Wildfires

[Papyrus]

@LASteve and any others in California,

Keep seeing appalling pictures and videos of the wildfires in LA. We hope you and your family are safe and your house is OK. Keep us posted.

All the best,

Chris

[grumbeast]

I'll second that,

 As someone who lives in a province with a 'wildfire season' I have some idea of the stress and danger this causes.  I hope you are safe and well

Graham

[crewearpley40]

Third that
Keep safe Steve and Jill
Hope you are managing

[icairns]

@Papyrus

Thank you for you kind thoughts.  We are okay but pretty close to the Altadena fire (there are at least three separate fires).  We are about two miles south of the mandatory evacuation line.  The winds were very fierce yesterday evening and we had to dismantle a large canopy my daughter has on her driveway (she lives across the street) to prevent it blowing away.

The air quality is very poor and I think over 1,000 homes have been destroyed.

The wind dropped about 9:00am local time last night and things quietened down in our area.  Fortunately we did not lose power.

Our pool is completely full of leaves but, considering what others are going through, we got off lightly (so far).

LA Ian

[crewearpley40]

Ian

Have you power ?
Can you manage to keep warm / cook a meal ?

[RBTKraisee]

Just heard from @LASteve (and a few other of my friends in the LA area) and so far they're all safe.

Don't take any chances! Be safe Ian!

Some 80,000 people have been told to evacuate.

While there are lots of normal people in the Palisades area there are a particularly large number of very wealthy and highly influential folk there too, with quite a few celebs already reporting they've lost their homes, so this event is likely to shine a very bright spotlight on climate change issues.

Ross.

[zwilnik]

While there are lots of normal people in the Palisades area there are a particularly large number of very wealthy and highly influential folk there too, with quite a few celebs already reporting they've lost their homes, so this event is likely to shine a very bright spotlight on climate change issues.

Ross.

I wouldn't get your hopes up on that. Last time they blamed it on libs not raking the forests properly.

[icairns]

Have you power ?
Can you manage to keep warm / cook a meal ?

We are fine.  Even though the winds were very strong in our area yesterday evening, we did not lose power.  However, we did see a lot of transformers arcing with big blue flashes on the local neighbourhood power lines.

I just checked and Southern California Edison are reporting over 4,000 power outages with over 3 million people affected in the Los Angeles area.

The funny thing is, right now (1:00pm local time), the weather in our area is warm and sunny with no wind!

Ian

[crewearpley40]

Ross / Ian
Thank you both for the updates.

[Newportnobby]

While there are lots of normal people in the Palisades area there are a particularly large number of very wealthy and highly influential folk there too, with quite a few celebs already reporting they've lost their homes, so this event is likely to shine a very bright spotlight on climate change issues.

Ross.

Far too many are now counting the cost of refusing to evacuate when informed it was best to do so

[LASteve]

Hi all

Thanks for thinking of us. We are OK as we speak, more danger from falling trees and wind damage rather than the fires.

We do have fires on all sides now, the nearest is in Altadena to our East, but no threat.

We've had a good friend/colleague in the Pallisades evacuated yesterday. He doesn't know if his home is still there, he said the fire was getting very close.

The winds that fuel the fire have died down somewhat. All LA City, LA County, Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena fire departments are deployed. Our nephew is with LADF Brigade 14 and hasn't stopped for 36 hours.

This was the view this morning from the house. The branch from the neighbor's tree is about 100lbs, amazing how heavy a bit of tree is.

We've just been affected by power outages, but heck, we'll take that. First World Problems Squared.



The winds are dying down now which helps. to all the fire departments.

Stay safe (Derek)

[Bealman]

I can understand all of this concern. As is widely known, here in Australia we have the same problem. During some fires, burning leaves have actually landed on Chez Bealman.

Fires are horrific. Good to know forum members close to the California fires are safe.

[RBTKraisee]

Authorities say the winds are expected to pick up again tonight.

1500 fire fighters at work, many doing 36 hour shifts.

180,000 ordered to evacuate.

I'm sure I speak for all of us when wishing everyone in the area all the very best! Stay Safe!!

Ross.

[Foxhound]

My sister lost her house in a housefire a decade ago. Having seen that devastation, I can imagine how frightening it must be for our LA correspondents. Please stay safe, all.

[Papyrus]

This may seem like a frivolous or idiotic addition to this thread, but it isn't meant to be, so here goes...

It seems to me that part of the problem lies in the way US houses are built. In the UK we are used to the majority of our housing stock being constructed of brick, stone, tile and slate - all non-flammable. (For the purposes of this I am leaving out the dreadful mistakes made with cladding on high-rise blocks.) In America, however, most houses seem to be built, to quote Pete Seeger, out of ticky-tacky, ie. timber and only the chimney is made out of brick. This means that if the house catches fire, the whole structure goes. Not only that, in the case of wildfires, all this extra combustible material just adds more fuel. Similarly, in tornado and hurricane prone areas, the houses just get smashed to pieces, whereas with a brick or stone structure the roof might go but the rest will stand. Can someone explain why the US building industry persists with this?

Anyway, I am glad to hear our Forum members are OK and I hope it stays that way. Look after yourselves.

Cheers,

Chris