Southern California Wildfires Force Thousands to Flee

OP why the WTF?? I don't see what is so odd about this story to cause you to be such a damn MARY! Drop the drama.

Nice bi polar metal case overreaction, r1.

Sorry, R3, but he's right. It's Southern California. And Wildfires. No big WTF.

Not in Dec, r3/hon. Duh!

This is an example of something blue state california needs to look to red southeatern states. They need to stop focusing on fire supression and incorporate large scale prescribed burns.

CA is becoming a less habitable place with each year.

3 wildfires now and the So Cal wildfire don't wipe out out neighborhoods every year. This is usual.

Santa Paul Ca fire - 175 homes lost and 30,000 people evacuated. 50,000 acres 0% containment. 1 dead.

Sylmar fire - 34 home lost 2,700 homes evacuated

Santa Clarita - 1,000 acres 0% containment.

r1 and r3, YOU'RE WRONG but I'm sure that's not unusual for the two of you.

It was REALLY windy last night. Combined with the fact that we've had virtually no measurable rain this fall, and you have very dangerous conditions.

bump

........

Endless coverage.

I feel bad for the people of Santa Clarita. Earlier this year they had a flood, now they have a fire to contend with.

No, these fires are different especially on the heals of Santa Rosa.

The weather is just different here now. It's changed. No rain. Long periods of strange high clouds. Wildfires with no chance of containment that hit homes.

r1 and r3 on a date.

Now Bel Air along the 405.

Homeless people camped in the brush below the expensive houses set fires to keep warm and then the winds rise.

Beverly Glen is closed...massive fire.

Now it's a rich, white people fire. 405 closed in BOTH directions. END TIMES!

Sad Last Days

The South has nothing to teach California in the wildfire department. A controlled burn in an area with 50 inches of annual rain is not the same as a controlled burn in an area with 15 inches.

These are super-fires, they are advancing a football field a second. This is an ecological disaster.

California is treating them as five different fires: Ventura, San Bernardino, Sylmar, Bel Air, and Santa Clarita.

Live updates:

Does anyone think someone is setting these fires?

It's strange but these fires almost sound strategic. There will be an exodus of democrats out of these counties if for no other reason that there is nothing to come back to. The fires have destroyed everything.

A lot of speculation that these are politically connected arsons. In other times, we would have laughed. How depressing that it would even seem like a possibility.

Not gonna happen, R23.

If anything, those day laborers will have lots more work because those multi million dollar homes need to be rebuilt. If the fires destroyed neighborhoods like Westwood and WLA, you'd have a bigger problem because many of those homeowners are mortgaged to the teeth and live on credit cards.

West Hollywood gays, I think our time has arrived you whores. : (

You stay safe out there and remember we can always set up camp in another part of Souther Cali. Nothing we can't rebuilt later on. Love you all.

They're being set. I thought the same about the Nor Cal ones.

You can smell the smoke in Santa Monica this AM!

OH NO, Rupert Murdoch's home just exploded as per NBC LA.

I stand by r16.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

sorry re 20 but your wrong. The issue isnt just rain or lack there of... it is vegetation. Both have fire dependant ecosystems with vegetation that needs to burn to reproduce. Some parts of Florida get over 90 inches of rain. Yet they are highly fire prone due to native vegetation that is easily ignited by lightening. Waxly vegetation like saw palmeto burns as hot as Chaparral plants in california: both act as accelerants that spread fire which is required for seed germination. In much of the southeast the prescribed fires are done in the driest and coldest months (jan-feb). The chumash indians regualrly conducted prescribed fires to improve biodiversity.

But look on the bright side- California is now a Sanctuary State!

Hope the Getty Museum survives.

California also has some added species like eucalyptus that spread fire.

Bel Air and Brentwood had a massive fire in 1961 that burned 500 homes including the homes of Burt Lancaster and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

R35, The Getty is the other side of the 405 Freeway, and for now, is not threatened, thanks to calm winds. (they had already planned to be closed today, due to overall air quality/particulate matter from the Sylmar fire).

However, if this fire had started 24 hours earlier, when the winds were blowing so fiercely, it would have been VERY bad news. The fire would have jumped the 405 wthin minutes and would be raging southwest across the hills of Brentwood, threatening the Getty, Mount Saint Mary's college, Mandeville Canyon.

I drove Interstate 15 south on Monday and in the stretch from the Cajon Pass down through Ontario, Norco and Corona the wind was hellacious. Trash blowing all over the freeway, dust, the car shaking... I drove slower than normal but many cars were still just flying right along at 80 mph.

The fire even made it to the Pacific Ocean.

Trump is destroying the world.

Jason, get me the hose.

Does anyone seriously think they are being set by someone? Who? Why? Or is it natural?

Arsonists?

Who wait until the Santa Ana winds come up?

Homeless camps, that's where they are starting...

Magic Mountain

I heard someone on the news say if the fire reaches Santa Paula they'd be unable to do anything about it. I didn't catch why Santa Paula is a problem?

It wasn't me!

Skirball Fire this morning along the Sepulveda Pass

OT but Eric Garcetti's [slow] Spanish is so understandable.

r48 I got that alert too.

The Santa Ana winds have kicked up again. My windows are rattling and my house keeps popping and creaking.

The only thing I can think of about Santa Paula burning is the thin roads and old wood houses

Hero

No big whoop.

In an updated story, though THOUSANDS have fled, MILLIONS of illegals have moved into their homes, on fire or not.

It is only getting worse.

There was a new fire in Malibu, but it was contained before it could threaten homes.

So I guess Babs's mall won't be having a fire sale.

[quote] Does anyone think someone is setting these fires?

Considering the last one affected the wine and weed industries, I wouldn't rule it out.

It looks like Mother Nature is having her period.

[quote]Arsonists? Who wait until the Santa Ana winds come up?

Are you kidding? That's the perfect cover to make it look accidental.

That is truly terrifying shit!

Yeah, what R64 said. Why would anyone be surprised that Arsonists would strike when the ideal conditions are met?

Is there a law in CA that you must have fire insurance?

Guys, I have a bunch of stuff in storage in Monrovia. Do I need to go get it before the warehouse burns down? Can I even get out there at this point? Also, I was planning to go to downtown LA on that trip. Is that a mess too?

I recently sold property in the Temecula area, near Murrieta. For years, there was some nutter out there who would set fires every year. I don’t know if they ever caught him. There were a lot of copycat fires out there year after year, so expect more in the Riverside area. Lots of dry brush near the freeways.

The Liberty Fire broke out in Murrieta just this afternoon.

It’s probably the copycat pyro out there, R69. Anything near Monrovia yet? Do I have to go rent a truck?

Yes, you need fire insurance if you live in certain areas and have a mortgage.

[quote] Is there a law in CA that you must have fire insurance?

If you have a mortgage the bank requires it. You don't have to if you don't have a mortgage but it would be completely insane not to have it.

How are the DL Californians? Are you safe?

Safe, but the air is filled with smoke, and the dry winds are doing a number on my eyes, nose, and throat.

Take care of yourself, R74. It must be tough for people with lung conditions.

[quote]Guys, I have a bunch of stuff in storage in Monrovia. Do I need to go get it before the warehouse burns down? Can I even get out there at this point? Also, I was planning to go to downtown LA on that trip. Is that a mess too?

I live near Monrovia (where the new Aldi opened today!) No fires anywhere near here. Yet.

Today I broke down crying after reading a tweet about people trying to rescue [bold]1,000 horses[/bold] and there not being means to save them. KTLA said the fires were entering Los Angeles National Forest. There are a lot of animal sanctuaries in those areas from mosquitoes to wild cats and elephants. : (

I hate tin hats but this fires are suspicious. People can rebuild houses, and so far people are being smart about evacuating, but the bunnie farms and our animal sanctuaries will not be so lucky. Logistically it seems impossible to save every animal.

I live in Ventura. Monday night and Tuesday were the worst in my area. Safe now, but the sky is still hideous and it stinks like a campfire. We're supposed to boil any tap water before using it for drinking, cooking, etc. There's also a curfew from 10PM-5AM, supposedly to prevent looting in evacuated areas.

And now San Diego has the Lilac Fires...

During ww2, the Japanese hatched a plan to start wildfires in the NW.

Killed one woman on a church picnic in Oregon

Russians?

One of the tv news anchors said that this was too coincidental to be a natural disaster. I was shocked he said that on tv. I think there is a growing concern with Californians that this might be premeditated.

This fires will definitely change the outcome of the 2018 elections. Maybe the two Russian puppets Darrel Issa and Dana Rohrabacher might be able to keep their seats after all.

Rachel Maddow called Rohrabacher "the senator from Moscow" the other day. Just slipped it into a comment about other things. Loved it.

r83 He's not a senator, so ???

[quote] Los Angeles National Forest.

It's just "Angeles National Forest." No "Los."

In the recent fires up north, the owner was able to save 1000 exotic animals in his wildlife sanctuary.

[quote]During ww2, the Japanese hatched a plan to start wildfires in the NW.

So, r80, you're saying the Japanese are just slow and with poor direction?

Thanks so much, R76.

I have elderly friends in Ventura on East Thompson Road I’m worried about. They have a shop full of antiques and have lived there all their lives.

R87, it involved a low tech plan of using the jet stream to drift balloons over the west coast that started fires:

In the 1940s, the Japanese were mapping out air currents by launching balloons attached with measuring instruments from the western side of Japan and picking them up on the eastern side. The researchers noticed that a strong air current traveled across the Pacific at about 30,000 feet. Using that knowledge, in 1944 the Japanese military made what many experts consider the first intercontinental weapon system: explosive devices attached to paper balloons that were buoyed across the ocean by a jet stream.

....

In January of this year, there was some kind of newsletter that came out, from ISIS or ISIS-affiliated org., that put forward the idea of starting wildfires to invoke terror. There was a section in the document, titled Just Terror, that gave highly detailed ways to use fire as a weapon - the inspiration of their idea came from fires in Israel. The details were straight-out disgusting - how to plan the fires to trap exits, where to set them for maximum damage, how, ways to make sure the arsonists don't end up setting themselves on fire in the process, ect.

NOT saying they did it, but the thought has crossed my mind. After reading about the newsletter, of course it did.

Here’s an article about the Israeli fires which were treated as a terrorist attack. The article is from November 2016, but it sounds like there were a lot of fires before that.

I read elsewhere that ISIS was suggesting fires as a form of terrorism as early as 2012. People in California are used to fires and take something like this for granted. But it’s pretty obvious at least some of the later fires are probably copycat arson.

It’s not out of the question that somebody that’s organized like the Russians or ISIS could be doing it on purpose. The whole point is terrorism without anyone to retaliate against, since you can’t prove anything.

It’s so sad, R77. Stories and video coming out where people are trying to rescue horses have me in tears. The gentle barn (Santa Clarita area I believe) seems ok. Thanks for checking in, R78.

r46 i love it the homeless get the last laugh on these overly lavish homes.

"She comes down from Yellow Mountain..."

...thoughts and prayers

R68 The air quality here is awful. I have a relative who works outdoors for the high schools. The grounds employees tried to go back to work today, had to wear masks, and couldn't make it past two hours. If anything, it's worse than yesterday. Hope your friends are ok. (If they own the shop next to the Hong Kong Inn- that place is amazing!)

R78, They own a shop in a residential section with another antique store across the street. Both shops are in converted houses.

There is some sort of motel looking thing down the street, and their house/store is amazing. All the walls were painted mustard yellow with Spanish motif floral murals around all the doors by their daughter. They have beautiful furniture and paintings, it’s something really special. Not a junk store, everything is specifically in the Old California style. It would be a shame if they lost that place, it’s their life’s work.

They opened their store in 1979.

Oh, ok. I know the place just from your description. I've heard they're very helpful and are wonderful at zooming in on just what you want. Thanks for responding!

Is it real now?

Paris Hilton, Lionel Richie, other celebs flee homes as So. Calif. wildfires close in

Debby Boone will sing us all to sleep.

What the motherfucking hell is going on in Ojai right now? The fire map shows it surrounded on three sides by active fires, with all the major roads in fire zones! Is it even possible to evacuate, if the wind kicks up?

I was there in early November, and yeah, the entire area was tinder-dry.

arson should not be dismissed. it's odd.

My friend in Ojai couldn't take it there anymore, packed a suitcase and took the train down here to Laguna. She took a video of all the rooms and doesn't give a shit at this point.

Like many of you here on DL, I’ve (reluctantly) suspected that several of these fires have been deliberately set.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist and it was another friend out here in SoCal who pointed out to me how so many fires happening in so many unconnected areas in December here was bizarre—and also how the Santa Ana winds are an arsonists dream (good cover for them and helps their “work” spread quickly).

With all the different, unconnected fire locations continuing to pop up and so much damage and destruction happening (I cried seeing the footage of the burning horses running for their lives), this all makes me furious and I’m inclined to think people *are* setting these fires.

I hope the L.A. Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD are developing better arson investigation units so this won’t happen anymore or at least can be stopped quicker in the future.

One confirmed arsonist was caught last night in Anaheim Hills by 2 good Samaritans who saw him sneaking around in the brush in the dark...

Why are we focusing on stopping rogue actors of the fires? Why not just stop the Santa Ana winds?

Most insurance companies will not insure properties deemed to be in fire areas which is most of the state outside major cities.

So the state of Calif has provided the possibility of fire insurance through the state for those who cannot obtain it through their insurance companies. OK good, but its very expensive Outrageously expensive.

@ABC7

Firefighters battling brush fire in Monrovia area

@gclaude746

#Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica burning

@KTLA

Lilac Fire: At Least 46 Horses Dead, Others Missing From San Diego County Training Facility

@KTLA

2 minutes ago

#BREAKING: Evacuations have been ordered as a brush fire burns in Monrovia

@11AliveNews

Unexplained plane lights seen over South Carolina county

@RyanHaarer

Strange lights over Denver tonight, too

Californians, how are things where you are? How are you?

stay safe DLers in CA!!! I'm praying for ya!

@abc7melissa

The #thomasfire has now burned 155,000 acres. Fire fighters will do a controlled burn tonight near Lake Casitas to burn brush between the fire and highway 150.

Monrovia now

r1 and r3 = fucktard douche cunts.

How do these individual hotels and homes (like the one in Santa Monica and the few luxe houses in Bel Air) keep getting started on fire??

I still think there’s arson involved here...

Wildfires do send out sparks, R118, which can set fires at some distance from the main blaze.

But if anyone in the area thinks that a fire insurance payout might be worth the trouble, there might be other explanations....

They are investigating Monrovia as arson.

I believe they're being set.

The Ventura fire just topped 200,000 acres

who is starting the fires?

Read In Suspect Terrain by John McPhee. People have no business living there. They should pay for the firefighting

Ellen's beautiful Santa Barbara home, recently put on the market for $4o mill,' is about to be kindling.

Houses, or rather estates, currently for sale in Montecito.

Wow.

Now, looters

One week later, still out of control. 20% of Ventura Co. has been charred.

Oprah evacuated as well.

[quote]Oprah evacuated as well.

Ex-Lax or probiotics?

Forklift.

How the fire has grown over the past seven days.

God hates remakes.

Since the first padres opened the first missions in California, and since the first wagons of settlers came over the Sierras, two things have remained a constant (1) it is a highly-active earthquake zone and (2) Southern California has experienced landslides and wildfires. It they want to build these bigger and bigger mansions higher and higher into the mountainous arid near-desert forests, then go right ahead. Just don't complain when you $40 mil. burns to the ground or crumbles into the ocean.

agree, r134

I wonder whether the hurricanes keep wildfires from being more prevalent on the east coast.

it rains in the summer on the east coast, that's why wildfires aren't such a problem there.

Really, people who live east of the Rockies don't understand how incredibly fucking dry California is by fall, in a normal year most of the state hasn't seen a drop of rain in six months by October. Southern California is naturally prone to wildfires, as the driest and most flammable part of the year coincides with the hard dry Santa Ana winds that blow into the desert; they not only turn a single spark from a cigarette into a raging firestorm, they blow the smoke and fire from wilderness to inhabited areas. Fires are so naturally common there that many of the plant species have evolved to propogate after the fires, they expect them to happen frequently.

Southern California could do a better job of managing fire risk, but I don't know how much can be done. I have no idea if they do controlled burns like they do in the Sierras, but the fact is that no amount of human management can control a force of nature. There ARE going to be fires there, no matter what the humans do, all we can do is work on protecting the inhabited areas.

r137 you contradicted yourself.

If the climate is so volatile that a cigarette can cause an inferno, then human management can have a large impact. Earthquakes, which are tectonic phenomena of the earth's crust, can't be prevented by man. All you can do is cut through the usual bureaucratic corruption around building/zoning codes and hope for the best. Some wildfires are natural, but you can prevent many by draconian measures, including kicking homeless out of high fire areas, especially in peak season.

When I lived in central California, it was dry most of the year except for 2-3 months starting in February, when it rained and everything briefly turned green.

A group of hobos living under the Sepulveda pass started the Skirball- Bel Air fire.

A night around the fire roasting marshmellows went horribly awry.

Hobos have money for marshmallows? Or did they kill some other hobos and boil their bones for the gelatin, which was then used to make marshmallows, which then accidentally started the Bel Air fire?

I was kidding about the marshmallows, R141.

They were trying to cook up the "campfire hobo dinner" as featured below.

@latimes

Breaking: A cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked Bel-Air's Skirball fire, officials say

Hello R143 - please see above!

Fossil records show that wildfires have been a problem in the Western U.S. for millennia, before people (including so-called Native Americans) even showed up. Entire species of plant life rely on the fires to spur reproduction. "Hobo campfires" may be blamed for recent fires, but the rampant development of multi-million dollar palaces in these highly susceptible mountainous arid forested regions is just stupid and short-sighted.

What is keeping them from just clearing the brush away when it is a threat to human life?

R146, all the mountains that surround the Santa Barbara, LA, and San Diego urban areas are naturally covered in "brush". You can't clear all the plant life out of an entire region!

Now all sensible property owners clear the brush away from their houses and in civilized areas the brush is gone and irrigated gardens have taken its place, but that's not enough to stop the wildfires. When the wind is strong and the flames are high, sparks can fly great distances and ignite almost anything, your roof, your garden, the brush on the next hill over, anything will burn because it's all so fucking dry by fall. I suppose there might be a program of clearing brush away from the perimeters of inhabited areas, but that would cost a lot of money, there are ecological concerns, and if you strop the vegetation off a mountainside it becomes more prone to landslides. Mother Nature intends that area to have wildfires, and stopping her getting what she wants is never that easy.

R16/R31 called it on the cause of the Skirball (Bel Air) fire.

Someone's cookin!

Still burning, still growing.

As for Skirball, they are busting the homeless living in the brush.

And after all these years, there is nothing they can spray ahead of time to help retard fire? From helicopters like we did with the Med Fly? This has been going on forever.

Agent Orange was once a popular choice

r152 And now he's president.

W&W R153. I'm calling him Agent Orange henceforth. Thank you.

@ABC7

#LIVE Fellow firefighters salute Fire Apparatus Engineer Cory Iverson as his funeral procession drives past

It was really windy last night in Northern California.

Was it the same down there in Southern California, and if so did it cause any new disasters?

The winds finally hit the LA Basin early this AM.

Many trees down.

Hate to get all Biblical on you but didn't the big guy promise not to flood the earth or destroy it with water? If so fire would be his other method, after all didn't he appear as a burning bush to someone?

The Fire Next Time

@ABC7

#ThomasFire grows to 420 square miles; full containment not expected until Jan. 7

@latimes

The massive Thomas Fire continues to grow as strong, shifting winds bring new dangers

This is beyond a massive tragedy. It seems like we have had so many natural disasters this past year. I’m surprised that there isn’t more coverage of this on the national news. Praying for California.

But her emails!

It has already started here in Norway. Fires are out of control. It hasn't rained in like a month. It's April, but it's record breaking hot, like more than 70 F every day. It might not seem like a lot to Americans, but we're talking Norway. In April. Trust me when I say this isn't normal. We barely have winters anymore. Last summer the record temp was 93 F. We had WEEKS of temps in the 90s range. It was hell on earth. This year might be even worse considering it's 70 already.