LA Wildfires

WEDGE

WEDGE

Zombie five, DFZ
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Messages
4,869
Location
Too close to the casinos in CT.........
Do we have anyone here local to the wildfires going on in LA? Hope everyone is safe. Beyond the risk of life I read about personal belongings getting destroyed, this morning was a swimmer getting his Olympic medals burnt up. I wonder how many instruments are also going up in flames. I bet more than a couple people had their personal collections they kept at home lost to the fires.
 
I'm just numb from the loss of life and devastation. I lived in the Palisades for a decade and it's hard to fathom the overnight change. The entire street that our house was on burned. The town lost 5000 of its 8800 houses and almost the whole town center.

We were there in '93 during the Old Topanga fire and had our car & valuables packed, which must have included the LP too, but the fire only got to within a mile or so. Fires have always occurred in the area, especially when the Santa Ana winds kick up. The church we went to had burned down in '79 when a small part of the Palisades burned to Sunset Boulevard. But nothing like the near 100 mph winds on Tuesday night had ever happened before.

Our friends still in the area were very lucky but the fires came within not many yards of them. Also the apartment complex where we lived earlier looks like it survived. Some views on a February morning from long ago:
 
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The past few days have been super windy down here (Western Arizona). We've had gusts in the 60mph range and I know they have had gusts in the 70, 80 and 90mph range.
Crazy stuff
So sad for people to lose everything and no time to gather anything up.
 
It is a tragedy of epic proportions. And one of the worst parts of it is, many insurance companies had started a few years back refusing to insure houses in that and other areas around the country. I get it, insurance companies are in it to make money, but if they knew that this could turn into a big loss, many others did to! Best wishes to all who were and are in the path of both the fires and the path of companies refusing to provide any relief!
 
It's a devastating hell . We had part of our home burned by a kid playing with a magnifying glass in an adjacent field. It's the most hopless feeling, our dog was trapped inside. Luckily she was saved and the home was too.

My late Father was the Chief of Cal OES , now called CALFIRE. He was the one that headed ALL the resources in fires like this.
Many horror stories , and sleepless nights wondering if he was OK. In one of the big LA fires he got trapped by the fire , had to put on his emergency fire blanket and crawl under his 4x4 . He radioed in , and prayed a lot. When it had passed , the tires were melted , along with the paint
They pulled him out from under the truck .. and he said " Thanks Boys, what took you ?

I wanted to follow in his footsteps , he told me in no uncertain terms NO !!!!


.
 
It is horrible to see this all play out seemingly annually and the people affected. I saw that video online of the men inside a house when fires were all around. Much respect to fire crews putting their lives on the line tp save them and others.

It's a novel but Barkskins by annie proulx (an canadian/american timber historical family saga) has a great write up of a wildfire caused by pipe smoking by felling crews. She writes from fact and the description of the speed of the advance is terrifying.
 
The Santa Winds are NOTORIOUS .. one of the big ones down there jumped the 16 lane LA Freeway .. that is a HUGE fire break ... Mother Nature will retaliate when we don't treat her right .. now those who refuse to listen will...

For those in harm's way I pray for you
 
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The winds calmed Friday, but picked right back up yesterday.
They are predicting more winds and low humidity thru Wednesday. Doesnt look like they are going to catch a break anytime soon.
 
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And if you live in LA, or are thinking of going to gawk at the misery, then stay away from the fire zone - if you don't have a house there then you don't belong there, and if you have a home and first responders tell you to stay out then stay out. The toughest part of going through a disaster is not knowing if your house is still standing (if you know it's gone you can start planning, but the waiting sucks). A big problem with notifying residents is so many resources are distracted by gawkers, lookie loos, ghouls who want to see destruction and so called "citizen journalists", that the city and county can't focus on helping the victims. It's mind numbing sitting in a line of 10 - 20 carloads of people fighting with law enforcement because they "want to see the fire damage" or "want content to post on social media" when you're trying to find out if you still have a home and can't get in because of all the disaster tourists.
 
veinbuster said:
I happen to have lost everything to a house fire. It was devastating. The house did not have fire insurance, for reasons I won’t bore you with. That magnified the impact of the loss.

Any assistance you can offer makes a difference. I remember it being a lot nicer to have two shirts than one.
Click to expand...
That last sentence made me go to the closet and start gathering stuff to send. Thanks.
 
A satellite image from Friday morning shows most of Pacific Palisades with the option of zooming in as shown below. The two places where we lived are gone.

Earlier info indicated that the apartment building had survived but it's instead the ashes in the center of the picture. The pool is at the bottom right:
Screenshot-2025-01-14-at-10-52-56-AM.png
 
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