[Onkel Neal]

Onkel Neal has made a Best of SUBSIM nomination.
Nomination Category:

Outstanding Member

Nomination basis: Thanks for the personal insights to the Cali fires
Forum: General Topics

Nominated Member: vienna
Nominated Post: Link

Being here in LA, in particular in Hollywood, I thought I'd share what I've observed and heard over the past few days; the winds were fully expected a number of days before the fires, with forecasters showing maps of the expected wind paths and strengths; in the area of Pacific Palisades, gust of up to 100 MPH were forecasted and, indeed, gust of 98 MPH were recorded on the fire day; Pacific Palisades is (or was) a seaside community tucked away in valleys in the coastal mountainside; there is really only one wide road into the enclave and no "backdoor" to use for escape; in addition, developers laid out the housing in a sort of meandering manner resulting in a large number of culs de sac and narrow streets and roads; when the fire in the Palisades started in the brush surrounding, the winds just tore through the flames, spreading them like flamethrowers over the entire area, bathing houses and businesses with sparks, embers and flame; it was really very fast and the residents didn't have much time to prepare for such an onslaught; the streets were clogged with cars and trucks trying to get out to the main road out of the area; first responders were stymied by the clogged roads and, eventually, ordered the drivers and passengers to grab what they could carry and abandon their vehicles; the firefighters had to resort to using bulldozers to shove a path through the vehicles in order to get their vehicles through to fight the fires; the smoke from the Palisades fire was visible from all the way to past Downtown LA, a distance of some 20 miles...

The Palisades fire has leveled the entirety of Pacific Palisades, for all intent and purposes, with precious few structures surviving; the devastation is near total; embers and flames even jumped over the coastal highway and consumed beachside homes and businesses that had been there for decades ...

There have been a few other fires breaking out in the past couple of days in the area; night before last, a fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills in an area known as Runyon Canyon, about a mile and a half from where I live; in ripped through the Canyon and did a lot of damage before the firefighters could get handle on it; it was something to walk out my buildings door and see the sky full of smoke and the red glow just a short distance away...

Another really major fire broke out in an area known as Altadena and has been called the Eaton Fire (fires are generally named after landmarks or major street and roads in the fire area); this fire really exploded in the high winds and is still raging; like Pacific Palisades, the fire has leveled whole sections of residential neighborhoods and, at one point, was threatening critical telecommunications facilities (TV, Radio, cell, etc.) on Mount Wilson, located above the fire area; the Mount Wilson Observatory was also in danger for a long while, but firefighters were able to make a stand and save Mount Wilson; the Eaton fire is particularly bad because Altadena sits in a sort of geographic ,bowl' in the foothills of the mountains; when the wind storms hit, the winds passing through the valleys and passes surrounding Altadena formed a swirling vortex over and around the city, swirling flames and embers in all directions; the situation was exactly what one would describe as an out of control firestorm...

The wind have been settling down in the last 24 hours and there is an awful lot of manpower and equipment on the scenes; fire crews from all over the state, and out of state, are here trying to help the local fire first responders; as is often the case with situations like this, there are those who are stupid or evil enough to just add to the woes of the authorities; a water dropping plane was grounded after some ass decided it was a good idea to enhance his social media by flying a drone into an active fire fighting area and their drone collided with and punched a hole into the plane; the plane had been sent down from Canada to assist in fighting the fires; I hope they catch the ass and throw the book (and bookcases) at him...

Another problem that popped up, particularly in the Eaton fire; looters were spotted and arrested by Sheriffs' Deputies and a request was put out to activate the CA National Guard to provide troops to secure fire areas and interdict any lotters or other criminals; the Guard is now on duty and the local governments have issued curfews for the fire areas from 6PM to 6AM daily to make it more difficult for criminals to roam about and to make it easier for first responders to move from scene to scene as they fight the fires...

I've got to say one thing about the response thus far; I was skeptical of the various local governments (city, county, state, and Federal) and the various Fire and Law Enforcement entities to function smoothly without turf fights or pettiness, but the lot of them have been coordinating with surprising smoothness and efficiency and have been responding quickly to changing conditions; kudos to them all...

Previous wildfires in this area have mainly been in remote rural areas, not rather more urban areas such as the most recent fires; it is really a shock to see neighborhoods similar to those in which one lives being leveled and in such proximity to here...





<O>