The Southern Cal fires

[fett]

250,000 people evacutated. I was around when the Oakland Hills fire burned down 3000 homes in the SF Bay Area. This is just awful.

[Endrik]

Fuck, I went to my friend's place in Saturday, he lives near Zuma beach in Malibu.

Late night the wind was so strong, the house was shaking. He was joking around and said that sometimes with winds like this fires start.

In the early morning of Sunday we were like.... WTF is happening????
We saw smoke coming from Pepperdine/downtown Malibu area... then all the news channels were talking about this. Everything was burning.

We went to Point Dume to get a better look, and we could smell the smoke everywhere.

I had to get back to Orange County because I had work the next day... but all the roads were closed.

It was a fucking hassle to get out of there.

I saw that even on the beach one house was burnt down. It was on the Malibu Colony where all the celebrities and rich folks live. The minimum price for those houses are like 10 or 15 mil.

The hills were burnt and all the helicopters and planes were spraying water all over the place.

But Pacific Coast Highway wasn't that damaged, most of the shit was happening on near the Canyon Roads... on the hills.

I saw at least 300 firefighter and police cars/trucks that day.

It was fucking narly.

But in the evening still people were chilling and surfing at the Topanga Beach.

What a day.

Now the fire is everywhere. All over the LA County, here in OC... in Irvine. San Diego.. etc.

FUCK!!!!

[fett]

The Santa Ana winds are normal for this time of year. Add a drought and building all over the hills everywhere in SoCal. And then the fires start. But this is really big and there are fires from Castaic to San Diego. That's about 120 miles or more. I know the area and that is why these fires are a Major Disaster.

[VinceV]

I was driving back home from Vegas yesterday, and the wind in the Cajon pass, where the 15 and 10 meet were outrageous. It was a damn sandstorm you couldn't see crap. 2 rigs had just tipped on their side from the wind and all other large vehicles were just pulled over and stopped for miles.

A few years ago when the Anaheim Hills were on fire, the city was red for days from all the smoke in the air filtering out the sun. It was red and ash over everything. Very odd feeling.

Now we get to enjoy the mudslides that will come after the 1st time in rain.

what is kind of messed up, is that most people aren't too sympathetic to these fire because of the area. The feeling seems to be " oh poor rich people". I guess people dont' feel bad for someone when their 15 million weekend/3rd home goes up in flames. Not saying that's right, just how people feel.

[lerxstcat]

I was driving back home from Vegas yesterday, and the wind in the Cajon pass, where the 15 and 10 meet were outrageous. It was a damn sandstorm you couldn't see crap. 2 rigs had just tipped on their side from the wind and all other large vehicles were just pulled over and stopped for miles.

A few years ago when the Anaheim Hills were on fire, the city was red for days from all the smoke in the air filtering out the sun. It was red and ash over everything. Very odd feeling.

Now we get to enjoy the mudslides that will come after the 1st time in rain.

what is kind of messed up, is that most people aren't too sympathetic to these fire because of the area. The feeling seems to be " oh poor rich people". I guess people dont' feel bad for someone when their 15 million weekend/3rd home goes up in flames. Not saying that's right, just how people feel.

True, but it's not ALL rich people living up in Malibu and those hills. A lot of people are old folks who bought up there 40-60 years ago when it was affordable. Since Prop 13 they've been able to keep their property because the property tax is based on what they paid, not what it's worth today.

That doesn't take into account the effects of the smoke on the other 20 million people in Southern California, breathing that smoke on top of the other pollutants they breathe. And I'm not sure that these fires couldn't spread into the cities under the proper (bad) circumstances. That would be catastrophic in such a densely populated area.

[Endrik]

I think it's very bad, some of the houses have historically important paintings and other art as well.

Also it's just not the expensive house but everything that's inside. Hand carved furniture, sculptures, all the electronics etc.
Some bazillionaire can live with it but some people are hollywood has-beens and that kind of lost would be devastating for them.

Funny it never happens to places like Compton... it's allways the cool places.

[fett]

You are new to the area. These people know the danger. It's just like living on the hurricane coasts. That is the price you pay for living in a certain locale where Mother Nature is Queen. It's still tragic.

[SouthPlatteDemon]

It must suck to go through this every year.

[yard dawg]

Dont these rich people have irrigation systems? Why couldnt they crank it up and soak there property before the fires?

[RacerX]

We have the conditions for a "perfect (fire) storm" :

-Heat: It's been unusually hot this last week, 80s & 90s

-Fuel: All brush & trees are tinder dry due to drought

-Wind: The Santa Anas (desert winds) blow through canyons and foothills
between 40 - 80 mph

-Topography: As mentioned, new housing has been built out
so Foothill & canyon areas bear the brunt

There seems to be a new fire popping up every hour now, the first few seem to have been started by wind-downed power lines, however the Irvine fire was arson
A lot of the subsequent fires are started by burning embers being blown around by the strong wind.

To yard dawg: actually a lot of houses have been saved because the owners have obeyed the city/county rules regarding clearing a "defensible space" of brush from around the property. Some people also use less flammable materials when building. There is a pretty cool invention that I have seen which inundates your house with a fireproof foam (it is expensive, so yes, that's what the rich should think about).

[Axewielder]

-Heat: It's been unusually hot this last week, 80s & 90s

Hmm....I wonder why that might be?!?

[fett]

Jesus. Ron actually wrote something.:ROTF: I thought, I covered most of that already.

[Endrik]

Ron forgot to mention humidity wich is like non-existent... only 7% or so.

[SEEGERMANY]

Bet Dave Mustaine wishes he had stayed in Scotsdale.

[lerxstcat]

You are new to the area. These people know the danger. It's just like living on the hurricane coasts. That is the price you pay for living in a certain locale where Mother Nature is Queen. It's still tragic.

Or like the Seattle area with Mt. Rainier; when that erupts it will destroy the Seattle area. Or the next great Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake (9.0 or more) which will shake up the landscape and probably cause a tsunami to roll over the city.