History
While 2004 was first year that there was an event of this name, it was the second decompression event that has taken place in San Diego. The prior event, known as "SD Decom," took place in 2003 and had an estimated attendance of 250. The 2003 event happened to coincide with the October wildfires of that year at a location that was nearly destroyed by fire.
In spite of the chilly and damp weather, FDLM managed to draw nearly 500 participants for 2004, perhaps double the attendance of the 2003 event. Two performance stages were set up for DJs, bands and belly dancers. The Mystic Art Grove had a score of art installations. Numerous theme camps were established, including the Purple Turtle Chill Zone, Liquid O, BubbleLounge, Fahrenheit 451, Vibestation, BRC Zendo, Satreheedn, Cantina de los Muertos and Haunted Chill Zone, Camp RVIP, Xara, the Massage Confessional, the Space Bars, Phat Elvis, and more. A wide variety of events took place including a fire eating workshop, Zen meditation, massages, and even a wedding.
In 2007 the event was hosted at The Village, a property just outside Borrego Springs, CA. The event sold out and attracted the largest number of participants to date. Artistic expression was limited due to permit restrictions and poor weather. Once again, the event was notably affected by wildfire; it took place just as the nearby California wildfires of October 2007 began. Highway closures affected some as they returned to San Diego.
The Santa Ana winds are strong, extremely dry downslope winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California and northern Baja California. They originate from cool, dry high-pressure air masses in the Great Basin.
Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, that occurs on the penultimate night of Burning Man, which is the Saturday evening before Labor Day. The event has been located since 1991 at Black Rock City in northwestern Nevada, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles (160 km) north-northeast of Reno. As outlined by Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in 2004, the event is guided by ten principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.
The Cedar Fire was a massive, highly-destructive wildfire, which burned 273,246 acres (1,106 km2) of land in San Diego County, California, during October and November 2003. The fire's rapid growth was driven by the Santa Ana wind, causing the fire to spread at a rate of 3,600 acres (15 km2) per hour. By the time the fire was fully contained on November 4, it had destroyed 2,820 buildings and killed 15 people, including one firefighter. Hotspots continued to burn within the Cedar Fire's perimeter until December 5, 2003, when the fire was fully brought under control.
Nowhere is a Burning Man regional event in Spain, the biggest such regional event in Europe. It began in 2004 and is held annually in July in the Monegros Desert, located in Aragon in north-eastern Spain.
El Muerto, also known as El Muerto: The Aztec Zombie, is a fictional character and comic book superhero created by American comics creator Javier Hernandez and published through his own imprint Los Comex. The comic book follows the story of 21-year-old Diego de la Muerte, who while on his way to a local Dia de los Muertos festival in Whittier, California, is abducted and sacrificed by the Aztec gods of death and destiny only to return to earth one year later with supernatural powers. The character made his first appearance in a xeroxed black-and-white preview comic titled Daze of the Dead: The Numero Uno Edition. The initial series of El Muerto was met with critical success and the character's popularity has led to several adaptations in other media including a live-action award-winning independent film starring Wilmer Valderrama.
El Muerto is a live-action independent film adaptation of the comic book series, El Muerto: The Aztec Zombie created by Javier Hernandez. The film was written and directed by Brian Cox with Javier Hernandez serving as Associate-Producer. It stars Wilmer Valderrama, Angie Cepeda, Joel David Moore, Billy Drago, Tony Plana, Michael Parks, María Conchita Alonso and Tony Amendola. The film follows the story of Diego de la Muerte, a 21-year-old Mexican-American who is abducted, sacrificed, and sent back to the land of the living by the Aztec gods of death and destiny to fulfill an ancient prophecy. The official premiere was held on March 1, 2007 at the Latino Film Festival in San Diego, California with a straight-to-DVD release slated for September 18, 2007 followed by subsequent screenings in New York City and San Diego. The official site address (www.elmuertomovie.com) has since been re-directed to a MySpace film account. The film is rated PG-13 for violence and some disturbing images. El Muerto has gone on to win the Best Feature Film Award at the first annual Whittier Film Festival in 2008.
Apogaea is an annual collaborative outdoor arts and music festival held as a Colorado regional counterpart for the Burning Man event. Typically held in late spring in southern Colorado, Apogaea ("Apo"), establishes a temporary autonomous zone where radical self-expression, inclusiveness, and self-reliance are the hallmarks of its participants.
The Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 was a massive wildfire in California, which burned large parts of Orange County, Riverside County, and San Diego County during the last week of September 1889. The fire reportedly started in Fremont Canyon, a canyon close to what today is Irvine Lake. Until 2018, it was possibly the single largest wildfire in the recorded history of California, with at least 300,000 acres (1,200 km2) of land burned. In mid-August 2018, the Ranch Fire in the Mendocino Complex Fire surpassed the Santiago Canyon Fire's assumed acreage.
The 2007 California wildfire season saw at least 9,093 separate wildfires that charred 1,520,362 acres (6,152.69 km2) of land. Thirty of those wildfires were part of the Fall 2007 California firestorm, which burned approximately 972,147 acres of land from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border. At the peak of the wildfire activity in October 2007, the raging wildfires were visible from space.
The 1988 San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's 19th season in the National Football League, its 29th overall and the second and final full season under head coach Al Saunders.
AfrikaBurn is an official Burning Man regional event, held at Quaggafontein in the Tankwa Karoo, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is centered on the building of a temporary creative community in a semi-desert environment, involving ephemeral artworks, some of which are burnt towards the end of the event. Many attendees wear elaborate costumes and some create decorated "mutant vehicles". These mobile art cars are officially called Desert Mutant Vehicles.
The Bernardo Fire was a wildfire that occurred during the May 2014 San Diego County wildfire outbreak. The Bernardo fire was the second of the May 2014 wildfires in San Diego County, and the first of the swarm of wildfires that ignited in mid-May, following dry weather and Santa Ana conditions. The fire ignited in 4S Ranch in San Diego County, on May 13, near Del Norte High School, and eventually spread southward and westward, burning 1,548 acres (6 km2) of land. The Bernardo Fire was extinguished on May 17, without causing any significant property losses.
The May 2014 San Diego County wildfires were a swarm of 20 wildfires that erupted during May 2014, in San Diego County, California, during severe Santa Ana Wind conditions, historic drought conditions, and a heat wave. The main event during mid-May was preceded by a precursor fire that ignited on May 5. The Bernardo Fire has been declared accidental, and officials believe the Cocos Fire was intentionally set. The causes of the other fires are still under investigation by multiple agencies, and a joint task force was formed to coordinate the investigations and facilitate communications. Six injuries and one fire-related fatality were reported.
The October 2007 California wildfires, also known as the Fall 2007 California firestorm, were a series of about thirty wildfires that began igniting across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 homes were destroyed and approximately 972,147 acres of land was burned from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border, surpassing the October 2003 California wildfires in scope, which were estimated to have burned 800,000 acres (3,200 km2). The wildfires killed a total of 14 people, with nine of them dying directly from the fires; 160 others were injured, including at least 124 firefighters. At their height, the raging fires were visible from space. These fires included the vast majority of the largest and deadliest wildfires of the 2007 California wildfire season. The only wildfire in 2007 that surpassed any of the individual October 2007 fires in size was the Zaca Fire.
The Border Fire was a large wildfire that burned in Potrero, San Diego County, California, as part of the 2016 California wildfire season. The fire was so named due to its proximity to the United States-Mexican border.
A series of 29 wildfires ignited across Southern California in December 2017. Six of the fires became significant wildfires, and led to widespread evacuations and property losses. The wildfires burned over 307,900 acres (1,246 km2), and caused traffic disruptions, school closures, hazardous air conditions, and power outages; over 230,000 people were forced to evacuate. The largest of the wildfires was the Thomas Fire, which grew to 281,893 acres (1,140.78 km2), and became the largest wildfire in modern California history, until it was surpassed by the Ranch Fire in the Mendocino Complex, in the following year.
The 2019 California power shutoffs, known as public safety power shutoff (PSPS) events, were massive preemptive power shutoffs that occurred in approximately 30 counties in Northern California and several areas in Southern California from October 9 to November 1, 2019, and on November 20, 2019, by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). The power shutoffs were an attempt to prevent wildfires from being started by electrical equipment during strong and dry winds. The shutoffs initially affected around 800,000 customer accounts, or about 2.5 million people, but expanded to cause over 3 million people to lose utility-provided electrical power by late October as more utility companies from around the state also did preemptive power shutoffs.
The Fairview Fire is a deadly and destructive wildfire that burned during the 2022 California wildfire season southwest of Valle Vista and east of Hemet in Riverside County, California in the United States. The fire ignited on September 5, 2022, during a severe heatwave that had plagued much of the southwest throughout early September and, due to the extreme weather conditions, grew to a deadly and destructive conflagration in the chaparral-filled foothills within just several hours of igniting.
