LA wildfires

[Sojourner]

For anyone who lives or is from that area, are wildfires at this time of year common?

[BigAl2526]

6 minutes ago, Sojourner said:

For anyone who lives or is from that area, are wildfires at this time of year common?

I don't live there, but no, I don't think southern Californians expect major problems with wild fires in January.  If they are going to get significant rain, this is the time of year they expect it. 

[Let's Go Buffalo]

Thoughts and prayers for all those who are dealing with these devastating fires!

[LABILLBACKER]

33 minutes ago, Sojourner said:

For anyone who lives or is from that area, are wildfires at this time of year common?

Dry cold Santa Ana's, yes. Not one drop of rain in a year, no.  We're on pace to have the smallest rainfall total in 150 years.  Our typical wildfire season is May-October.  90% of the rain we're supposed to get is in Jan/Feb.  

Edited 12 hours ago by LABILLBACKER

[Sojourner]

2 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Dry cold Santa Ana's, yes. Not one drop of rain in a year, no.  We're on pace to have the smallest rainfall total in 150 years.  Our typical wildfire season is May-October.  90% of the rain we're supposed to get is in Jan/Feb.  

 

Yeah, I thought I remember hearing that when they had the one that was apparently started by a guy and a car not long ago?

 

can’t say in 40 years I’ve heard wildfires around this time but that’s me being reliant on coverage of them. Usually I’d only hear about it first hand from those that got out of hand via people who have family there or from news outlets

[Jon in Pasadena]

45 minutes ago, Sojourner said:

For anyone who lives or is from that area, are wildfires at this time of year common?

There has never been an event like this in January. There was one in December once, I recall but like .0001% of this destruction.

14 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Dry cold Santa Ana's, yes. Not one drop of rain in a year, no.  We're on pace to have the smallest rainfall total in 150 years.  Our typical wildfire season is May-October.  90% of the rain we're supposed to get is in Jan/Feb.  

 

LABB - you're in La Crescenta?  I'm in La Canada. Got evacuated late Tuesday night/ Wed morning.  I didn't sleep a wink that night, was looking out my bedroom window the whole time, and when I saw live flames cresting the last ridge before my little valley I said "Eff this, I'm outie" and while I was getting my stuff out the door is when the mandatory evac order came through on my phone.

[LABILLBACKER]

12 minutes ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

There has never been an event like this in January. There was one in December once, I recall but like .0001% of this destruction.

 

LABB - you're in La Crescenta?  I'm in La Canada. Got evacuated late Tuesday night/ Wed morning.  I didn't sleep a wink that night, was looking out my bedroom window the whole time, and when I saw live flames cresting the last ridge before my little valley I said "Eff this, I'm outie" and while I was getting my stuff out the door is when the mandatory evac order came through on my phone.

When my son woke me at 3am Wed. morning, we looked east and could see the dreaded orange glow and flames near JPL.  My youngest son's in laws almost lost their house along upper Canyonside, but thank God they were spared. Most of the homes in that development were lost.  We're off of Briggs so there's Pickens Canyon right there.  We were w/o power for 4 days and evacuated.  Our power came back last night. Is there power in La Canada yet?

[Jon in Pasadena]

14 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

When my son woke me at 3am Wed. morning, we looked east and could see the dreaded orange glow and flames near JPL.  My youngest son's in laws almost lost their house along upper Canyonside, but thank God they were spared. Most of the homes in that development were lost.  We're off of Briggs so there's Pickens Canyon right there.  We were w/o power for 4 days and evacuated.  Our power came back last night. Is there power in La Canada yet?

Yeah they lifted my evac order late yesterday (technically downgraded to "Warning") and we came back last night. I'd already been out yesterday to set up a generator and run the fridge for a while to save some food. Edit: and wet down my roof!!

My freezer still had ice in it after 2.5 days of no power! Glad I sprang for a new one last year. Power came back on last night about 8:30, I know cuz my Ring cameras suddenly went live.

 

This is how it looked to the East of us when I walked up to the ridge on Tuesday night:

Edited 11 hours ago by Jon in Pasadena

[Jon in Pasadena]

I know at least five friends so far that lost their homes and everything in this fire. And I'm sure there will be more to come 😞 

[LABILLBACKER]

7 minutes ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

Yeah they lifted my evac order late yesterday (technically downgraded to "Warning") and we came back last night. I'd already been out yesterday to set up a generator and run the fridge for a while to save some food. My freezer still had ice in it after 2.5 days of no power! Glad I sprang for a new one last year. Power came back on last night about 8:30, I know cuz my Ring cameras suddenly went live.

 

This is how it looked to the East of us when I walked up to the ridge on Tuesday night:

Yup, that's what I saw. You just had a closer vantage point. We both experienced a similar scary journey.  I always thought if our house was in jeopardy it would come down the hill from Briggs terrace. Couldn't believe how long the ice held up. I'm definitely investing in a generator and better phone banks. 

 

Good Luck @Jon in Pasadena and let's hope Monday's wind is nothing like last week. Stay safe....

[Jon in Pasadena]

1 minute ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Yup, that's what I saw. You just had a closer vantage point. We both experienced a similar scary journey.  I always thought if our house was in jeopardy it would come down the hill from Briggs terrace. Couldn't believe how long the ice held up. I'm definitely investing in a generator and better phone banks. 

 

Good Luck @Jon in Pasadena and let's hope Monday's wind is nothing like last week. Stay safe....

That's why I'm keeping an eye on that bitchy little Creek Fire just North of us. It's small, but if they don't knock it down completely by the time the Santa Anas start up again on Tuesday as predicted...

[LABILLBACKER]

2 minutes ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

I know at least five friends so far that lost their homes and everything in this fire. And I'm sure there will be more to come 😞 

My son works for Morgan Stanley in Pasadena.  He knows 10 families in either Altadena or Palisades that have lost homes.  And my brother in law will be in Altadena all this week shutting off gas lines.  

1 minute ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

That's why I'm keeping an eye on that bitchy little Creek Fire just North of us. It's small, but if they don't knock it down completely by the time the Santa Anas start up again on Tuesday as predicted...

Yup, right down Angeles Crest. At least the wind layed down to get more air support up.

[Jon in Pasadena]

10 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

My son works for Morgan Stanley in Pasadena.  He knows 10 families in either Altadena or Palisades that have lost homes.  And my brother in law will be in Altadena all this week shutting off gas lines.  

Yup, right down Angeles Crest. At least the wind layed down to get more air support up.

Have you seen that aerial picture of Altadena burning at night? It's horrific.

2 minutes ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

Have you seen this aerial picture of Altadena burning at night? It's horrific.  Like Dresden or something.

Edited 11 hours ago by Jon in Pasadena

[LABILLBACKER]

7 minutes ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

Have you seen that aerial picture of Altadena burning at night? It's horrific.

Absolutely devastating and heartbreaking.  This will go down as the costliest disaster in modern US history at nearly 200 billion. And more homes are burning today in Mandeville Canyon. 

[Jon in Pasadena]

1 minute ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Absolutely devastating and heartbreaking.  This will go down as the costliest disaster in modern US history at nearly 200 billion. And more homes are burning today in Mandeville Canyon. 

I heard all of the Malibu beach houses are gone. All of them.

[LABILLBACKER]

3 minutes ago, Jon in Pasadena said:

I heard all of the Malibu beach houses are gone. All of them.

I always thought a massive earthquake would be the thing to get us. But this is beyond any fire destruction I could ever have envisioned in the LA Basin. 

[Jon in Pasadena]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

I always thought a massive earthquake would be the thing to get us. But this is beyond any fire destruction I could ever have envisioned in the LA Basin. 

100,000s of acres of dried fuel + unrelenting Hurricane force winds + spark = Bad Things

[Mark Long Beach]

My cousin's house went up.  Nothing left.  She's just a couple blocks from Altadena and Lake.  The Altadena UCC church my eldest was baptized in is gone.  Same for St Elizabeth's (the Catholic church nearby) where we'd go for Christmas mass.    My aunts house is a few short blocks away.  So far, so good for this house, but there's a lot of burning still going on.   These two houses were where we spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at.   Still feels unreal.

[Bills!Win!]

How does a fire this big stop?

[Jon in Pasadena]

8 minutes ago, Mark Long Beach said:

My cousin's house went up.  Nothing left.  She's just a couple blocks from Altadena and Lake.  The Altadena UCC church my eldest was baptized in is gone.  Same for St Elizabeth's (the Catholic church nearby) where we'd go for Christmas mass.    My aunts house is a few short blocks away.  So far, so good for this house, but there's a lot of burning still going on.   These two houses were where we spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at.   Still feels unreal.

At the end of the school year last May, the Choir director at my kids' HS invited all the graduating seniors and their families to a luncheon at his beautiful home.

 

Just found out it burned to the ground.

4 minutes ago, Bills!Win! said:

How does a fire this big stop?

 

you need the winds to stop being a B word, so you can encircle it with firebreaks, and douse it repeatedly with ######ant from aircraft to try to keep the heat and flames down. then you just wait, you can't stop it, it can only stop itself when it runs out of fuel.

 

haha - the bot didn't like r.e.t.a.r.d.a.n.t

Edited 9 hours ago by Jon in Pasadena