Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad
Bad fire in Sylmar (which is somewhat near us, though not threatening our home in any way) spread to Porter Ranch (in addition to five other bad fires in different areas of Southern California). At least one of our employees evacuated, and she is one of the ones who had to evacuate last fire as well a month ago. This fire is basically right next to where the last one was, bordered in fact by the dead brush from the last fire. I think our employee's home will be OK. I don't know that for sure, but it looks to me like the fire is going past her area without carving in towards her house.
Another friend of mine had to be evacuated to a Motel 6. Not sure where his house is, in relation to the fire.
This one is worse than the last one. 500-600 homes lost so far.
We came over the hill last night from Century City to the Vally through the Sepulveda Pass, where you get a view of the entire San Fernando Valley, and the Valley looked like it was on fire. Traffic was slowing just from the sight of it (though we were many many miles away). It looked like a missile had struck a part of the city.
It is incredible that you can see flames in that photo, which attests to just how high the flames are. Winds are very strong, ranging up to 80mph. Flames go up to 50 feet high.
Helicopters were making rare night-time water drops, which were dangerous but apparently someone decided it had to be done to prevent more spreading.
During the day the bigger planes have been dropping fire retardant liquid to try and create fire breaks.
The fire caught some of the power lines feeding into a major electrical hub. All of Los Angeles is on notice to save electricity, and rolling blackouts may be called for (they were already triggered once briefly).
Water pressure is also very low right now due to the number of fires and number of people who stayed at their homes to try and fight it themselves with hoses. So most of LA is also on notice to save water.
Governor Schwarzenegger has declared the region an emergency.
The fire nearest us has now covered over 5 square miles
A major hospital in the region, part of a UCLA branch, was evacuated. They lost all power, and all emergency backup power as the fire apparently hit their generators. All critical patients and neo-natal had to be evacuated by ambulance.
The roads out of the region got so clogged than some people abandoned their cars on the side of the road to walk out. Most however just waited as the line slowly progressed.
Fire fighters have had to repeatedly retreat from their fire break lines, as the flames were so high they jumped multiple freeways.
LA gets fires every year, but usually it's in hillside brush areas. This year, we seem to be getting hit repeatedly in very heavily populated suburban areas that have never burned in my lifetime.
Another friend of mine had to be evacuated to a Motel 6. Not sure where his house is, in relation to the fire.
This one is worse than the last one. 500-600 homes lost so far.
We came over the hill last night from Century City to the Vally through the Sepulveda Pass, where you get a view of the entire San Fernando Valley, and the Valley looked like it was on fire. Traffic was slowing just from the sight of it (though we were many many miles away). It looked like a missile had struck a part of the city.
It is incredible that you can see flames in that photo, which attests to just how high the flames are. Winds are very strong, ranging up to 80mph. Flames go up to 50 feet high.
Helicopters were making rare night-time water drops, which were dangerous but apparently someone decided it had to be done to prevent more spreading.
During the day the bigger planes have been dropping fire retardant liquid to try and create fire breaks.
The fire caught some of the power lines feeding into a major electrical hub. All of Los Angeles is on notice to save electricity, and rolling blackouts may be called for (they were already triggered once briefly).
Water pressure is also very low right now due to the number of fires and number of people who stayed at their homes to try and fight it themselves with hoses. So most of LA is also on notice to save water.
Governor Schwarzenegger has declared the region an emergency.
The fire nearest us has now covered over 5 square miles
A major hospital in the region, part of a UCLA branch, was evacuated. They lost all power, and all emergency backup power as the fire apparently hit their generators. All critical patients and neo-natal had to be evacuated by ambulance.
The roads out of the region got so clogged than some people abandoned their cars on the side of the road to walk out. Most however just waited as the line slowly progressed.
Fire fighters have had to repeatedly retreat from their fire break lines, as the flames were so high they jumped multiple freeways.
LA gets fires every year, but usually it's in hillside brush areas. This year, we seem to be getting hit repeatedly in very heavily populated suburban areas that have never burned in my lifetime.
