So Cal Fires (2 Viewers)

[DA RAIDERS]

I’m about 1.5 hours south, Laguna beach area. It was ridiculously windy last night. My neighbors 3’ in diameter decorative pot with a 4 foot tree in it somehow blew into the middle of the street. Has to weigh 2-3 hundred pounds.

 

[nirad3]

From Huntington Beach here—about an hour away from the fires. Last night and this morning were brutal. The winds were constant and there were plenty of gusts that were strong enough to shake my house. I feel like it’s calmed down a bit over here—but we’re still getting some pretty strong gusts. Scary stuff.

Also in HB (we still gotta get an OC cornhole goin!).

My sister, who's up in the Mt. Washington area of LA (kinda between downtown LA and Glendale) was just evacuated as a precaution... headed down to our Mom's place in Orange County with her boyfriend, kids and three animals.

Scary stuff.

 

[CGRdrJoe]

70-120 mph winds last night. Just can’t fly in that.

so we can land rovers on Mars but can't figure out how to fly in 120 mph winds to fight fires? Seems crazy to me but that's the obvious explanation. I'm just wondering if we're doing everything we can do everytime I see one of these fires...every year it seems like clockwork.

we also crash land rovers on Mars

 

[TripItUp]

Yup—it’s too dangerous. You mix that in with limited visibility from the smoke—and also how the strong wind would effectively make it hard to control where the water or fire retardant would land. Look at NASA and Space X—two entities that are known for their exceptional technology and intelligence—and they routinely postpone launches due to wind.

good points.

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

i'm surrounded by these fires right now and i can tell you the winds yesterday were nuts. couldn't drive more than a few blocks without seeing a tree fallen over. the winds by itself would have made it top 10 crazy things I've lived through in LA in my lifetime. that's a lot of decades.

today i wake up to seeing the black smokes to the east from the Eaton fires, to the northwest from the Hurst fires, and of course the Palisades. A new one just popped up north of the 101 off the 405 in the last hour, "Woodley" fire. I'm less than a mile from the evac zones, but I don't expect to be impacted directly. winds have died down since yesterday, but still gusting upwards of 30-40mph where I am, which is mostly city, which means a lot worse where the fires are, which is hillsides. this will get worse before it gets better.

Raiders already addressed it, that water running out news is exaggerated. Where that happened is in the middle of nowhere, it's a pass from the valley into Santa Clarita. It happened, but it's not indicative of any norm. The Eaton fire is the one I'm worried about most, that's right next to the Cal Tech campus and nothing there to the north of it. It's now crossed into Glendale and La Canada if you are familiar with the area and those are quite densely populated areas.

Prayers out to those impacted, I'll try to help with misinformation guidance here.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

70-120 mph winds last night. Just can’t fly in that.

so we can land rovers on Mars but can't figure out how to fly in 120 mph winds to fight fires? Seems crazy to me but that's the obvious explanation. I'm just wondering if we're doing everything we can do everytime I see one of these fires...every year it seems like clockwork.

I’m sure someone s working on it. But it’s the same thing with professional race cars. An F1 car is much safer than my Honda. It’s the cost. But I’m not sure the tech exists to fly lower than 200 feet in mountainous terrain, with wind gusts over 100mph.

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

not to make light of it, but funny to see NASA mentioned, the JPL (Jet Propulstion Lab) is right there where the Eaton fire started.

 

[TripItUp]

But I’m not sure the tech exists to fly lower than 200 feet in mountainous terrain, with wind gusts over 100mph.

Yeah, it just might not exist. I wonder if there is a solution outside of air support that is possible. As a California taxpayer, I would pitch in.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

This is really sad. My grandparents lived in the palisades. It’s an amazing place. Truly a gem of a neighborhood. One of the most desirable places to live in LA

 

[culdeus]

We've got to figure out a solution to these wildfires in the West.

Why can't we have an anti-fair air armada that can handle high winds....do we not have the technology and/or funding?

70-120 mph winds last night. Just can’t fly in that.

Yup—it’s too dangerous. You mix that in with limited visibility from the smoke—and also how the strong wind would effectively make it hard to control where the water or fire retardant would land. Look at NASA and Space X—two entities that are known for their exceptional technology and intelligence—and they routinely postpone launches due to wind.

And the payload of aircraft to fight these is too small to matter. They dump some pretty rough stuff in forests that you can't dump in residential areas.

Solution is climate based but we've decided to just pretend that's not worth doing anything about.

 

[culdeus]

I mean imagine if you said we gotta cut a fire lane thru a city that involves flattening 300 houses not on fire. Because that's how it works in a forest.

 

[TLEF316]

There are solutions available in terms of "pre- treating" buildings before the fire arrives. My company (large P&C insurance carrier) offers it to our high end personal lines clients and by all accounts, it's VERY effective.

Just not sure whether it's cost feasible
(Or even logistically possible) to do it it every building in the path of a fire. And in a windy situation, where the path can change in an instant, it becomes even more difficult

 

[belljr]

Trying to keep up to date but excuse my ignorance but how did fires along the beach happen?

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Trying to keep up to date but excuse my ignorance but how did fires along the beach happen?

Blown embers

 

[belljr]

Trying to keep up to date but excuse my ignorance but how did fires along the beach happen?

Blown embers

I didn't realize the fires were that close to beach I guess. Is there a known cause yet? Not that's that important right now just curious

 

[DA RAIDERS]

We've got to figure out a solution to these wildfires in the West.

Why can't we have an anti-fair air armada that can handle high winds....do we not have the technology and/or funding?

70-120 mph winds last night. Just can’t fly in that.

Yup—it’s too dangerous. You mix that in with limited visibility from the smoke—and also how the strong wind would effectively make it hard to control where the water or fire retardant would land. Look at NASA and Space X—two entities that are known for their exceptional technology and intelligence—and they routinely postpone launches due to wind.

And the payload of aircraft to fight these is too small to matter. They dump some pretty rough stuff in forests that you can't dump in residential areas.

Solution is climate based but we've decided to just pretend that's not worth doing anything about.

We had a fire across the street from us a few years ago. Large uninhabited canyon. We were in the mandatory evacuation zone. They dropped TONS of the pink retardant. The sheer number of water dropping aircraft was amazing. They managed to contain it. We stayed to do what we could. The wind was blowing away from us so I figured we’d be ok. It was a long night.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Trying to keep up to date but excuse my ignorance but how did fires along the beach happen?

Blown embers

I didn't realize the fires were that close to beach I guess. Is there a known cause yet? Not that's that important right now just curious

Not yet.

 

[Chris B.]

It's eerie and apocalyptic. I'm in West LA and can still see the hills on fire from my neighborhood. The heavy winds are blowing the smoke to the west so the eastern sky is bright blue. It's so weird.

 

[arrow1]

Have friends there. Evacuated. They left CA for TX but went back after pandy because of weather, jobs, etc. Looking at what's impacted they are probably wiped out.

pandy? I hope you don't mean pandemic

 

[SFBayDuck]

I was at the Rose Bowl a week ago today, and now it's being used as an animal shelter.

 

[Sand]

You know there are places that 1.) don't have fires and 2.) don't have blizzards in the 48 contiguous United States of God Bless America, right? Move from OH to SC was life changing.

Maybe hold on to that statement until Saturday?

Prayers for those out west. Terrifying. And I hope the reports of no water available are not true.

 

[CGRdrJoe]

You know there are places that 1.) don't have fires and 2.) don't have blizzards in the 48 contiguous United States of God Bless America, right? Move from OH to SC was life changing.

Maybe hold on to that statement until Saturday?

Prayers for those out west. Terrifying. And I hope the reports of no water available are not true.

the are true to a certain extent, the water pressure

"Scores of fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.

“The hydrants are down,” said one firefighter in internal radio communications.

“Water supply just dropped,” said another.

By 3 a.m. Wednesday, all fire hydrants in the Palisades area “went dry,” said Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the city’s utility.
Quiñones and other DWP officials said that the city was fighting a wildfire in hilly terrain with an urban water system, and that at lower elevations in the Palisades, water pressure remained strong.

Before the fire, all 114 tanks that supply the city water infrastructure were completely filled.

Quiñones said that the hydrants in the Palisades rely on three large water tanks with about 1 million gallons each. The first ran dry at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday; the second at 8:30 p.m.; and the third was dry at 3 a.m. Wednesday.

“Those tanks help with the pressure on the fire hydrants in the hills in the Palisades, and because we were pushing so much water in our trunk line, and so much water was being used. ... we were not able to fill the tanks fast enough,” she said. “So the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in a trunk line.”

In other words, the demand for water at lower elevations was hampering the ability to refill the tanks located at higher elevations. Because of the ongoing fire, DWP crews also faced difficulty accessing its pump stations, which are used to move water up to the tanks.

The utility on Wednesday was sending 20 tanks with water to support firefighters in the Palisades, and the tankers were having to reload at other distant locations."

 

[Runkle]

70-120 mph winds last night. Just can’t fly in that.

so we can land rovers on Mars but can't figure out how to fly in 120 mph winds to fight fires? Seems crazy to me but that's the obvious explanation. I'm just wondering if we're doing everything we can do everytime I see one of these fires...every year it seems like clockwork.

Los Angeles County is 4000 square miles. The state of Rhode Island is 1000 square miles, Connecticut is 4800 square miles. It's a lot of ground to cover.

 

[beer 30]

Maybe hold on to that statement until Saturday?

That's fair. I'll still take once every 4-5 years as opposed to a regular occurrence.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I was at the Rose Bowl a week ago today, and now it's being used as an animal shelter.

Geeze, what did you do the place?

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

You know there are places that 1.) don't have fires and 2.) don't have blizzards in the 48 contiguous United States of God Bless America, right? Move from OH to SC was life changing.

Maybe hold on to that statement until Saturday?

Prayers for those out west. Terrifying. And I hope the reports of no water available are not true.

the are true to a certain extent, the water pressure

"Scores of fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.

“The hydrants are down,” said one firefighter in internal radio communications.

“Water supply just dropped,” said another.

By 3 a.m. Wednesday, all fire hydrants in the Palisades area “went dry,” said Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the city’s utility.
Quiñones and other DWP officials said that the city was fighting a wildfire in hilly terrain with an urban water system, and that at lower elevations in the Palisades, water pressure remained strong.

Before the fire, all 114 tanks that supply the city water infrastructure were completely filled.

Quiñones said that the hydrants in the Palisades rely on three large water tanks with about 1 million gallons each. The first ran dry at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday; the second at 8:30 p.m.; and the third was dry at 3 a.m. Wednesday.

“Those tanks help with the pressure on the fire hydrants in the hills in the Palisades, and because we were pushing so much water in our trunk line, and so much water was being used. ... we were not able to fill the tanks fast enough,” she said. “So the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in a trunk line.”

In other words, the demand for water at lower elevations was hampering the ability to refill the tanks located at higher elevations. Because of the ongoing fire, DWP crews also faced difficulty accessing its pump stations, which are used to move water up to the tanks.

The utility on Wednesday was sending 20 tanks with water to support firefighters in the Palisades, and the tankers were having to reload at other distant locations."

thanks, was about to post this. the infrastructure is pushed to its limits. cliff note version is that the tanks in the lower elevation are still filled but have high demand, so the tanks that went dry in the high elevation last night are not being filled due to low water pressure. politicians out there screaming bloody murder at DWP, but short of creating an infrastructure that can handle such fires on a regular basis, which sounds crazy to me just as much as "not having water in the hydrants," I dunno what anyone could have done. Maybe a reservoir? but then we'd need one of those in every city out that way.

 

[MAC_32]

You know there are places that 1.) don't have fires and 2.) don't have blizzards in the 48 contiguous United States of God Bless America, right? Move from OH to SC was life changing.

I may feel differently as I age, but I much MUCH prefer the summer-winter combo in OH vs SC and nothing tops Labor Day-Halloween up here.

 

[Runkle]

Good luck to any in the area, videos look brutal.

We're looking at New Mexico for retirement, which has its own fire issues. I dunno.

Six months of winter gets a little old, but I don't really mind it. Blizzards are pretty if you're not trying to drive through them, and they're not dangerous at all otherwise. Maybe we should just stay put. That seems like an overreaction though. I dunno.

You know there are places that 1.) don't have fires and 2.) don't have blizzards in the 48 contiguous United States of God Bless America, right? Move from OH to SC was life changing.

Great, hurricanes

 

[DA RAIDERS]

They just put in a new pump and much bigger piping and a reservoir about half the size of a shipping container to make the helicopter water staging spot that is across the street from me more effective. They practice touch and gos and filling the chopper about once a quarter. It’s pretty cool watching them.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Maybe hold on to that statement until Saturday?

That's fair. I'll still take once every 4-5 years as opposed to a regular occurrence.

Been here all my life. Was under mandatory evacuation once. I didn’t leave. It’s awesome here.

 

[bigbottom]

It's eerie and apocalyptic. I'm in West LA and can still see the hills on fire from my neighborhood. The heavy winds are blowing the smoke to the west so the eastern sky is bright blue. It's so weird.

My son lives in Playa Del Rey and sent me videos from his house showing the fires in PP last night. Then this morning he does to work in Pasadena where he said it was raining ash from the Pasadena fire. Ended up getting sent home due to air quality.

 

[beer 30]

You know there are places that 1.) don't have fires and 2.) don't have blizzards in the 48 contiguous United States of God Bless America, right? Move from OH to SC was life changing.

I may feel differently as I age, but I much MUCH prefer the summer-winter combo in OH vs SC and nothing tops Labor Day-Halloween up here.

When we moved down here my cousin had lived here for about 20 years. He said you trade 4-5 months of **** winter for 4-5 months of Africa hot summer. I still travel a fair amount up north, I can live with the heat. Not sure how anyone lived here before AC though.

Great, hurricanes

Easy there bub, some of us don't have the FBG and live on the ocean. I'm just south of Charlotte, haven't seen a hurricane in almost 20 years. Some have come close but not even then, it's heavy winds & rain when it gets this far inland. Helene being the major exception but not in this area.

 

[nirad3]

You know there are places that 1.) don't have fires and 2.) don't have blizzards in the 48 contiguous United States of God Bless America, right? Move from OH to SC was life changing.

I may feel differently as I age, but I much MUCH prefer the summer-winter combo in OH vs SC and nothing tops Labor Day-Halloween up here.

When we moved down here my cousin had lived here for about 20 years. He said you trade 4-5 months of **** winter for 4-5 months of Africa hot summer. I still travel a fair amount up north, I can live with the heat. Not sure how anyone lived here before AC though.

Great, hurricanes

Easy there bub, some of us don't have the FBG and live on the ocean. I'm just south of Charlotte, haven't seen a hurricane in almost 20 years. Some have come close but not even then, it's heavy winds & rain when it gets this far inland. Helene being the major exception but not in this area.

You are probably pretty close to either where I worked on an apartment project (Fort Mill) or where my Mom grew up (Laurens).

Not to veer off-topic but my Mom really loved going back to the Greenville area to visit her cousins and may move back there at some point.

Also - at least where I'm at here in Orange County, the winds have really died down since last night / this morning.

 

[Gr00vus]

We're near the Eaton fire. Our house has been bouncing in and out of mandatory evacuation status since last night. We're staying at a relative's a few miles away right now. Last night we could see the hills covered in flame from our back windows. Knew it was time to evac without being told. Drove by the house this morning and its still there.

It looks like hell around here. The ash, the debris, the smoke. The destroyed homes. Ive never been near anything like this. Know a bunch of people who've lost their homes. Will probably be more by the end of this. It's a terrible thing.

 

[flarkworms]

We're in Santa Monica and were under an evacuation warning last night. We didn't need to leave, but my wife went into Girl Scout mode and packed up a bunch of stuff just in case. I was pretty confident we'd be Ok because the fire would have had to jump the entire Riviera Country Club golf course to get anywhere close to us.

 

[Gr00vus]

Special gratitude to the firefighters, they're doing all they can in a virtually impossible situation.

 

[dkp993]

Maybe hold on to that statement until Saturday?

That's fair. I'll still take once every 4-5 years as opposed to a regular occurrence.

Been here all my life. Was under mandatory evacuation once. I didn’t leave. It’s awesome here.

Me too. In ‘07 fires. Ended up losing that home in the ‘08 housing collapse. Wish it had burned in 07.

 

[The Z Machine]

My father, his wife, and 2 cats are at an evacuation shelter. Ugh.

 

[djmich]

They are doubt going to have to figure out cutting brush, killing fire lines, etc. also forcing some insurers to stay in the state

Allow insurers to price fire insurance properly?

 

[nirad3]

Special gratitude to the firefighters, they're doing all they can in a virtually impossible situation.

My town's FD (Huntington Beach) sent a truck and a crew up last night. It's an all-hands-on-deck sort of thing.

 

[MAC_32]

He said you trade 4-5 months of **** winter for 4-5 months of Africa hot summer.

That's the thing, in our new world, it isn't 4-5 months of **** winter anymore. We had zero daytime highs below freezing in Dec 23 and one in all of Dec 21 / 19 / 18. The only times it happened in Dec 20 and 22 was when a giant front ripped through the whole country and like in places like SC it only lasted a couple days.

I'm not gonna blow smoke up anyone's *** about January and February. January always sucks. February can have a few hits, but it being shoulder season those hits often come with winter residue all over the ground, so it mostly sucks too. That's about it though. 60's and even some 70's linger into Nov then usually start to return by early March. And I don't know about you, but I'd much MUCH rather have my nice weather in summer v winter.

The times they are a changing...

 

[mr. furley]

Have friends there. Evacuated. They left CA for TX but went back after pandy because of weather, jobs, etc. Looking at what's impacted they are probably wiped out.

what is "pandy"?

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

2 hr 15 min ago

California governor deploys National Guard personnel to assist with firefighting efforts​

From CNN's Elise Hammond
The California National Guard has deployed troops to help assist with the response to multiple wildfires raging across Los Angeles County, the governor said on Wednesday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in a post on X the state’s National Guard and the California Department of Foresty and Fire Protection “have a unique partnership unlike any other state.”

The National Guard personnel will join those already in position to fight the fires, the governor’s office said.

There are currently four fires burning in Los Angeles County.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

He said you trade 4-5 months of **** winter for 4-5 months of Africa hot summer.

That's the thing, in our new world, it isn't 4-5 months of **** winter anymore. We had zero daytime highs below freezing in Dec 23 and one in all of Dec 21 / 19 / 18. The only times it happened in Dec 20 and 22 was when a giant front ripped through the whole country and like in places like SC it only lasted a couple days.

I'm not gonna blow smoke up anyone's *** about January and February. January always sucks. February can have a few hits, but it being shoulder season those hits often come with winter residue all over the ground, so it mostly sucks too. That's about it though. 60's and even some 70's linger into Nov then usually start to return by early March. And I don't know about you, but I'd much MUCH rather have my nice weather in summer v winter.

The times they are a changing...

I like having four seasons. That's why we're looking at places in the southwest with elevation, like Albuquerque/Santa Fe or Flagstaff, not Phoenix or Las Cruces. We would welcome upper-midwest winters if they were more like three months long instead of five or six.

I like the geographical diversity of the US, but one place where we really suffer relative to Europe is that we just seem to have incredible climate variation relative to them. It seems like every single place in the US either has brutal winters, hot and humid summers, hurricanes, wildfires, or something. You sort of have to decide what you're willing to live with and what's a deal-breaker.

 

[The Gator]

Have friends there. Evacuated. They left CA for TX but went back after pandy because of weather, jobs, etc. Looking at what's impacted they are probably wiped out.

what is "pandy"?

It’s French for pandemic

 

[DA RAIDERS]

We're in Santa Monica and were under an evacuation warning last night. We didn't need to leave, but my wife went into Girl Scout mode and packed up a bunch of stuff just in case. I was pretty confident we'd be Ok because the fire would have had to jump the entire Riviera Country Club golf course to get anywhere close to us.

My grandparents house was at the main gate on capri. I’m unsure if it’s still there. I think so

 

[GroveDiesel]

They are doubt going to have to figure out cutting brush, killing fire lines, etc. also forcing some insurers to stay in the state

And doing more to force the utility companies to maintain their equipment (unless that has changed). I remember reading a few years ago that poorly maintained electrical lines/transformers/etc start a lot of fires in CA.

 

[dkp993]

They are doubt going to have to figure out cutting brush, killing fire lines, etc. also forcing some insurers to stay in the state

And doing more to force the utility companies to maintain their equipment (unless that has changed). I remember reading a few years ago that poorly maintained electrical lines/transformers/etc start a lot of fires in CA.

They do. Which is why they’ve resorted to shutting power off in times of high wind. But the problem extends further than just maintenance. The root problem is the powerlines were originally built above ground on poles. The cost to move them underground is obviously enormous and they don’t want to pay for that. They’ve likely done the math and it’s more cost effective to pay out lawsuits than move the lines underground.*

*that last part is pure speculation on my part.

 

[HomerSimpson]

They are doubt going to have to figure out cutting brush, killing fire lines, etc. also forcing some insurers to stay in the state

And doing more to force the utility companies to maintain their equipment (unless that has changed). I remember reading a few years ago that poorly maintained electrical lines/transformers/etc start a lot of fires in CA.

Here in the Bay Area PG&E is our only power option and they are a FOR PROFIT publicly traded company. They neglect the infrastructure to save money, Then when they are a responsible for a fire, they just raise the price on everyone to cover it.

 

[MAC_32]

I like the geographical diversity of the US, but one place where we really suffer relative to Europe is that we just seem to have incredible climate variation relative to them. It seems like every single place in the US either has brutal winters, hot and humid summers, hurricanes, wildfires, or something. You sort of have to decide what you're willing to live with and what's a deal-breaker.

VERY

I used to think one side or the other of the Smokies (but still elevated) in eastern TN or western NC was about as good as one could get in order to achieve balance, but then Helene happened.