San Diego broadcaster KPBS, an NPR affiliate and service of the San Diego State University covered the fires in a way that most local stations would –with updates, lists of evacuation sites, safety tips etc.

But it has also embraced social media in a big way. Its stories have links to Delicious and Digg, a Flickr account inviting residents to upload images, and has a Google map embedded with icons to tell residents the status of the fire, and where to locate an evacuation center or animal shelter. For those inclined, there’s also a Twitter feed providing regular updates.

If you’ve ever been temporarily displaced, you’ll know that a phone line becomes a lifeline. Hence the value of Twitter, proving to be an incredible on-demand, up to the minute channel for situations such as this. On Saturday for instance, at 10.01 am, a “tweet” went out to announce that:

” The community of Deerhorn Valley has been reopened to residents only. Residents must enter from the west side of Hwy.”

The station also began using a free wiki from PBWiki that is a quick and easy way to assemble timely information, and allow the community to contribute or update. PBWiki responded by throwing in two free weeks of its Platinum service to KPBS.