[Serious] SoCal Disaster Updates

[dclamp]

Man, here in the oc, it is really windy... probably the Santa Anna Winds...

I think i will walk out side an take some pictures

Hope i dont die

[mendhak]

Must be breathtaking. I hope.

[TheBigB]

Hope i dont die

we always hope you do...

[Hack]

You haven't seen wind until you have seen wind coming off the Great Lakes.

That will take more than just your breath away.

[mendhak]

That will take more than just your breath away.

Yeah, that's what Berlin does.

[Hack]

Oh wit, why hast thou foresaken me?

[dclamp]

well here is an update that i got. The winds have started 3 fires, all are going on at the same time

[dclamp]

ok so i just walked in to my garage, and my garage door was bending in slightly. i was going to open it, but didnt.

[dclamp]

pics pics pics

[NotLKH]

lol.
That tree looks like Elvis, strumming a tune on an ostrich!

[dclamp]

hahahahahaha! i see it

[Foxer]

If you're going to take photo's of a box you could at least take the time to arrange it neatly.

[mendhak]

You call that wind? In Soviet Russia, that's known as flatulence.

[Bonker Gudd]

Decent cheese.

[dclamp]

Half A Dozen Fires - One Dead - from Santa Anna Winds
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303799,00.html

[dclamp]

"This fire is zero percent contained, which means we're at the mercy of the
wind," acting Malibu Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said.

gash!

[dclamp]

i am going to start preparing myself for the worst. Flashlight gets new batteries... thats all i have at this point

[Foxer]

For protecton you should fill your bathtube and submerge yourself - breath through a (paper) straw.

[dclamp]

maybe i should put some lead boots on and jump in the pool. that might be safer

[Foxer]

make sure the pool is at least 7 feet deep.

The fire may burn you otherwise.

[dclamp]

oh good idea.

[Foxer]

Bring a battery operated radio into the pool - that way you can listen to music as you wait for the fire to sweep through your house.

[RobDog888]

Officially announced a few minutes ago, Arnold just declared 13 southern california counties Disaster areas, from San Deigo to LA. We have sustained winds of 40mph min. with gusts up to 80 mph, category 1 huricane winds are nothing to sneeze at unless you have a sneeze guard in place Hot weather too with all this week at 90-100+ degrees doesnt help.

The Ontario (Inland Empire, IE) fire is closest to me but we are nearing the end of fire season in another month or two. All those nice beach front homes destroyed in the Malibu fire along with a church and a historic castle. 1 death and several people injured/burned.

[Foxer]

Whoot - bring marshmellow's and a banjo for sing-a-longs!!


(but take care eh!)

[RobDog888]

I have a friend close by out there in the Ontario area and a client too. I'll find out how things progress tomorrow. Good thing we moved his main office back in August to Corona (20 minutes south of Onatrio).

A couple of the fires have destroyed several homes already and most are less then 10% contained. Even a night flying helicopter making water drops using night vision googles. You know its bad when they fly in canyons at night like that.

[dclamp]

Last night at 7:30 i lost power to the back half of my house (where my room is) from the winds. Edision is supposed to be coming some time soon. Right now my computer is plugged into an extension cord that is going out into the living room.

When i went to school this morning the wind was bad, but not too bad. After 3rd period i walked out of the class room, and the sky was orange, and the smell of ash and smoke was in the air.

My g-parents at in China for vacation, and their housing area is being evacuated so my dad had to go out there to make sure every thing is ok.

Crazy night... hopefully it will be over soon!

[RobDog888]

Just wanted to ask for some prayers for -TPM- 's house as it is so close he could see the flames. He just told me they evacuated already as it was mandetory.

sucks, as the fires have already burned 125+ homes.

Maybe this thread should be renamed.


Everything is gray-ish/orange in the sky. Smells like smoke everywhere outside and inside too.

[RobDog888]

Heres the news feed for our local news channel in case you want to see some video and updates.

http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/H...Y&pageId=1.1.1

Video feed of newscast:
http://media.myfoxla.com/live/

San Deigo's Qualcomm stadium, home of the SD Chargers football team is open as a red cross shelter. Place hold something like 75K.

[dclamp]

If the winds change direction, the fires will head for my house. Scary crap

[dclamp]

Update: 14 Fires

[RobDog888]

The fires in Irvine are confirmed as arsen. They found 3 devices that were used to start the fires. Stupid idiots just have to burn things.

14 fires currently burning throughout so cal.

130 homes burned down to the ground in Lake Arrowhead. They are all in the mountains, cabin like homes.

The count of homes lost is skyrocketing.

[RobDog888]

Pres. Bush just Ok'd federal aid and help in fighting the fires.

They got one, of only 2 in the world, DC10 firefighting airplane doing some drops today too.

100's of thousands of acreas burned.

250,000 people mandetory evacuated from San Deigo so far.

[RobDog888]

New updates:

In San Deigo:
250,000+ evacuated still
1,000+ homes and businesses destroyed
Fires still out of control

LA area:
Just under 1,000 homes and businesses destroyed
About 12 fires and none contained
Fires still out of control


Bush sending 6 military C130 firefighting aircraft to help fight the fires.
National Guard due to arrive today


Its staggering to think about all the thousands of people homeless
Dollar costs lost probably over $100,000,000 they are stating

[abhijit]

well here is an update that i got. The winds have started 3 fires, all are going on at the same time

i just saw a celebrity homes at risk on the news.
seems pamela anderson's house is at risk.

[RobDog888]

I think its sad how they have been focusing on Malibu and the "stars" homes. Thats only a few and is a smaller fire then everywhere else. Look at San Diego, 1/4 million people evacuated out of their homes. I think thats more important then a handful of celebrity holmes "threatened"

Supossedly we are getting firefighting resources from many of the western states nearby.

[nemaroller]

Reminds me of the music video to Wax's song , 'California'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPT7q825gwI

[Shaggy Hiker]

Last night at 7:30 i lost power to the back half of my house (where my room is) from the winds. Edision is supposed to be coming some time soon. Right now my computer is plugged into an extension cord that is going out into the living room.

You have a house with two electrical services

In most houses, you lose the whole house if the power goes down, or only a single circuit if a breaker trips. To lose half the house it seems like you would have to have two electrical services into the house.

It's interesting that you are having the fires now. We had perhaps the worst fire season ever up here, but all fires were out a month or so back when the winter weather pattern arrived with cold weather and rain. We couldn't have a fire now if we wanted to, and now you are burning up.

[RobDog888]

We are in serious drought here as last year we only got 3.x" of rain total. Orange County is in water restrictions and LA county is due to apply restrictions soon too.

The other year we got that 38" record rainfall so allot of vegitation grew. Then followed by two years of drought, allot of fuel for fires. 90+ degrees, low humidity, high winds added on top of all that and you cant not help but have a huge fire.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Yah, we set an all time record low for fuel moisture (reference logs set out to measure how much moisture is in downed vegetation in the back country), and our fires burned through areas that had burned only two years back. Normally a recent burn stops fires, but not this year. The load of vegetation doesn't help either.

Of course, what DID ultimately help is that we sure don't have 90+ degrees any more. We might reach 70 today thanks to a SE wind that might spring up, but generally it has been down around freezing at night, which really knocks down the fires. We've also been getting above normal rain so far. Hopefully that continues right through the winter.

[dclamp]

You have a house with two electrical services

In most houses, you lose the whole house if the power goes down, or only a single circuit if a breaker trips. To lose half the house it seems like you would have to have two electrical services into the house.

It's interesting that you are having the fires now. We had perhaps the worst fire season ever up here, but all fires were out a month or so back when the winter weather pattern arrived with cold weather and rain. We couldn't have a fire now if we wanted to, and now you are burning up.

well i guess it is one line with 2 wires same circuit. BTW they got it fixed today. It was really hot today, some where in the 90's