CA - Pacific Palisades - 30,000 People Ordered to Evacuate From L.A. Wildfires

[Yesiamapirate]

My youngest son lives in LA...techinally Laurel Canyon. He is surrounded by fire, the closest about 30 miles away, the Palisades fire near Santa Monica. Last night he stayed with a friend because his house, located tucked into a mountain side was swaying with each gust. ( it is supported by stilts, etc ) He said between the dark and high winds and nearby fire it was too much. Today he is back home and the house is fine. He did report that the smell of smoke was incredible. Even indoors in his office in Hollywood it was so thick with smoke they closed the office. He thinks there is no way the fires will get much closer to the city due to the cement and lack of trees but I don't know about that. He is a midwest transplant and we don't know fires. I have been on top of the news and so has he so I feel he will know if things got worse for him.

 

[DS2021]

2 dead so far

LA fires live updates from Jan. 8

Follow The Post’s live updates as several wildfires rip across Los Angeles, forcing at least 130,000 residents to evacuate.

nypost.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[slowpoke]

I have a relative that lives in L.A. south of Glendale, and I heard they just got an advisory notice to evacuate. Better safe than sorry, so he’s going to heed the warning, I heard.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Firefighters battled multiple blazes overnight as whipping winds, with gusts up to 100 mph, fueled three major wildfires.

• Wildfire map
• School closures
• Freeway, road closures

Palisades fire
Burned more than 5,000 acres and numerous homes, businesses and landmarks in Pacific Palisades and westward along Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu.

• Closures, evacuations, shelters
• PCH devastated

Eaton fire
Burned more than 2,200 acres and many structures in Altadena and Pasadena.

• Evacuation orders expanded
• Closures and shelters

Hurst fire
Burned 505 acres in the area around Sylmar

What happened during the first four days of the Eaton, Palisades fires in Southern California

Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.

www.latimes.com

“The hydrants are down,” said one firefighter in internal radio communications.

“Water supply just dropped,” said another.

“We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,” Quiñones said Wednesday morning. “Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”

But the DWP and city leaders faced significant criticism on social media from residents as well as from developer Rick Caruso, who owns Palisades Village mall in the heart of the Westside neighborhood. Caruso, a former commissioner for the DWP, blasted the city for infrastructure that struggled to meet firefighting demands.

“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” Caruso said with exasperation. Through Tuesday night, he expressed similar criticism in a series of live interviews with local TV stations. “The firefighters are there [in the neighborhood], and there’s nothing they can do — we’ve got neighborhoods burning, homes burning, and businesses burning. ... It should never happen.”

Fire hydrants ran dry as Pacific Palisades burned. L.A. city officials blame 'tremendous demand'

Firefighters battling the Palisades fire dealt with hydrants that had little to no water flowing out. By 3 a.m. Wednesday, all hydrants 'went dry,' an LADWP official says.

www.latimes.com

 

[Yesiamapirate]

Firefighters battled multiple blazes overnight as whipping winds, with gusts up to 100 mph, fueled three major wildfires.

• Wildfire map
• School closures
• Freeway, road closures

Palisades fire
Burned more than 5,000 acres and numerous homes, businesses and landmarks in Pacific Palisades and westward along Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu.

• Closures, evacuations, shelters
• PCH devastated

Eaton fire
Burned more than 2,200 acres and many structures in Altadena and Pasadena.

• Evacuation orders expanded
• Closures and shelters

Hurst fire
Burned 505 acres in the area around Sylmar

What happened during the first four days of the Eaton, Palisades fires in Southern California

Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.

www.latimes.com

“The hydrants are down,” said one firefighter in internal radio communications.

“Water supply just dropped,” said another.

“We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,” Quiñones said Wednesday morning. “Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”

But the DWP and city leaders faced significant criticism on social media from residents as well as from developer Rick Caruso, who owns Palisades Village mall in the heart of the Westside neighborhood. Caruso, a former commissioner for the DWP, blasted the city for infrastructure that struggled to meet firefighting demands.

“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” Caruso said with exasperation. Through Tuesday night, he expressed similar criticism in a series of live interviews with local TV stations. “The firefighters are there [in the neighborhood], and there’s nothing they can do — we’ve got neighborhoods burning, homes burning, and businesses burning. ... It should never happen.”

Fire hydrants ran dry as Pacific Palisades burned. L.A. city officials blame 'tremendous demand'

Firefighters battling the Palisades fire dealt with hydrants that had little to no water flowing out. By 3 a.m. Wednesday, all hydrants 'went dry,' an LADWP official says.

www.latimes.com

Thank you for the above links!

 

[keptbycats]

Feeling heart sick thinking of all the people potentially without or between insurance due to the state of insurance coverage in California right now.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

The sad fact is, is that we just haven't had any rain, as someone mentioned above.
I'm in the Central Valley and we're just now getting some rain! Really unusual.

Hope there's enough water to put out those flames...

I noticed on my “fancy” radar app rain scattered around LA a little while ago. I thought it was some strange radar signature caused by the fire. Thank goodness for it, but it doesn’t look like near enough.
My husband has cousins in the LA area. He and is siblings haven’t been able to contact any of them yet.
Prayers to everyone on WS threatened by the fires and any family or friends. Stay safe!

 

[LaborDayRN]

LA Mayor Karen Bass cut fire department funding by $17.6M, focused on homeless spending— months before wildfires turned city into hellscape

The Los Angeles Fire Department had its budget cut by a staggering $17.6 million this financial year, records show — as fire crews continue to battle out-of-control blazes currently ravaging …

nypost.com

Of all the things to cut in this dry climate we have here, fire department funding shouldn't be one of them IMO.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said the fire started in the 1100 block of North Piedra Miranda Drive near Fire Station 23 when winds were clocking at 25 mph, with gusts of up to 50 mph.

A lone beachgoer walks along the coast as a large dark plume of smoke passes over the beach from a wildfire from Pacific Palisades

Evacuation zones are changing fast, so check out the most up to date, interactive map here. (I clicked this and it takes a minute or so to load. Possibly because its Beta version, Its a 3D Incident Map. It works well though, pretty cool)

Palisades Fire death toll grows as containment increases to 63%

LAPD suspends resident visits to fire area as search for more bodies continues. The fire, which has killed 11 people, has burned through more than 23,500 acres.

laist.com

*All y'all please heed their warnings. Take care. Please. Spread the word for your friends and families. That high wind can spread so fast and explode before you know it. Oh man, this is really scary even half of the country away.

 

[keptbycats]

Of all the things to cut in this dry climate we have here, fire department funding shouldn't be one of them IMO.

Yes, this is shocking to me that the FD was decreased while the PD was increased substantially. I'm missing the logic.

 

[dulcinea]

Hello, So Cal "neighbors." The free Watch Duty app is very helpful in tracking fires. You can select the counties you want notifications for. As soon as a fire breaks out, you are notified via text and it is updated fairly regularly. If evacuations are ordered, you are notified with very specific info. When you open the app, you can click the fire you want info for and it will give you all of the latest updates. The info is plotted on a map, so you can easily see if any fires are near you. I live in an area of So Cal where we regularly have fires and live by this app in the summer/fall.

 

[Herat]

And the residents too for being so brave. There’s a good chance that some of those caregivers were being comforted by the people they care for, even if just by their presence. JMO and my experience when I’ve worked with similar groups.

And now the hard part starts.

The evacuated nursing home residents are currently being housed at the Pasadena Convention Center. Their facility has burned down, so there is no place for them to return to. Where do they go and how do they get the 24/7 care they need? Certainly many must be confused and upset by the loss of familiar surroundings and familiar faces. I really value their caregivers who have shown up to care for them under these very trying circumstances.

 

[Herat]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

Trauma is still trauma whether you are rich or poor.

I read that many in Pacific Palisades in these lovely large homes did not have fire insurance as the insurance companies pulled out last year because of the risk. You can be a celebrity and still be traumatized about where you will live, how your kids will find a school to go to, how you will get work.

 

[knla]

My sister lives across from the Jet Propulsion Labs in La Canada Flintridge. The NASA map shows fires close to there. My niece's apt in Pacific Palisades burned yesterday. She had to evacuate twice. Does anyone have any news on that area. Did the fire jump 2-10 from the Jet Propulsion Labs?

 

[Yesiamapirate]

My sister lives across from the Jet Propulsion Labs in La Canada Flintridge. The NASA map shows fires close to there. My niece's apt in Pacific Palisades burned yesterday. She had to evacuate twice. Does anyone have any news on that area. Did the fire jump 2-10 from the Jet Propulsion Labs?

I am so sorry for your sister and niece. How terrifying.

 

[knla]

And now the hard part starts.

The evacuated nursing home residents are currently being housed at the Pasadena Convention Center. Their facility has burned down, so there is no place for them to return to. Where do they go and how do they get the 24/7 care they need? Certainly many must be confused and upset by the loss of familiar surroundings and familiar faces. I really value their caregivers who have shown up to care for them under these very trying circumstances.

I live near the gulf. Ambulances evacuate the nursing home patients to nursing homes all over when a hurricane is coming. FEMA will probably take care of that. They are good about some things.

 

[SouthAussie]

Hopefully they can get some water bombers up in the sky on Thursday, before the next round of Santa Ana winds hit on Friday.


According to a forecast from the National Weather Service Los Angeles, widespread damaging winds and extreme fire weather conditions are expected to continue through mid-afternoon Wednesday. The winds over Los Angeles will slowly decrease, though not enough to bring the winds down to below-warning levels until early evening.

While winds will be weaker on Thursday, another Santa Ana wind event is forecasted for Friday ....

How long will the Santa Ana winds last in Southern California this week?

 

[Yesiamapirate]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> Trauma is still trauma whether you are rich or poor.

I read that many in Pacific Palisades in these lovely large homes did not have fire insurance as the insurance companies pulled out last year because of the risk. You can be a celebrity and still be traumatized about where you will live, how your kids will find a school to go to, how you will get work.

Just for a little perspective my son lives in Laurel Canyon. Home to celebs and other sorts in the music and entertainment industry like him. He is not famous. (Look it up, very interesting and rich history.) I am so thankful that he has the money, means and ability to evacuate if need be. I understand so many don’t. That said, last night he left his home in the dark due to the winds and the possibility of the fire spreading towards him. He was in tears on the phone with me as he packed a few precious things up. The handmade quilt from his grandma, a few photos and special books and a few clothes…I was so worried for him.

Thankfully the wind has slowed a bit and he is not in immediate danger from fire right now. But that can change at any minute.

My thoughts are with everyone suffering loss and trauma.

 

[knla]

I am so sorry for your sister and niece. How terrifying.

My niece has always had a lot of serious health problems but she had a good job in Pacific Palisades and was doing well.