Raging inferno sends thousands packing

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Raging inferno sends thousands packing

October 25 2003 at 01:03PM



Los Angeles - Thousands of residents were evacuated from their homes as a raging wildfire threatened hundreds of homes east of the United States city of Los Angeles on Friday, fire officers said.

More than 1 400 firefighters were battling to bring the 1 548-hectare blaze under control as it threatened homes and forced the closure of two major freeways, causing traffic chaos.

"Around 2 000 people have been evacuated as a result of this fire," said San Bernardino County fire department information officer Gil Sanchez.

"Our major concern is that there a lot of homes around the fire. "It's a high priority to us as we have houses threatened and lives potentially threatened," he told reporters.

more...

I hope they get this fire under control :bounce:

days.

i have a friend who lives there! :bounce:

Ash is falling in downtown San Diego. The sky is black at times but it is not from impending rain but from the huge clouds of ash. Road closings include:

"Interstate 15 north at Balboa Avenue
Interstate 15 south at state Route 125
State Route 52 west at Mission Gorge Road
State Route 163 north at state Route 52
State Route 67 north from Lakeside To Poway Road

Flights out of Lindbergh Field were being affected by the fire because of the massive amounts of smoke in the air. "

The entire San Diego firefighter's force, including off-duty, have been called to fight this blaze but apparently many are out of reach at the other fires further north. I believe someone is setting these fires. There are several of them in different areas, even one near the Mexican border. Part of the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar are ablaze. It is terrifying.

I'll try to link a news report:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/2582220/detail.html

I'm looking out the window and now the sky is orange again. Not really any way to get out -- I understand there is one road open out of this part of San Diego (near Balboa Park) and that it is already jammed.

There is another one by the border in Otay. Four people were found burned to death in a car in Ramona. The News crews in the chopper are taking footage. It looks like a lava flow with 20 foot flames.
Scripps Ranch is getting the worst of it right now. many homes have been engulfed. Tierrasanta is being evacuated. Scripps Ranch as well.
I've been out here for 24 years and have never seen it this bad before.

Horrible Horrible!!!

We need troops in there to help! Where is Bush??

I have been watching this thing get worse & worse

:bounce:

...how many troops do you think we still have available for state-side duty?

"Arson was suspected in the blaze that swept across 13,000 acres and threatened power lines that supply electricity to a million customers in the Los Angeles basin, CNN reported."

quoted from the article!!!

as for as statewide troops well thats an interesting question

I'm sure Tom Ridge knows for Homeland Security

But what if some states have only a few troops while other states have a bunch

Will we ever KNOW! Wheres Bush's help for CALIF! :bounce:

and its a tragedy. I'm only relaying whats in this article that says the fires were caused by people starting them (arson)

In the other thread the fire was supected to have been started by a hunter shooting a flare

...but there was nothing in the article definitively stating that "...the fires were caused by people starting them (arson)...".

As I stated previously, arson is SUSPECTED IN EVERY FIRE until it's either proven as fact or ruled out.

And as I suspected, you don't live in California and probably never have. If you had lived in Southern California as I did for three and a half years, you would know what the Santa Anna winds are capable of doing to even a small campfire. 95-99% of the fires whipped up by the Santa Anna winds are NOT arson initiated.

or not? Its Suspected so there must be something to give suspicion.

Because You can't say that Arson wasn't the cause of this fire? Can you?

and you are correct I have never lived in California but I have relatives their and friends

Do you have a News Article saying that a campfire started this fire?

No Matter what it is a tragedy

I apologize if I gave the wrong impression but I was just saying what the article implied.

:bounce:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/10/28/california.wildfire/index.html

California wildfires consume 600,000 acres
Nearly 1,500 houses destroyed, 16 killed
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 Posted: 6:06 PM EST (2306 GMT)



A fire burns Tuesday in Simi Valley, California.


http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/10/28/california.wildfire/index.html

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- With wildfires raging in California from Simi Valley to San Diego, the number of homes destroyed neared 1,500, the charred land totaled more than 600,000 acres and the death toll was 16, fire officials said Tuesday.

Forced from their homes during the past three days, tens of thousands of people watched and waited as firefighters battled the blazes.

snip....

The department is looking for two men in their 20s who authorities said were seen driving a gray van Saturday morning north of the San Bernardino city limits. Witnesses saw something being thrown into the brush from the van.

snip...
The so-called Cedar Fire, which has torched more than 200,000 acres in San Diego County, was started by a lost hunter who lit a signal fire, San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman said Tuesday. He said the hunter did not intend the fire to spread, and that he has been detained.

more....

I was just showing that there is a WANTED poster for one of the MEN
who witnesses said they saw him start the fire

and the HUNTER better be DETAINED cause he is suspicious too

Just trying to prove a point here!!! :bounce:

Tonight it's only 4. She's packed and ready to go if the evacuation call comes. Rancho Penasquitos.

and have yet to hear from 'em.

Even in L.A, 45 minutes west, my car is covered in ash...

:bounce:

so that's good news for us. But no matter where the fires are, we all feel it.

I HATE fire and Santa ana season here in so. Cal. x(

I just battened everything down.

I live in North Hollywood and it was smoky on Thursday but clear skies on Friday and Saturday. But Sunday it got smoky again. I believe the wind was blowing the smoke away from my area for a bit but now the smoke is back. I actually thought they had put the fires out on Saturday! The blue skies had me fooled.

Seems he started one in Oregon just days before he was there to talk about his forest initiative.

And wouldn't today be a good day for a big fire in LA? Get all the media coverage away from the marches?

And...if it's big and bad enough, maybe the terminator can save the day! And be a real leader and protector for California.

A win, win, win.

Anything and everything bad that happens in this country that compromises regular people is suspiciously attributed to the evil bush cabal in my mind. they are the likely suspect for ALL EVIL!

We had a suspicious fire on one of the hillsides but the local Firefighters did a great job and put it out. Yesterday I was near Fontana and the ash was falling like snow.

"It's not over 'till Arnold gropes the fat lady" —Bill Press, on MSNBC

http://www.recallarnoldwatch.org

Tough times for many!

Wish the best for them.

The man in charge is Governor Gray Davis.

as the hillsides of rancho cucamonga burns. the whole street is parlked with cars, loaded and ready to go when the officials tell us the fire is coming closer.

the sky was dark in the middle of the day and thick with smoke. ashes everywhere.

what to take? important papers, family photos. everything else seems trivial right now.

wish us all luck.

Unless you are near the brush, don't worry too much about the fire.
Worry about the mud later when it rains.

If you have to evacuate...don't forget...if you have pet(s)...food for them, any medications you're taking, and a few clothes for yourselves, too!

All the best!

:hi:

What a disaster! :bounce:

storm and we just went out and helped them load valuables into moving trucks. This thing is huge.

gonna do a raindance for you
http://www.metisnation.org


:dem:

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=44f4d3eb0e4bedfd

More Than 2,000 Flee Los Angeles Wildfire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Big News Network.com Sunday 26th October, 2003

More than 2,100 firefighters Saturday sought to protect Los Angeles' power supply, from a raging wildfire that sent more than 2,000 fleeing homes.

Arson was suspected in the blaze that swept across 13,000 acres and threatened power lines that supply electricity to a million customers in the Los Angeles basin, CNN reported.

Power was already out in the Lytle Creek area, officials said.

Eight firefighters suffered minor injuries, ranging from bee stings to heat exhaustion, CNN said.
more....

Suspected Arson?? LA Power supply threatened Millions without Power

INCREDIBLE anybody else got this info??? :bounce:

The fire is totally overcame most all firefighters and equipment they could throw at it. Four separate fires going in L.A. basin and at least a day before any are contained. Things don't look that good here in So Cal. Fire jumping freeways, firebreaks, beating out back fires and jumping from block to block in some areas of San Bernardino in Old Waterman fire, more as we get it. No fatalities reported and most injuries are of smoke inhalation type.

Thanks for the update :bounce:

I did not see that on several local stations, but my guess is the way things look on the TV screen there could more. Many verteran newsmen and other fire personal saying they have never seen this type of thing so bad around here before. Looks like shades of the fire they had in Oakland CA. a few years ago. Seems many people nearby don't know exactly what to do. Some people are not evacuating and are staying behind to try and protect thier homes

strikes. This does sound like it out of control!

I have relatives and friends in Calif. I'm gonna call them tomorrow!

Thanks for the updates everybody :bounce:

http://www.baynews9.com/site/NewsStory.cfm?storyid=26720

as many as 12,000 homes are under some type of evacuation order ...

Arnold said he was going to get money from washington .... this might do it.

There are several fires burning in every direction around LA county and Orange county...to the north, south and east (the west of course is the Ocean.

www.incidentcontrol.com for more info and road closures


?click for map

So I thought the fires had been contained. Evidently the wind has changed direction and is blowing the smoke east instead of west. But who knows what tomorrow will bring.

There was actually a "fire tornado" on tv a little bit ago..

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001775140_wildfire260.html



Fires rage in California, destroying 200 homes

By Chelsea J. Carter
The Associated Press


DON KELSEN / LOS ANGELES TIMES
Winds up to 50 mph had flames jumping ridges and roads on a five-mile march toward Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. More than 3,800 acres of the San Bernardino National Forest have been scorched since Tuesday.


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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A wildfire leaped through dense housing tracts in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains yesterday, destroying more than 200 homes, threatening at least 1,000 others and forcing thousands of people to flee under a sky thick with smoke and tinged orange-red by flames.
Two deaths were being attributed to the fire by the San Bernardino County coroner's office. The victims, both men, collapsed from stress and died — one while evacuating his home, the other while watching his house burn.

The fire, which erupted about 9 a.m. about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, was propelled by fierce Santa Ana winds as it devoured 10,000 acres of chaparral within hours.

The blaze and an even larger wildfire nearby closed highways and choked the region with heavy smoke and flaming ash.

The cause of the San Bernardino blaze was unknown and no injuries were reported, but more than 200 homes were destroyed by last night, said Robin Renteria, a San Bernardino National Forest spokeswoman.

The fire moved erratically, burning down one house, then skipping two before snaring another. In some cases, back yards burned and houses were unscathed, or burned partially.



GABRIEL L. ACOSTA / THE SAN BERNARDINO SUN
Pam Byrmes-O'Camb is aided by firefighters as she rescues her cats from her home in San Bernardino, Calif. Thousands of homeowners were forced to evacuate yesterday.






Homes and cars burn as a fast-moving brush fire pushes through San Bernardino, Calif.

Its one of the worst they have seen :bounce:

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=793987&tw=wn_wire_story

Fanned by the hot, dry Santa Ana winds and minimal humidity, major fires were raging in at least four places, having already burned more than 100,000 acres, threatened more than 30,000 homes across the region and caused millions of dollars of damage.

California Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency in Ventura and San Bernardino counties, north and east of Los Angeles, respectively, and asked President Bush to declare a "major disaster" for both areas.

Though none of the fires were close to the city of Los Angeles, the smoke from some of the blazes was easily visible over the city just after sunrise, mixing with the early daylight and high clouds to create an unusual set of colors.

Regional air quality authorities issued an advisory for broad swaths of the region, warning of unhealthy air due to the smoke and urging people to limit outdoor activities. Residents of the Hollywood Hills, about 40 miles southeast of the Ventura County fires, said they could smell the smoke.

The weather outlook for Sunday was not favorable, with the National Weather Service forecasting temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s, with winds starting at 30 mph and gusting up to 60 mph.

I am in OC and have never seen anything like this before. The sky is an eerie orange-reddish brown. Little ashes falling on everything. How long will this last? with the Santa Ana winds kicking up, this could get much worse. Anyone that can provide more information on air quality alerts for So Cal, I would greatly appreciate!

:bounce:

out to.

The area I am in is safe from all this activity, but many Du'ers are affected. Laz and Haele had the fire come within three blocks of their home in Lakeside but the the wind shifted it back.

Haven't heard from Davis Zephyr but fires are in his IMMEDIATE area as well.

The inland fire is about 40-50 miles away from me, the Pendleton fire is 25 miles away and burning down into SD county jumping hilltops and the Simi fire is another hour away.

From the smell, smoke and ashes though one would think it was next door.

The air quality is just miserable.

The sky looks like the movie ESCAPE FROM LA.

I am in North Orange County. I just can't believe how incredibly surreal this all seems. They are calling in assistance from firefights in other states now, so hopefully the fires will be contained soon.

Anaheim here.

....that the state of California lacks a good sound fire prevention program. Perhaps if the state government did not spend resources on providing drivers licenses to illegal aliens there would be some funding for dealing with real issues...like life and death...IMHO.

This information was extracted for a list of the most costly fires in the US. It would seem that California has a problem. Why hasn't it been adressed?

September 1970 Laguna California 175,425 382 Structures Destroyed

July 1977 Sycamore California 805 234 Structures Destroyed


November 1980 Panorama California 23,600 325 Structures Destroyed

1987 Siege of 87' California 640,000 Valuable timber lost on the Klamath and Stanislaus National Forests

June 1990 Painted Cave California 4,900 641 Structures Destroyed

October 1991 Oakland Hills California 1,500 25 Lives Lost and 2,900 Structures Destroyed

August - November 1999 Big Bar Complex California 140,947 Series of fires caused several evacuations during a 3 1/2 month period

September - November 1999 Kirk Complex California 86,700 Hundreds of people were evacuated by this complex of fires that burned for almost 3 months

http://www.nifc.gov/stats/historicalstats.html

First of all there is NO COST to the drivers licenses to the state, people pay a FEE to get one.

Secondly, the state is in the middle of a drought. There are CONTROLS in the off season, such as controlled burns and the like. The problem is that earlier this week we had triple digit temperatures which dried the area all the more and now have Santa Ana winds which spread fire from hilltop to hilltop.

What would you suggest? Burning down the forests so the won't be any trees left to catch fire?

Probably the biggest contribution to the actual problem is that developers were ALLOWED to build new homes in fire sensitive areas.

One of the fires is CLEARLY an arson fire and the fire in San Diego county was started by gun loving MORONS shooting cans in a restricted area that caused a spark.

There was a republican governor during 20 of the 29 years your information covers.

the sky has gotten redder now as the sun is lower in the sky. I know the air is bothering me, I have had a dull headache all day. Not much I can do, except say a prayer for those having to evacuate and be thankful not near any of the fires.

My folks were evacuated a few hours ago from the San Bernadino mountains, I hope they get these fires under control.

San Bernadino fires link

http://www.incidentcontrol.com/

Some vague info on fires in the rest of the state

http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html


Any other links to current info would be appreciated

They live in Clairemont where nearly 100 homes burned over night.

I just got off the phone with him. They watched their neighbors home burn shortly before being evacuated. He ans his partner are safe though.

These poor people! I watched this fire get more and more out of control hour after hour! :bounce:

and humbling to know how quickly one can lose so much. My heart goes out to DZ and his partner.

tell him our thoughts are with him. It's terrible to lose your house, but I am relieved that he and his partner are safe.

:grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke:

could have spent that 87B on firefighters and prevention
here, and schools , infa-structure ect...

hey, but what the heck huh...

nt

:dunce:

Ash fell on his truck in Chula Vista. It was like snow in October!

And, I encouraged him to secure a room at a hotel because of the conflagration in the greater SD area.

O8)

http://www.pe.com/sharedcontent/southwest/pecom/fireseason/vt_stories/PE_NEWS_n27afire.a0f77.html

best map I've seen of the areas effected -
http://www.pe.com/sharedcontent/southwest/pecom/fireseason/index2.html#Graphic

The Old San Bernardino Fire one. That's just hard to even contemplate.

But God, it's painful to look at this map. I'm hoping it's not all true because it seems like half the places I really liked were hit. I'm kind of praying that it didn't really burn out San Yzabel or places like Iron Mountain (near Mount Baldy- an intact flock of mountain goats was said to still live there, though it may not have existed anymore by now) or the rock landscape (moonscape?) on 138 near Cajon, or around Piru Lake, or Route 23 south of Fillmore.