Where’s the evacuation plan, refugee asks

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Warren O’Meara, 56, said he didn’t evacuate during the devastating Cedar fire in 2003, but was doing so this time -- or rather, trying to, through the clogged streets near his Scripps Ranch area home.

His wife and daughter were in one car and he was heading out in another. Neither had gotten very far, he said, and O’Meara was frustrated.

‘They tell us to get the hell out of here and you try and you can’t get anywhere,’ he said. ‘People are flipping out because of the toll the fire took on these neighborhoods in 2003.’

O’Meara said he and his wife were in touch by cellphone, discussing various routes to take, without much success. ‘What’s going to happen, God forbid, if the fire does come and we’ve got thousands of people trapped in their cars?

‘It’s good that we get out, but they have to have a plan. This is crazy. There is no plan.’

-- Joel Rubin