This name is being referenced a lot in news stories about the San Diego fires. Holly Crawford. She's the spokeswoman for the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services. We knew her as Holly Porter in Fresno (she got married this summer in San Diego). In Fresno, Holly worked for the Community Food Bank and the California Health Collaborative.

Since the San Diego fires broke out, Holly hasn't had much sleep, feeding news organizations updates on the fires. The San Diego Office of Emergency Services' Web site has excellent information of the fire: http://www.sdcountyemergency.com.

The site is being updated regularly.

One of the things that Holly has been explaining to reporters is San Diego County's Reverse 911 system. In this disaster, it automatically called residents to notify them to evacuate. There are three such systems in the San Diego area.

This is from a Los Angeles Times story: "An automated phone system operated by the city of San Diego has put warning or evacuation calls out to 85,792 households since the current wildfires erupted. A separate system operated by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department has placed calls to 337,000 households; a third system operated by San Diego County reached 171,919 households or businesses."

That's more than a half-million calls placed directly to homes and businesses. Very impressive operation at a time when residents in the path of the fires need solid evacuation information.

I asked Holly if she needed anything to help her get through the long days. "Send Starbucks," she said.