Wildfire burns in middle of Los Angeles

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070509/ap_on_re_us/socal_fire

LOS ANGELES - A wildfire roared across brush-covered hills in the city's sprawling Griffith Park on Tuesday, triggering evacuations of homes and some of the city's most famous landmarks.


A wall of flames raced across ridges and jumped fire lines late in the evening as the fire drew closer to homes and the Griffith Observatory.

Hundreds of firefighters and five water-dropping helicopters rushed to Los Angeles' landmark park — a mix of wilderness, cultural venues, horse and hiking trails and recreational facilities set on more than 4,000 acres on the hills between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

Late Tuesday, authorities called for a mandatory evacuation of homes that sit along the park's southern edge as the fire burned out of control after dusk.
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This is sad news
The blaze erupted on the second day of a heat spell. The
National Weather Service said downtown hit 97 degrees, 23 degrees above normal, tying the record for the date.

http://cbs2.com/

Griffith Park - it's pretty bad...Los Feliz some areas evacuated -

is that Ok

though it has its own mountains nearby

Any other news why is is so hot there

too far from the mountains. I've lived here most of my life, and this is the first time I can remember when we've had fire season in the Spring. Usually it doesn't start till late summer or more often Autumn.
Weird and very scary.

and 97 degrees OMG did they explain why its so hot?

The normal late summer high pressure over the inland deserts has been forming on and off all winter, causing the late summer and autumn Santa Ana winds to blow. I don't think this has happened before, at least not in the time I've lived here. We got only a couple inches of rain this year, with a normal of at least 15". I think it's the driest year on record. So all of the mountain brush is tinder dry already. It's going to be a very difficult summer here.

its hotter than here in texas

we're still at 80 inside the house and I am near the coast....

all I can say is Amazing

breeze is finally picking up, coming into the house - we had no wind.....so the heat stayed inside - hoping it will cool down the house soon..

Can't even start to imagine what the firefighters are up against....they just reported they brought in a whole bunch of fresh chopper pilots to let the others rest. They were fighting this since 1pm this afternoon.

Can't wait till summer, right?

:( More wildfires...

I'm waiting for Tornadoes and hurricanes cause with hot air like that the heat energy has to go somewhere unless major drought is coming your way

I have seen very sad climate models and California goes into a major drought
its a major food basket for our nation

when we have melamine to eat?

Wildfires and offshore storm combined to cover South Florida in smoky haze

<snip>

"Dense smoke shrouded the rush hour in South Florida, an explosion of wildfires in North, Central and Southwest Florida alarmed the governor and -- further complicating matters -- something resembling an early tropical storm formed offshore.

Drought, fire, pounding seas. Not enough water in some places; too much in others. Nature punished Florida from top to bottom Tuesday.

Forecasters said smoky conditions were likely to persist in South Florida today, and state officials said the fires were likely to spread."

<snip>

"Officials confronted 210 fires burning across 43,500 acres, mostly in North and Central Florida, though five particularly stubborn blazes raged just west of Miami-Dade and Broward counties in Collier County.

No injuries were reported, but at least six homes were destroyed and 13 damaged around the state. About 300 homes were evacuated in North Florida.

Thick, acrid white smoke from those fires -- and from similar eruptions as far away as Georgia -- veiled South Florida roads and intruded into suburban homes and office buildings and hospitals."

http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/100652.html

She said the fire is a few canyons away--smoke & helicopter noise all night. And she's getting out the cat carriers, just in case.

But she added that LA is also bracing for civil unrest when Paris Hilton is hauled off to jail!