Thousands flee LA wildfires

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rembrandt

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By Andrew Barker, Editor at LinkedIn News

Southern California has been hit with its strongest windstorm in more than a decade, sparking power outages and wildfires as Gov. Gavin Newsom declares a state of emergency. At least 30,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate in the face of a fast-moving wildfire, which has spread to nearly 3,000 acres. Two other fires also broke out near San Fernando and Altadena and were spreading quickly. As of Wednesday morning, more than 200,000 homes and buildings were without power and over 1,400 firefighters were deployed. The local fire department said it was still 0% contained as of early Wednesday.
 
Horrendous situation there. I hope all forum members are safe - now and in the future. There will be widespread consequences to this event.
 
It’s one thing for wildfires to burn countless acres of forest. It’s entirely different for a fire that is burning through heavily populated urban areas. People fleeing their homes and abandoning their cars on the highway to escape on foot is something out of a dystopian hellscape story. I hope the human loss is minimal. Rebuilding will be a massive task.
 
Those are high-end homes nested in the hill side with narrow streets making it difficult for fire fighters to even get there. As long as the people get evacuated, fire fighters might take a 'defensive position' and just let it burn down. It's not a good situation.
 
Interesting videos from LA’s ABC7 of a super sized bulldozer pushing abandoned cars out of the way on a road so fire trucks can get through.
 
dmpi said:
Those are high-end homes nested in the hill side with narrow streets making it difficult for fire fighters to even get there. As long as the people get evacuated, fire fighters might take a 'defensive position' and just let it burn down. It's not a good situation.
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Living in hilly areas where fires can sweep down a canyon at freeway speeds has always been a problem in So. Cal. I imagine their home owners insurance rates will skyrocket after this. If they can get it.
 
Terrible. You can’t get control of fires with winds like those blowing the embers everywhere.
 
Praying they get the fire out quickly with minimal loss of life.
 
This is awful.....Just saw an interview on TV with a man who had 15 minutes to grab his baby, teenage daughter and get out of his house...and he was in Pasadena. Incredible.

From what I have read, the state of California does not do many "controlled burns" along w/basic forestry management and that allows these fires to spread more rapidly.......

Here is an interesting article on that subject......Prayers for the folks in harms way.

www.kqed.org

This Was a Good Year for Prescribed Burns. Why Didn't California Do More? | KQED

California needs way more prescribed burns to prevent out-of-control megafires.
www.kqed.org www.kqed.org
 
By Andrew Barker, Editor at LinkedIn News

President Biden will issue a federal emergency declaration for Southern California, where massive wildfires have claimed at least two lives and injured many more. The Palisades fire alone has scorched more than 10,000 acres and destroyed 1,000 structures; it remains 0% contained as ferocious winds of up to 99 mph whip through the region. Tens of thousands of residents face potential evacuation in Los Angeles County, where residents are being urged to conserve water for firefighters and stay indoors due to hazardous air quality. Many schools announced closures and 400,000 customers were without power Wednesday.
 
Our son and his family have had to evacuate from Pasadena. Two of kid's schools have burned down. Our GS who is in high school has four friends whose houses have been destroyed. Youngest GS's best friend's house is gone. DS's house is still okay as far as they know. They are heading down toward San Diego. I have a 98 year old cousin who is in a retirement home in Pasadena. It was surreal last night as we watched the evacuation of the facility live online. They were moving all their patients out to the parking lot where they waited for transportation. Not sure where my cousin is. She hasn't answered my calls today.
 
This sounds so similar to the Lahaina Maui wild fires that it gives me the willies. Loss of life was something over 100. Praying for the residents of California. I hope all our members are safe.
 
This morning I contacted my sister about her step daughter and her family who live in Altadena, CA. She told me they had evacuated and were staying with friends.

This afternoon their house burned down. It was a house they had been renting for a few years. Just tragic. But they are safe.
 
These are getting into densely populated high dollar areas. But high wind and dry mountains, and you don't need much else to get things going.

I have not been down that way in over 2 years, don't know how much controlled burns they do. But in the Sierra Nevada there were numerous controlled and prescribed burns last fall. Look at Watch Duty.
 
This is horrible. I didn't appreciate how horrible fires can become until the Marshall fire in Colorado in 2021. Winds can make it impossible to do anything. The fire will just do what it will do at that point.
 
imjustawarrior said:
This is horrible. I didn't appreciate how horrible fires can become until the Marshall fire in Colorado in 2021. Winds can make it impossible to do anything. The fire will just do what it will do at that point.
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Yes it will. It creates its own weather. It blows embers miles away, to start new fires. It gets inside the eves of homes, and starts the house on fire. So tragic. We live in wildfire prone country and have done as much fire mitigation to our house and property as we can, but try to do more each year. However, I am under no illusion we can protect ourselves 100%. My heart breaks for the people impacted.
 
Here's a list of celebrities whose homes were destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires of 2025:

  1. Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. James Woods. Mark Hamill. Mandy Moore. Eugene Levy. Maria Shriver. Chris Pratt. Adam Brody and Leighton Meester. Anna Faris. Diane Warren. Cameron Mathison. Kate Beckinsale. John Goodman.
 
Sue J said:
This morning I contacted my sister about her step daughter and her family who live in Altadena, CA. She told me they had evacuated and were staying with friends.

This afternoon their house burned down. It was a house they had been renting for a few years. Just tragic. But they are safe.
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Reports are spotty, but I've been hearing from/about acquaintances in Altadena. Several of their respective houses have burned down for sure; others are uncertain. They're under evacuation order, and can't access the neighborhood to assess the situation.
 
One of the most heartbreaking videos I saw was of people in an obviously poorer neighborhood scooping up water in buckets out of the gutter to try and put out a house on fire. The water in the street was coming from uphill where a fire truck was working on a house on fire up the hill. There was no water pressure in the neighborhood. It was gutting. I feel for all those affected but this scene was particularly gut wrenching.
 
5 fires now.
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rembrandt said:
Here's a list of celebrities whose homes were destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires of 2025:

  1. Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. James Woods. Mark Hamill. Mandy Moore. Eugene Levy. Maria Shriver. Chris Pratt. Adam Brody and Leighton Meester. Anna Faris. Diane Warren. Cameron Mathison. Kate Beckinsale. John Goodman.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry for them. But they are no different than the other regular people that have lost their homes and/or livelihood:
Plumber Pete, Accountant Angie, Mechanic Mike, Janitor Joe, Housecleaner Helen, Salesperson Sally, Policeman Paul, Roofer Ron, Engineer Eve, Scientist Sam, Electrician Eddie, Chef Charlie, Waitress Wendy, Busdriver Bob, ...........

You get the point. All these people need our prayers and help for recovery. I just don't get celebrity being any more special than the regular folks. I'll leave rest of my opinion off my reply.
 
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