“We’ve had friends and family calling constantly to make sure we’re O.K.,” she added, “That is a great help ... to know that someone out there cares.”  Some who could see the smoke and flames, but still considered themselves a safe distance away, described in their postings on the website the small measures they took to help their neighbors. They wrote of staying home from work — to steer clear of smoky air and to avoid jamming the highways and slowing emergency vehicles. They wrote of taking volunteer courses with the Red Cross so they could help at local shelters. And they wrote of opening their homes to displaced friends and strangers, providing them with food, a place to rest, and their sympathies.  “We have burned-out friends living with us (but not their seven cats),” wrote Margaret Agne, who lives in a relatively unscathed section of Rancho Bernardo, a northern section of San Diego. “I was turned away by police several times today trying to visit streets where friends lived north and west of us.  “I have friends in all evacuated sections, but have I no idea if they were spared,” she added. “Rancho Bernardo is consistently shown on TV as in the burn area, but not all of it.”  Other residents of the San Diego area wrote that even after evacuating, they were left to contend with sickening odors and choke-inducing air. One resident of the Black Mountain area in San Diego, who identified himself as Abhay Dixit, wrote that he and his family, including a small baby, fled their home with after getting a reverse 911 call two days ago and spent the night at a friend’s house. But the air was so bad that they had to flee again, this time much further away to the Bay area.  “We have black soot everywhere and a pungent smoky odor all over,” he wrote. “It was very tragic to see such beautiful homes getting burnt. Our heart goes out to the victims.”  But others who were concerned about the smoke and soot said they could not go far, for fear that their homes would be vandalized or broken into. One commenter, who identified himself as Jason S., said his parents evacuated their home in Poway and felt lucky that it was ultimately spared, even as scores of homes nearby were burned to the ground. Nonetheless, with the evacuation orders still in place, his relatives returned to the area.  “Last night, my brother snuck past police barricades to check on our family home and watch for looters,” he wrote. “Despite the risk, I think everyone is really proud of him for doing this.”  After he returned from the home, his brother reported that a neighbor was camped out on another lawn with a shotgun and a sign that read “Looters will be shot.”  Meanwhile, as residents of California shared their grief, people from other parts of the country offered support. Many offered encouragement and focused on a simple theme: You will get through this.  “I read the reports and I am just beside myself,” wrote John E. Healey, who gave his hometown as Juneau, Alaska. “I wish I could bag all this moisture here and send it to you folks in California and Georgia, which will be the next part of the United States to experience hardship if the drought conditions there do not subside.  “It is just not fair,” he added. “My prayers are with you.”  But mixed among the words of grief and anguish was the sentiment that this is nothing new. Gregory Kerr wrote that many Californians have grown used to the risk of fire, and that most of his neighbors in the Canoga Park area continued with business as usual even as they could see “a new fire’s mushroom cloud curling up over the ridge on the hills behind the shopping center.”  “This is no Katrina,” he wrote. “Here there is no meltdown of public services. Life goes on completely normally for those whose houses are not on the fire lines.”  But there was also anger.  “Why did it take three days for the federal government to unlock the assistance gate?” wrote Michel Dedina of Imperial Beach in San Diego County. “If there was a fire at the White House West Wing — would they wait three days to call the Fire Department?”
Many of those concerned about the wildfires have posted comments about their experiences, thoughts and fears on NYTimes.com.