I know the national media made it look like San Diego was up in flames but, in fact, the city center (North Park, Downtown, Mission Valley, etc.) was fairly normal last week, albeit smoky. The overall atmosphere reminded me a bit of post 9/11 when everyone was in a daze. These last several days have been similar, what with so many displaced, out of work, out of school (all week) or hosting friends and family in their homes. Some businesses and restaurants were closed because staff were unable to be there due to evacuation. We were asked to stay off the roads, keeping them clear for emergency vehicles and evacuees, and to stay indoors, to protect our health. You can imagine what that was like for kids. I told a friend’s kids, who have never seen snow, that this is what a snow day is like back east, and they were unimpressed. “At least you can still go out and play in the snow, can’t you?” one asked. He had a point. North Park kids aren’t used to being cooped up in their small (but quaint and overpriced) bungalow-style homes.

The Internet was large and in charge during this disaster. The San Diego Union Tribune’s Web site, signonsandiego.com, had nearly 10 million hits on Tuesday, compared to a million on an average day. Web surfers know the best place to get specific news is a city newspaper’s Web site and not national sites like cnn.com. SignOn, which crashed intermittantly due to heavy traffic on Monday, added seven servers on Tuesday. They really did yeoman’s work there, trying to keep maps and evacuation notices current. They were the first to publish a list of burned structures so evacuees would know if their homes had survived or not. The whole process made me wonder once again what we ever did without the Internet.

It was interesting to compare the national media with local. I thought Matt Lauer and staff did a great job on the Today show last Tuesday, in some ways out-producing any of the local media with his vignettes (who could forget the affluent Rancho Bernardo couple who revealed they had no insurance on their burned home?) and interviews (local DJ/talking head “Hacksaw” practically crying as he overstated, “My city is burning down”). That was until the local NBC affiliate had to break in and bore us with their drivel for the second half of the Today slot instead of sticking with Lauer reporting locally.

Another favorite piece of coverage was when an MSNBC anchor told the OEM director she’d heard the whole city might need to be evacuated if things didn’t improve and then asked what kinds of plans he had for that scenario. He paused and said, “That’s the first I’ve heard of that. Uh, I don’t think anyone could plan for that kind of evacuation.” Yeah, transporting 3 million people wouldn’t be too easy — especially when the only safe place to go is east because north is L.A. with its own fire problem, south is Mexico (most of us would rather risk the fire than go there for relief) and west is, well, the ocean. And guess how many ways there are to go east out of San Diego? Yep: one freeway, next stop Yuma, Arizona (OK, there are stops in between but I doubt anyone would hole up in the desert at Barstow). It’s easy to understand the anchor’s misinformation when our SD city attorney, who has visions of grandeur and cannot seem to quash his ego, suggested this same “solution” to city officials, who roundly denied him. He’s just mad because there’s no one to sue, I figure.

Some of my other favorites came during interviews at the shelters. It was heartwarming to see so many people reaching out with donations, to the point where the shelters asked that no more supplies be delivered. Movies were shown on the JumboTron at Qualcomm Stadium to occupy anxious families, while hundreds of off-duty teachers arrived to lead kids in lessons and games to take their young minds off of fire and tragedy.

The other stories weren’t so heartwarming — the guys who went door-to-door with fake evacuation notices and after the families left came back to pillage their homes; the illegals who posed as evacuees at the stadium and loaded their trucks with freebies, only to be caught later rushing to the border with their loot — but there are always a few bad apples in the basket. In general, I think San Diego held up its slogan — “America’s Finest City” — with aplomb. And I feel confident saying this was all happening well before FEMA arrived and started taking credit for it all. The city, county and state were on top of things from the beginning.

As everyone has said, what really matters is each other. In San Diego, the feeling this last week — much like after 9/11 — is camaraderie and solidarity. We’ve been reminded once again that “stuff” is nothing compared to family and friends. It’s just too bad it takes a devastating fire to do that.