As a former firefighter, this looks like a hellacious and almost “biblical” worst case scenario.
Reaching out to anyone in the LA area to heed all evacuation orders and help others to shelter in place.
This is not just a one-off.
The amount of spot fires from the spread of embers is truly extraordinary. Let’s care for the thousands of people who are losing, homes, business’s and communities.
It is hard for me to imagine a wildfire extending through the city. What are the causes? Wind, heat intensity, wooden houses?
Ugh, some of the most beautiful areas of the country are getting leveled.
Santa Ana Winds are making the job of fighting it impossible.
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70 mph winds, close proximity of buildings, profundance of fires, loss of water, lack of personel, lack of air drop rescources, smoke obscuring visual observation and priority to evacuate and treat people. In other words, many buildings are left to burn, so rescorces can try to contain a fire line or be more available for spot fires miles away.
Over a thousand structures lost.
Timelapse video shows Los Angeles wildfire spread rapidly
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In some spots, the wind is spreading the fire 500 yards in a MINUTE! whoa. And embers sometimes igniting a new fire 3+ miles away. Can’t fly planes in this wind. Can only get out of the way right now.
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I have a buddy who’s on AirMed here. Also, the ash that’s in the air, can plug up the engines and take down aircraft
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If anyone is looking for local coverage. Channel 5 is usually a joke but they have done great on this coverage
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22k acres zero containment. Holy ■■■■!
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This could wreck a few insurance companies. I’m expecting on Jan 20 the Federal Government will provide little to no assistance to California.
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East-Northeast winds, hellscape wildfires… hmmmm… this sounds familiar.
Lahaina '23, now coming to the mainland x 1000
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Funny you mention that:
My aunt (down in Oceanside) had hers cancelled and to get new insurance cost her 2x the premium.
Side note: this is where I stay every year. This was Christmas Day in the back looking at Runyon Canyon currently on fire. Crazy.
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Since May we’ve had less than two-tenths of an inch of rain. Combine that with Santa Ana winds with gusts up to 100 mph and it’s the perfect (bad) storm. Never seen anything like this.
FTFO!
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Also, please note that the “atmospheric rivers” that contributed to the reservoirs (but, caused flooding and land slides) also created a burst of undergrowth, scrub trees and weeds that when dried - in very short period of time - contributed to massive fuel loads, which fill in spaces between larger fuels (trees and homes). All that makes even the smallest spark, up to fist sized pieces of red hot coals to whirl and fly in the vortex of the maelstrom; only to perch opportunistically on land that has exponentially more potential to explode into what we see now. A city to burn like a forest while creating a wind of it’s own.
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These aren’t our fathers’ Santa Ana winds. They were blowing at 80 miles an hour. Fortunately, it has calmed down, and helicopters and planes are able to function. I have at least a dozen friends who have lost their homes. They were evacuated at night time, and in the morning they had no home. Words fail me in describing the destruction and heartbreak that is occurring. It’s like a bad apocalyptic movie. The fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades lost pressure. The city did have a water tank, but it was exhausted by 3 AM the first night. Imagine having a wildfire approaching your house, and firefighters showing up but unable to do anything but rescue people. They had no water. The horror stories keep coming, including the sad fates of some people’s pets. Our office in downtown Los Angeles is closed because the smoke overwhelmed the HVAC system. This is a big, class “A” building. It’s toxic even to be in that space right now, so everyone is working remotely. I’ve got colleagues who were evacuated, taking only what they could carry. It was a long night for them while they waited for news. Most have been able to come back to intact homes. It’s unbelievable.
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Many people are erroneously thinking its a lack of water. In very large fires its quite common for municipal FD’s to loose water. But its not the lack of water, it’s the loss of pressure. The average home fire might require 3 or 4 thousand gallons. BTU’s convert water to steam instantly. Having virtually hundreds of trucks pulling thousands and thousands of gallons out of so many hydrants will drop pressure immeasurably. Factor in the coefficient of friction and uphil travel/distance and even more is lost in the hoses…
Fire Departments do an amazing job of containing a large. This fire was out of control in the first 15 minutes. Fire Departments depend on air support in these cases. Even large wharehouse fires will drop pressure. MASSIVE fire walls, Wind, visibility, and ash will take down airframes. It’s kind of amazing how brave and talented these crews are. Some idiot with a drone almost took out a Canadian fixed wing yesterday. Now its not flying. I’m surprized we havent lost a chopper or a plane so far. Imagine the vortexes in this firestorm. Forum members who are pilots can opine with more authority than myself.
Heroes in Salt Lake City last year on a calm day with perfect visability
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I watched the Frontline Documentary (below) in horror, the other night. I recall hearing and reading about this at the time, and was hugely disappointed, as I was business partners for a few years (2005-2008), with three different people that lived on Maui and had the opportunity to spend a lot of time there. The devastation to such a beautiful place, became much more a reality seeing it graphically on video in the documentary.
What happened to Maui, is unfortunately happening on an even larger scale (human population wise) in LA, and I’m again horrified as I spent 3 years commuting to, working in, and living Mon-Fri in the Culver City Marriot Courtyard, and later a company apartment, on Wilshire Blvd, during the years 2012-2015. I got to know several people well in the area at that time and saw a lot of a small portion of the greater LA area.
I cannot imagine the devastation in such a densely populated area.
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Thank you for posting that clarification. There are certain politicians and talking heads that are trying to state otherwise for political gain.
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Certain people also think the Earth is flat, J-6, didnt happen, 911 was pre set explosives and we didn’t land on the moon.
https://pubs.aip.org/aapt/pte/article-pdf/28/9/599/12010590/599_1_online.pdf
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