Mind you, the folks down in SD are somewhat distracted...

...but someone at KPBS figured out how to harness the power of Google.

Why is this valuable? Well, first, it's the most detailed map of the fires and related conditions. More importantly, though, it's hosted at Google, whose servers aren't being overwhelmed by requests (unlike almost every local website in San Diego County except KPBS).

In clever news of the weird, they're also using Twitter to get one-line news flashes out via text messages.

Word from galtine1 and jbriggs

The folks at (San Diego County?) Animal Control were able to get to their property (in Ramona!) to check on the chinchillas that couldn't be evacuated. The house and garage are still standing, and at least some of the chinchillas survived.

Pretty impressive for having been in the middle of the fire.