as well his front and back yards, he said.
Most of his neighbors are waiting until a mandatory order is given, he said. Ten to 12 families from the church may be evacuated throughout the night, he added.
More than a dozen wildfires have been raging throughout Southern California and pushed nearly 270,000 people from their homes, according to news reports. For a closer look, please see this fire map, courtesy of Google.
Dry conditions are fueling the fires which are being pushed by strong winds that are expected to continue. The causes of the different blazes have varied, according to news reports.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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