http://www.robertpeake.com/archives/197-.html

Having an RSS feed gave me a sense of having an added edge in monitoring the fire with respect to servers in our datacenter we would want to physically move in case of evacuation. I wrote a simple script to poll it, check for new items, and page me if it found any:

http://www.robertpeake.com/archives/203-.html

But when the RSS feed itself started timing out, had to resort, as you said — to Technorati tag searches and other aggregators (like Topix.net). Tyler over at the post also put in some reputedly really long hours pulling together scraps of information to form a reasonable picture for readers of the Ojai Post. Amazing what a fire coming toward your home town can do in terms of motivation. But I agree there has to be a better way. The NOAA Weather Radios:

http://www.weather.gov/nwr/

look promising, but not free. The internet is remarkably ubiquitous these days, but something we can’t assume everyone will access in times of emergency. Someone needs to build a better News Hose, as you put it — and then keep it from getting clogged up!

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000108

By the way,until it was eclipsed three years ago by the Cedar Fire in San Diego County…

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061002/APN/610021912

… the biggest fire in California history was the Matilija fire in 1933, which burned 220,000 acres — in Ventura County. In other words, roughly same area burned by the Day Fire. Since the Day Fire now ranks at #5, Ventura County has been host to 2 out of the top 5 fires in California.

Again, keep up the great work.

http://technorati.com/tag/Day%20Fire

shows that many bloggers have responded in their own way.

But your site became a trusted source and quickly spread through word of mouth thanks to your residents-informing-residents approach in the posts and comments. When crisis hits, people want to connect with eachother, and they want accurate and timely information, and you provided a much-needed outlet for both.