Fire season is year-round now
January 8, 2025 8:14 AM Subscribe
Fires are tearing through Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena, and Sylmar. Gusts of up to 100 mph are reported. LATimes has made the wildfire coverage accessible to all. Fact check from Newsweek on whether LAFD's budget was cut. Related: California voted to keep forced prison labor this year. The history of California's inmate firefighter program.
Speaking to the inmate program, when I sold my LEAF to Carvana in San Jose last August (saving the $500 pick-up fee) I took the Amtrak back home and sat with some convict releases in the back of the bus to Stockton, as one does on Amtrak (apparently you get your choice of Outlet Nike new apparel and an Amtrak ticket home on discharge).
I'd seen the signs for the camp N of Santa Cruz but I didn't understand that it was a training/labor camp to basically pre-position the crews close to where they were needed.
The former inmates were commenting on how the firefighter crew chiefs were making healthy six-figures sitting in the trucks watching them do all the work (but were still in shape to do the back-breaking labor but were happy to have the extra bodies to handle it instead).
posted by torokunai2 at 8:32 AM on January 8 [24 favorites]
I'd seen the signs for the camp N of Santa Cruz but I didn't understand that it was a training/labor camp to basically pre-position the crews close to where they were needed.
The former inmates were commenting on how the firefighter crew chiefs were making healthy six-figures sitting in the trucks watching them do all the work (but were still in shape to do the back-breaking labor but were happy to have the extra bodies to handle it instead).
posted by torokunai2 at 8:32 AM on January 8 [24 favorites]
the fires in SoCal are terrifying, the wind was fierce in the Bay Area last night too, but we've had a good amount of rain so far this winter. No such luck in the South. I hope things turn soon and the fires can be contained with minimal damage/loss.
Ugh. the firefighters. I voted against this. It's slavery. I hope they can stay safe :(
posted by supermedusa at 8:43 AM on January 8 [17 favorites]
Ugh. the firefighters. I voted against this. It's slavery. I hope they can stay safe :(
posted by supermedusa at 8:43 AM on January 8 [17 favorites]
You know who else used forced prison labor.
posted by Lemkin at 9:04 AM on January 8 [9 favorites]
posted by Lemkin at 9:04 AM on January 8 [9 favorites]
As of 9am PST, all of the four major fires are or are close to 0% contained. Terrifying situation.
Sending love out to all MeFi Angelenos.
posted by gwint at 9:08 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
Sending love out to all MeFi Angelenos.
posted by gwint at 9:08 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
I have a friend in Pasadena in an evac warning zone (not mandatory) that's a couple km from a mandatory zone, which means a few more km from actual fire, I'm guessing. The speed at which these things can suddenly move their perimeter means the difference between warning and mandatory isn't huge, I think. My friend already got his family out and is staying with friends, watching their neighbours houses burn and thinking about what they might lose.
posted by fatbird at 9:29 AM on January 8 [5 favorites]
posted by fatbird at 9:29 AM on January 8 [5 favorites]
My cousins are near the Eaton fire and have been evacuated this morning--they are staying with their daughter and her family in Pasadena which may also need to be evacuated. My brother and I are in Norcal and have invited them up if it gets really bad. Other cousins live near the beach (far south of the Palisades) and have offered shelter as well. Seems like this is life in California now.
The prison firefighters are not forced to do that work--they choose it. However, there are a lot of jobs prisoners are forced to take for a pittance of pay. I voted to stop this practice but in these crazy times there are apparently a majority of voters who think slavery is just fine.
posted by agatha_magatha at 9:30 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
The prison firefighters are not forced to do that work--they choose it. However, there are a lot of jobs prisoners are forced to take for a pittance of pay. I voted to stop this practice but in these crazy times there are apparently a majority of voters who think slavery is just fine.
posted by agatha_magatha at 9:30 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
Hi, it's me! I'm just south of the evac zones in Pasadena, but to get to me that fire would have to jump the massive freeway and subway tracks.
The winds were as bad as the storm in 2011, but at least I didn't have a dog getting spinal surgery last night like I did back then. I have parts of my neighbors roof and skylights laying in my yard and a few trees are pushed over. That's all survivable.
I have friends in the Palisades who are waiting to see if their house survived the night, compared to that, I'm dandy.
I've been glued to Watch Duty all night making sure the evac zones didn't move south. And while the zones have moving all along the foothills, it's holding steady north south.
The air is absolute crap and my lungs are unhappy even with HEPA filters and N95's. Black and white ash debris is falling everywhere. We lost power for around 5-6 hours last night which didn't help, but we're operational again.
I doubt the Eaton Canyon fire will be as large as the Station Fire, but it's so much closer in to the city. The big Jewish center up there has burned as well as at least one school.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:44 AM on January 8 [18 favorites]
The winds were as bad as the storm in 2011, but at least I didn't have a dog getting spinal surgery last night like I did back then. I have parts of my neighbors roof and skylights laying in my yard and a few trees are pushed over. That's all survivable.
I have friends in the Palisades who are waiting to see if their house survived the night, compared to that, I'm dandy.
I've been glued to Watch Duty all night making sure the evac zones didn't move south. And while the zones have moving all along the foothills, it's holding steady north south.
The air is absolute crap and my lungs are unhappy even with HEPA filters and N95's. Black and white ash debris is falling everywhere. We lost power for around 5-6 hours last night which didn't help, but we're operational again.
I doubt the Eaton Canyon fire will be as large as the Station Fire, but it's so much closer in to the city. The big Jewish center up there has burned as well as at least one school.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:44 AM on January 8 [18 favorites]
This is truly scary stuff, and I hope all LA Mefites are OK.
Expat Brit middle son is in Santa Barbara and so not in imminent danger from this, but this really is something us Brits don't have to think about (well, not yet, anyway, but with climate change, who knows?)
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 9:52 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Expat Brit middle son is in Santa Barbara and so not in imminent danger from this, but this really is something us Brits don't have to think about (well, not yet, anyway, but with climate change, who knows?)
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 9:52 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
I've got cousins out in the area who are safe for now, and someone we care about at UCLA -- so from the East Coast, we're hoping for the winds to die and some rain to arrive.
--
On a lighter note, my physical therapist this morning said that she saw the 1980s actor Steve Guttenberg interviewed on TV this morning (possibly this?), and the young reporter didn’t seem to appreciate who he was. The therapist laughed when she realized that none of her staff would, either.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:52 AM on January 8 [7 favorites]
--
On a lighter note, my physical therapist this morning said that she saw the 1980s actor Steve Guttenberg interviewed on TV this morning (possibly this?), and the young reporter didn’t seem to appreciate who he was. The therapist laughed when she realized that none of her staff would, either.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:52 AM on January 8 [7 favorites]
Eerie how many air quality sensors are out/are grey dots.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:12 AM on January 8 [3 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:12 AM on January 8 [3 favorites]
I will never ever complain about how much snow we get in Buffalo again. A week ago I was bitching that I couldn't get out of the driveway to go grocery shopping.
posted by Czjewel at 10:13 AM on January 8 [11 favorites]
posted by Czjewel at 10:13 AM on January 8 [11 favorites]
(but were still in shape to do the back-breaking labor but were happy to have the extra bodies to handle it instead)
LOL, no they are not.
Wildland Fire is the hardest job per dollar in the entire state. Not only is the pay terrible, you get to risk your life and at the end of the day you get might get rewarded with a nice relaxing night of sleeping in the dirt covered in soot.
Only people willing to go through it as miserable hazing ritual to pursue a future career as a firefighter and incarcerated convicts do it. Actual firefighters (the people in the trucks you talk about) might actually die if they had to do it.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 10:23 AM on January 8 [13 favorites]
LOL, no they are not.
Wildland Fire is the hardest job per dollar in the entire state. Not only is the pay terrible, you get to risk your life and at the end of the day you get might get rewarded with a nice relaxing night of sleeping in the dirt covered in soot.
Only people willing to go through it as miserable hazing ritual to pursue a future career as a firefighter and incarcerated convicts do it. Actual firefighters (the people in the trucks you talk about) might actually die if they had to do it.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 10:23 AM on January 8 [13 favorites]
>snow we get in Buffalo again
Ironically it was the futzing with his car in the snow that convinced Feynman to make the move from Cornell to Pasedena, 3 miles from the Eaton Fire apparently. Or that's the story in his book anyways.
posted by torokunai2 at 10:32 AM on January 8 [5 favorites]
Ironically it was the futzing with his car in the snow that convinced Feynman to make the move from Cornell to Pasedena, 3 miles from the Eaton Fire apparently. Or that's the story in his book anyways.
posted by torokunai2 at 10:32 AM on January 8 [5 favorites]
I will never ever complain about how much snow we get in Buffalo again. A week ago I was bitching that I couldn't get out of the driveway to go grocery shopping.
*** N O R T H T O W N S ***
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:59 AM on January 8 [4 favorites]
*** N O R T H T O W N S ***
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:59 AM on January 8 [4 favorites]
Apparently UCLA is gaslighting their students and faculty about the AQI.
posted by toastyk at 11:09 AM on January 8 [4 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 11:09 AM on January 8 [4 favorites]
Several credible news sources - apologies cannot link to any right now (mobile phone) - state that the Getty Villa complex in the Palisades (which Houses a Getty mini Museum) is currently experiencing a large fire.
I know that is objects not people, but thought it was worth mentioning.
I really hope loss of life for this event across the state is the absolute minimum (which is ideally zero)
posted by Faintdreams at 11:16 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
I know that is objects not people, but thought it was worth mentioning.
I really hope loss of life for this event across the state is the absolute minimum (which is ideally zero)
posted by Faintdreams at 11:16 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Prayers for everyone down in LA, it's terrifying to watch. My partner, life long Californian keeps remarking on how scary that this is happening in January. I think of Santa Anna winds as being a Labor day/early fall event, by now we should have had enough rain to help mitigate, but we haven't this year. Clearly fire season is year round now, at least when we aren't having life threatening flooding and mudslides in the winter.
Plug for the Prepare section of fire.ca.gov. We're in a different section of the state, but using this a reminder to refresh our preparation, something it's all to easy to keep pushing down the todo list. We had a afternoon during the pandemic where one side of the road was evacuated but our side wasn't, the fire had the potential to come up a road that was basically a canyon of tinder. It was a good reminder about how quickly these things can happen and how stressful it can be sitting in the 'get ready to go' stage. Very hard to think straight at that point. So we're taking this opportunity to talk at dinner about evacuation plans, getting the kids to build their go bag, review where our fire extinguishers are, etc.
posted by snowymorninblues at 11:19 AM on January 8 [9 favorites]
Plug for the Prepare section of fire.ca.gov. We're in a different section of the state, but using this a reminder to refresh our preparation, something it's all to easy to keep pushing down the todo list. We had a afternoon during the pandemic where one side of the road was evacuated but our side wasn't, the fire had the potential to come up a road that was basically a canyon of tinder. It was a good reminder about how quickly these things can happen and how stressful it can be sitting in the 'get ready to go' stage. Very hard to think straight at that point. So we're taking this opportunity to talk at dinner about evacuation plans, getting the kids to build their go bag, review where our fire extinguishers are, etc.
posted by snowymorninblues at 11:19 AM on January 8 [9 favorites]
I grew up with this and it's likely my childhood home burned down last night, and the videos I'm seeing of the fires are shocking even though I have been through this dozens of times. Just total gutting losses everywhere.
That area - the zone in between Topanga and Temescal Canyons - has been spared a major fire for decades and has been accumulating dry brush for a very very long time. Those two canyons are very effective fire breaks because they have 4-6 lanes of pavement at the bottom (frequently fire trucks would just line up at the bottom and spray the side on fire all day), but it was just a matter of time before a fire started in the sweet spot to zoom down through the Sunset Blvd/Getty Villa zone.
posted by range at 11:24 AM on January 8 [8 favorites]
That area - the zone in between Topanga and Temescal Canyons - has been spared a major fire for decades and has been accumulating dry brush for a very very long time. Those two canyons are very effective fire breaks because they have 4-6 lanes of pavement at the bottom (frequently fire trucks would just line up at the bottom and spray the side on fire all day), but it was just a matter of time before a fire started in the sweet spot to zoom down through the Sunset Blvd/Getty Villa zone.
posted by range at 11:24 AM on January 8 [8 favorites]
Apparently UCLA is gaslighting their students and faculty about the AQI.
Our favorite Bruin just sent us a picture of her masked face, one eyebrow hoisted, next to an Air Quality Indicator map showing a much higher number (284) than UCLA was saying (14) at that time.
They left the campus area yesterday, but they stayed overnight in a place without WiFi -- so they had to come back in order to attend classes via Zoom. *boggle*
posted by wenestvedt at 11:36 AM on January 8 [8 favorites]
Our favorite Bruin just sent us a picture of her masked face, one eyebrow hoisted, next to an Air Quality Indicator map showing a much higher number (284) than UCLA was saying (14) at that time.
They left the campus area yesterday, but they stayed overnight in a place without WiFi -- so they had to come back in order to attend classes via Zoom. *boggle*
posted by wenestvedt at 11:36 AM on January 8 [8 favorites]
***NORTHTOWNS***
You guys get off easy every winter. Plus that area is sort of having it's moment, what with new restaurants and bars opening.
posted by Czjewel at 11:38 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
You guys get off easy every winter. Plus that area is sort of having it's moment, what with new restaurants and bars opening.
posted by Czjewel at 11:38 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Several credible news sources - apologies cannot link to any right now (mobile phone) - state that the Getty Villa complex in the Palisades (which Houses a Getty mini Museum) is currently experiencing a large fire.
Posted an hour ago @gettymuseum.bsky.social:
posted by gwint at 11:49 AM on January 8 [10 favorites]
Posted an hour ago @gettymuseum.bsky.social:
"The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades remains safe and intact this morning, January 8, and will be closed at least through early next week.From an LA Times article from yesterday:
While vegetation on the property has burned, Getty structures have been unaffected, and thankfully, both staff and collections are safe."
“Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year,” Katherine E. Fleming, president and chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement. “Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe.”Of course anything could still happen, but it seems ok as of an hour ago.
Fleming noted protection measures such as water stored on site, irrigation to wet the grounds, double-walled construction and air-handling systems to seal the galleries and library archives from smoke.
posted by gwint at 11:49 AM on January 8 [10 favorites]
Only people willing to go through it as miserable hazing ritual to pursue a future career as a firefighter and incarcerated convicts do it.
IIRC, CalFire only recently started hiring people with convictions, making it even more fucked up.
posted by hoyland at 12:19 PM on January 8 [5 favorites]
IIRC, CalFire only recently started hiring people with convictions, making it even more fucked up.
posted by hoyland at 12:19 PM on January 8 [5 favorites]
let's not forget the dozens and dozens of kids still at the Nidorf juvenile hall facility
it's absolutely apocalyptic out there. still sort of doubt this thing comes down out of the foothills and canyons, or that it could spread very quickly if it did, but the damage so far is already so devastating. and remains uncontained.
posted by kensington314 at 12:42 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
it's absolutely apocalyptic out there. still sort of doubt this thing comes down out of the foothills and canyons, or that it could spread very quickly if it did, but the damage so far is already so devastating. and remains uncontained.
posted by kensington314 at 12:42 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
This is one of those events where local TV news pictures are really powerful in driving home the impact.
My mom’s college beat friend recently retired to her family home in Altadena. Squarely in the evacuation zone, but far enough from the hills I would have never considered it at risk. I am hoping my mom gets an update soon.
I suspect the Getty (both Villa and museum) is very
Well protected. I just check the NASA JPL site and it said that deep space operations have been moved offsite and “facilities, labs, and hardware are secured and protected.” But I don’t know what that means….
posted by CostcoCultist at 12:52 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
My mom’s college beat friend recently retired to her family home in Altadena. Squarely in the evacuation zone, but far enough from the hills I would have never considered it at risk. I am hoping my mom gets an update soon.
I suspect the Getty (both Villa and museum) is very
Well protected. I just check the NASA JPL site and it said that deep space operations have been moved offsite and “facilities, labs, and hardware are secured and protected.” But I don’t know what that means….
posted by CostcoCultist at 12:52 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
L.A. investor who boasted about not paying taxes savaged over plea to hire private firefighters, 'will pay any amount'. Also, Screencap of the now-deleted tweet via Bluesky.
posted by zaixfeep at 12:54 PM on January 8 [17 favorites]
posted by zaixfeep at 12:54 PM on January 8 [17 favorites]
Do private firefighters exist, in this century?
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:04 PM on January 8
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:04 PM on January 8
David Wallace-Wells, May 2019:
Los Angeles Fire Season Is Beginning Again. And It Will Never End
posted by Lemkin at 1:06 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Los Angeles Fire Season Is Beginning Again. And It Will Never End
posted by Lemkin at 1:06 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Update re: above my mom’s friend from Altadena safely evacuated to Santa Clarita, which is now under threat. Sound like her block in Altadena was still safe.
Re: private firefighters I have heard of certain celebrity homes having them. Not sure how/if they work. I have seen some homeowners install exterior sprinkler or foam systems. That would absolutely be an investment
posted by CostcoCultist at 1:46 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Re: private firefighters I have heard of certain celebrity homes having them. Not sure how/if they work. I have seen some homeowners install exterior sprinkler or foam systems. That would absolutely be an investment
posted by CostcoCultist at 1:46 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Apparently some people are taking grinning selfies in evacuation zones. I saw a different source that said these people had actually driven into the evac zone to take selfies but I do not know if it's true.
posted by rednikki at 1:59 PM on January 8
posted by rednikki at 1:59 PM on January 8
Mark Hamill is confirmed safe THANK GOD
posted by St. Peepsburg at 2:54 PM on January 8 [17 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 2:54 PM on January 8 [17 favorites]
From my perspective working for the Department, none of the incarcerated persons who work as firefighters are forced into it. There are significant incentives to being assigned to the position, such that almost anyone I know who is eligible is very eager to do it.
posted by ericales at 3:52 PM on January 8 [12 favorites]
posted by ericales at 3:52 PM on January 8 [12 favorites]
They have been able to start air drops of fire retardant and water again as the winds have calmed a bit. But the evacuation warning area of Santa Monica has now become a mandatory evacuation order area, (beach to Montana, to 11th) and they've extended the warning area further south. Fire in Santa Monica Canyon.
posted by drossdragon at 4:00 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
posted by drossdragon at 4:00 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
I can't think of a time when actual city flats were being evacuated.
The core of Altadena is basically destroyed. The sheriff's station, the old hardware store, the country club, a pair of churches, a couple of schools, a bunch of businesses and the Bunny Museum - all gone and its depressing
posted by drewbage1847 at 4:10 PM on January 8 [9 favorites]
The core of Altadena is basically destroyed. The sheriff's station, the old hardware store, the country club, a pair of churches, a couple of schools, a bunch of businesses and the Bunny Museum - all gone and its depressing
posted by drewbage1847 at 4:10 PM on January 8 [9 favorites]
From the 2017 wildfires that destroyed northeast Santa Rosa residential flat area, some notes:
N99, not N95. Or positive pressurize your entire home but that requires a medical-grade filter intake and electricity.
These wildfires are just the neglected Forest Service work due to policy fuckups, so once the fire has come and gone, it’ll be a lot safer there for a few decades - long enough to forget about the risk and pass the buck to the next generation, same as our elders did to ours.
Don’t move away from a burnt region unless they aren’t rebuilding it; everywhere else that hasn’t burned yet is much, much more at risk.
They will sacrifice whatever it takes to keep the fire from jumping the highway because what’s west of the highway is, as one might predict, the area where rich people are most likely to have resisted good fire management practices that would impact their view.
Air filters box cube thing is still the best rapid idea, but you’ll need to somehow get ahold of those parts now that it’s too late to be prepared.
posted by Callisto Prime at 4:34 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]
N99, not N95. Or positive pressurize your entire home but that requires a medical-grade filter intake and electricity.
These wildfires are just the neglected Forest Service work due to policy fuckups, so once the fire has come and gone, it’ll be a lot safer there for a few decades - long enough to forget about the risk and pass the buck to the next generation, same as our elders did to ours.
Don’t move away from a burnt region unless they aren’t rebuilding it; everywhere else that hasn’t burned yet is much, much more at risk.
They will sacrifice whatever it takes to keep the fire from jumping the highway because what’s west of the highway is, as one might predict, the area where rich people are most likely to have resisted good fire management practices that would impact their view.
Air filters box cube thing is still the best rapid idea, but you’ll need to somehow get ahold of those parts now that it’s too late to be prepared.
posted by Callisto Prime at 4:34 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]
Apparently UCLA is gaslighting their students and faculty about the AQI
Several sources I've seen today, and my own observation in this corner of Santa Monica, is that this area of west L.A. has has surprisingly good air quality so far. The wind seems to have pushed smoke from the two biggest fires southward, which is around most of Santa Monica/west L.A. area. However, the Palisades fire has been creeping eastward (and southward), so it may change.
In the South Bay area(Torrance/Carson), it was smokey all day, looks to have been from the Eaton fire (Altadena/Pasadena).
Winds have calmed a bit, but it's still gusty around Santa Monica, and bone dry.
L.A. investor who boasted about not paying taxes savaged over plea to hire private firefighters, 'will pay any amount'.
Nothing says "baller" like scrambling to hire private firefighters after the fire has started.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:56 PM on January 8 [5 favorites]
Several sources I've seen today, and my own observation in this corner of Santa Monica, is that this area of west L.A. has has surprisingly good air quality so far. The wind seems to have pushed smoke from the two biggest fires southward, which is around most of Santa Monica/west L.A. area. However, the Palisades fire has been creeping eastward (and southward), so it may change.
In the South Bay area(Torrance/Carson), it was smokey all day, looks to have been from the Eaton fire (Altadena/Pasadena).
Winds have calmed a bit, but it's still gusty around Santa Monica, and bone dry.
L.A. investor who boasted about not paying taxes savaged over plea to hire private firefighters, 'will pay any amount'.
Nothing says "baller" like scrambling to hire private firefighters after the fire has started.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:56 PM on January 8 [5 favorites]
From my perspective working for the Department, none of the incarcerated persons who work as firefighters are forced into it. There are significant incentives to being assigned to the position, such that almost anyone I know who is eligible is very eager to do it.
Yeah, this one gets thrown around a lot, but it's something that folks want to sign up for. The problems are around convictions banning folks from working in fire jobs after they're out. It should be an apprenticeship that streamlines them into a good, secure job afterwards.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 6:32 PM on January 8 [22 favorites]
Yeah, this one gets thrown around a lot, but it's something that folks want to sign up for. The problems are around convictions banning folks from working in fire jobs after they're out. It should be an apprenticeship that streamlines them into a good, secure job afterwards.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 6:32 PM on January 8 [22 favorites]
> Thanks for sharing the Steve Guttenberg interview. I learned that if we ever need to abandon a car on the roadway, park it to the side so emergency vehicles can still use the road, and crucially leave the damn keys inside so kind helpers can move the car easily if needed.
Stay safe out there ya’ll, this is terrifying and I cannot imagine how worrisome and unreal it all must be right now.
posted by edithkeeler at 7:12 PM on January 8 [8 favorites]
Stay safe out there ya’ll, this is terrifying and I cannot imagine how worrisome and unreal it all must be right now.
posted by edithkeeler at 7:12 PM on January 8 [8 favorites]
Okay, this photo of people evacing earlier in this disaster clearly shows a guy in a convertible Benz with a large painting or artwork of some sort sticking up, in the back seat. And he might be wearing a popular red and white hat.
And THIS photo of an elderly man being evaced clearly shows a rat in the lower left corner, presumably also running for its life.
Compare and contrast.
posted by vrakatar at 7:25 PM on January 8 [13 favorites]
And THIS photo of an elderly man being evaced clearly shows a rat in the lower left corner, presumably also running for its life.
Compare and contrast.
posted by vrakatar at 7:25 PM on January 8 [13 favorites]
The Lookout is an expert (based in N California) in the field with excellent real-time info resources.
Here's his latest on YouTube.
Great, there's now a fire started in Runyon Canyon (a favorite walk).
The Palisades Fire wiped out the nicest corner of LA to live in; one of my college friends parents bought 5 acres in Topanga Canyon in the 1970s and I got to see their house there once. The California Coastal Commission did their best/worst preventing further development in their neighborhood, but the fires finally coursed through this slice of paradise out yesterday apparently.
Given the immense wealth and taste of these home owners, no doubt a lot of irreplaceable art was lost, along with everything else.
posted by torokunai2 at 7:26 PM on January 8 [7 favorites]
Here's his latest on YouTube.
Great, there's now a fire started in Runyon Canyon (a favorite walk).
The Palisades Fire wiped out the nicest corner of LA to live in; one of my college friends parents bought 5 acres in Topanga Canyon in the 1970s and I got to see their house there once. The California Coastal Commission did their best/worst preventing further development in their neighborhood, but the fires finally coursed through this slice of paradise out yesterday apparently.
Given the immense wealth and taste of these home owners, no doubt a lot of irreplaceable art was lost, along with everything else.
posted by torokunai2 at 7:26 PM on January 8 [7 favorites]
tbf that benz is pretty elderly too
posted by ryanrs at 8:13 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
posted by ryanrs at 8:13 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
private firefighters have boomed in the last few years since the fires out west have become so devastating. Generally they are contracted by insurance companies as a way to avoid the fire damage that would result in massive insurance payouts, but i think you can just hire them if you’re rich.
honestly, the way things are going, i’ll be surprised if we have any public firefighters in the future. house on fire? sign here, first 6 months of payments are interest free
posted by dis_integration at 8:48 PM on January 8 [5 favorites]
honestly, the way things are going, i’ll be surprised if we have any public firefighters in the future. house on fire? sign here, first 6 months of payments are interest free
posted by dis_integration at 8:48 PM on January 8 [5 favorites]
Speaking of fires, I’m surprised* that this story out of Puerto Rico hasn’t gotten more coverage.
*okay, maybe not that surprised.
posted by non canadian guy at 9:10 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
*okay, maybe not that surprised.
posted by non canadian guy at 9:10 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
It sounds like the Thomas Mann house may be gone, unfortunately.
posted by vacapinta at 12:25 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]
posted by vacapinta at 12:25 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]
private firefighters have boomed in the last few years since the fires out west have become so devastating. Generally they are contracted by insurance companies as a way to avoid the fire damage that would result in massive insurance payouts, but i think you can just hire them if you’re rich.
honestly, the way things are going, i’ll be surprised if we have any public firefighters in the future. house on fire? sign here, first 6 months of payments are interest free
I doubt this primarily because there will be a huge financial incentives for private firefighters to break contracts once big fires arrive and will switch their services over to the highest bidders rather than honor their commitments. It will be what the market demands.
posted by srboisvert at 2:24 AM on January 9 [3 favorites]
honestly, the way things are going, i’ll be surprised if we have any public firefighters in the future. house on fire? sign here, first 6 months of payments are interest free
I doubt this primarily because there will be a huge financial incentives for private firefighters to break contracts once big fires arrive and will switch their services over to the highest bidders rather than honor their commitments. It will be what the market demands.
posted by srboisvert at 2:24 AM on January 9 [3 favorites]
ISTM instead of defending homes with water we should use mylar or something.
Plus if I were building a $xM Malibu compound I'd be damn sure to dig out a fusion-bomb proof underground storage room available to stash the s--- I wanted to preserve.
As mentioned in the Getty Villa article, smoke damage can wreck your home interior as if it caught on fire too, not sure just a mylar envelope can protect against that.
posted by torokunai2 at 8:33 AM on January 9
Plus if I were building a $xM Malibu compound I'd be damn sure to dig out a fusion-bomb proof underground storage room available to stash the s--- I wanted to preserve.
As mentioned in the Getty Villa article, smoke damage can wreck your home interior as if it caught on fire too, not sure just a mylar envelope can protect against that.
posted by torokunai2 at 8:33 AM on January 9
Like in Florida, when you build in environmentally risky areas, you should assume a higher likelihood of events like this. LA has dense housing near heavily forested, lightly managed environments. Combine this with an arid to semi-arid climate and a history of strong annual windstorms and the outcome should not be hard to see.
LA has been lucky for the last 50 years. Are you going to blame climate change when a massive earthquake leads to a similar outcome?
If you want "safe", then your best bet is to locate yourself between Toledo, Ohio and Syracuse, NY - geologically and environmentally the safest territory in the country. But when everyone wants to live near the ocean, mountains and forests - bad things are gonna happen at some point.
posted by tgrundke at 9:58 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
LA has been lucky for the last 50 years. Are you going to blame climate change when a massive earthquake leads to a similar outcome?
If you want "safe", then your best bet is to locate yourself between Toledo, Ohio and Syracuse, NY - geologically and environmentally the safest territory in the country. But when everyone wants to live near the ocean, mountains and forests - bad things are gonna happen at some point.
posted by tgrundke at 9:58 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
Note that at least one member of Metafilter has lost their home to the fire, with several other members having evacuated.
posted by gwint at 10:13 AM on January 9 [15 favorites]
posted by gwint at 10:13 AM on January 9 [15 favorites]
Forest management and climate change are one and the same. You can’t manage a forest with static policies like the US and other countries tend to do; you need a reactive policy that prioritizes lowering threat rather than maintaining a status quo, and that’s not something that anyone has properly learned since wildfires became a serious threat to west-of-Cascades land ten years ago. Homeowners still have trees out their window, ready to catch embers and send them into their uncovered vents to burn their homes. Old money regions like Sebastopol still refuse to thin and boundary deadly stands of trees that help wildfire spread into their communities. And the federal forest service cannot be reliably convinced that spending money to start controlled fires is critically necessary to void punishing citizens for their negligence.
Climate change may have brought the start of the fires earlier than it would have been otherwise, but the intentional wildfire prevention (crews which my dad was a part of, before I was born) is the primary cause of this issue, and lowering the temperature by fifty years would simply have deferred it a few decades longer — not preventing it, but instead just making it the next generation’s concern.
posted by Callisto Prime at 10:13 AM on January 9 [12 favorites]
Climate change may have brought the start of the fires earlier than it would have been otherwise, but the intentional wildfire prevention (crews which my dad was a part of, before I was born) is the primary cause of this issue, and lowering the temperature by fifty years would simply have deferred it a few decades longer — not preventing it, but instead just making it the next generation’s concern.
posted by Callisto Prime at 10:13 AM on January 9 [12 favorites]
Architect Barton Myers designed and built several strongly fire-resistant homes in Montecito Cal., with each featuring fire- and drought-resistant landscaping, fully metal frames, cement walls, huge gasoline station-like windowed garage doors separating the living/dining areas from the backyard, and rooftop and building-adjacent pool/reservoirs. He designed his original model to be his and his wife's home. The site was built as a three-building complex including his studio/office and a guest house. Natalie Portman and her (now-ex?) husband bought one of the other models a while back. Search 'Barton Myers residence Montecito' for photos and descriptions. The houses are breathtaking, if a bit sterile for some tastes.
posted by zaixfeep at 1:00 PM on January 9 [10 favorites]
posted by zaixfeep at 1:00 PM on January 9 [10 favorites]
I've been messaging with an old friend (best man at my wedding) who's been on high alert for 36 hours and I'm not sure has had any sleep yet... when we first chatted yesterday the Eaton fire was just picking up, and he was thinking about the home in Altadena he and his wife moved out of last year. They're now in Lake Balboa, several miles from each fire front, but he doesn't feel safe: he lived through the 2003 fires in Canberra, Australia (where we met, though I'd left it by then), in which high winds blew embers miles into the suburbs, not just onto the houses on the edge of bushland. Nightmare.
Around 500 homes burned in Canberra that year, 2000 in Victoria in 2009, and almost 3000 in the 2019-20 bushfires, the worst in Australia's history. I've read that a thousand homes have been lost from the Eaton fire alone, so the final LA toll will surely be worse than the worst bushfire season in one of the most fire-prone regions of the world.
Still, plants breathe CO2 and ice-caps are overrated, so let's ban those wind turbines and get down the coalmines.
posted by rory at 1:36 PM on January 9 [2 favorites]
Around 500 homes burned in Canberra that year, 2000 in Victoria in 2009, and almost 3000 in the 2019-20 bushfires, the worst in Australia's history. I've read that a thousand homes have been lost from the Eaton fire alone, so the final LA toll will surely be worse than the worst bushfire season in one of the most fire-prone regions of the world.
Still, plants breathe CO2 and ice-caps are overrated, so let's ban those wind turbines and get down the coalmines.
posted by rory at 1:36 PM on January 9 [2 favorites]
Checking on that Feynman angle, apparently he lived on 2475 Boulder Road in Altadena, well within the fire footprint there.
posted by torokunai2 at 3:57 PM on January 9
posted by torokunai2 at 3:57 PM on January 9
Very CA : Drone collides with firefighting aircraft over Palisades fire
posted by jeffburdges at 8:05 PM on January 9 [2 favorites]
posted by jeffburdges at 8:05 PM on January 9 [2 favorites]
If you're in a smoke filled place like me and need some quick air cleaning, you might want to build a box filter setup with 4 air conditioner filter and a box fan. Corsi-Rosenthal Box. My house was permeated with smoke particles despite running HEPA filters on the HVAC and small room cleaners.
Setup a version of this and within an hour, my house was breathable again for my crap lungs.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:47 PM on January 9 [8 favorites]
Setup a version of this and within an hour, my house was breathable again for my crap lungs.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:47 PM on January 9 [8 favorites]
An interview with the guy who created Watch Duty - “I had to convince these country folk that I’m not a Silicon Valley tech bro here to take advantage of their community and not be a part of it,” Mills said of recruiting volunteers, adding that he formed the company as a nonprofit to build an app “that is not about money but about life and safety.”
posted by toastyk at 9:20 PM on January 9 [2 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 9:20 PM on January 9 [2 favorites]
Eaton Fire devastates historic Altadena, displacing Black families and destroying legacies.
posted by rory at 2:22 AM on January 10 [5 favorites]
posted by rory at 2:22 AM on January 10 [5 favorites]
If you want "safe", then your best bet is to locate yourself between Toledo, Ohio and Syracuse, NY - geologically and environmentally the safest territory in the country. But when everyone wants to live near the ocean, mountains and forests - bad things are gonna happen at some point.
This entire comment is so snide and odious. No wonder I don't visit this site much anymore.
posted by rhymedirective at 7:16 AM on January 10 [15 favorites]
This entire comment is so snide and odious. No wonder I don't visit this site much anymore.
posted by rhymedirective at 7:16 AM on January 10 [15 favorites]
The Hurst Fire is on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles Aquaduct Cascades, which is a how lots of LA gets their tap water, and looks like a really fun waterslide as you drive past it.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:38 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:38 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]
“It is hard for people who have not lived in Los Angeles to realize how radically the Santa Ana figures in the local imagination. The city burning is Los Angeles's deepest image of itself; Nathanael West perceived that, in The Day of the Locust; and at the time of the 1965 Watts riots what struck the imagination most indelibly were the fires. For days one could drive the Harbor Freeway and see the city on fire, just as we had always known it would be in the end. Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability. The wind shows us how close to the edge we are.”
― Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem
posted by chavenet at 7:49 AM on January 10 [16 favorites]
― Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem
posted by chavenet at 7:49 AM on January 10 [16 favorites]
> bad things are gonna happen at some point.
There's an interesting discussion to be had about who gets to choose where they live, and the choices people with resources make. But posting this right now feels heartless.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:13 AM on January 10 [5 favorites]
There's an interesting discussion to be had about who gets to choose where they live, and the choices people with resources make. But posting this right now feels heartless.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:13 AM on January 10 [5 favorites]
"Mel Gibson's house in LA has burned down while Gibson was being interviewed by Joe Rogan. During this interview, Gibson nodded along in agreement while Rogan accused climate scientists of fearmongering."
posted by jeffburdges at 11:41 AM on January 10 [8 favorites]
posted by jeffburdges at 11:41 AM on January 10 [8 favorites]
Meanwhile, ICE raids are happening in Kern County.
There's some progress being made on the fires, but harsh winds threaten gains.
posted by toastyk at 12:16 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]
There's some progress being made on the fires, but harsh winds threaten gains.
posted by toastyk at 12:16 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]
Climate Scientist Peter Kalmus Fled L.A. Fearing Wildfires. His Old Neighborhood Is Now a Hellscape
Older: 'He looked at me, and with a sad smile, simply said "They will die".' — James G Dyke
posted by jeffburdges at 12:26 PM on January 10 [5 favorites]
Older: 'He looked at me, and with a sad smile, simply said "They will die".' — James G Dyke
posted by jeffburdges at 12:26 PM on January 10 [5 favorites]
But when everyone wants to live near the ocean, mountains and forests - bad things are gonna happen at some point.
Forty percent of the US population lives near a coast, because that's how our cities have developed historically. There is not enough money in the US economy to move 40% of the population somewhere else, let alone to additionally move everyone who lives near a fire or seismic risk (or, in the not-too-distant future, those affected by the slowdown or stoppage of the AMOC).
There's nothing to be gained by pointing out a population and saying look at those morons not getting out of the way of trouble. We're all in trouble, and the tools we have to help are so much smaller than the scale of the risks.
posted by mittens at 2:22 PM on January 10 [19 favorites]
Forty percent of the US population lives near a coast, because that's how our cities have developed historically. There is not enough money in the US economy to move 40% of the population somewhere else, let alone to additionally move everyone who lives near a fire or seismic risk (or, in the not-too-distant future, those affected by the slowdown or stoppage of the AMOC).
There's nothing to be gained by pointing out a population and saying look at those morons not getting out of the way of trouble. We're all in trouble, and the tools we have to help are so much smaller than the scale of the risks.
posted by mittens at 2:22 PM on January 10 [19 favorites]
Los Angeles Is Burning by Bad Religion
Burn Hollywood Burn by Public Enemy w/ Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane
via r/CollapseMusic/
posted by jeffburdges at 3:57 PM on January 10
Burn Hollywood Burn by Public Enemy w/ Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane
via r/CollapseMusic/
posted by jeffburdges at 3:57 PM on January 10
But when everyone wants to live near the ocean, mountains and forests - bad things are gonna happen at some point.
That type of thinking is right in line with conservative/traditional US protestant values anyway - like the only thing that should be risked is young lives in pointless wars.
People are allowed to have a life outside of their toil, and if that means they enjoy some nice weather, a coast, and some dusty hills well that's what we invented insurance for a freaking long time ago and people who hang too hard on eco-diasaster fantasies should maybe remember that. My relatives home is in jeopardy - it was built 70 years ago. That seems like an acceptable length of time for a moderately sized single family home to survive.
Why even have a federal government if all it's going to do is tut-tut at its own citizens instead of help them? Bad things happen sometimes.
BTW if you think people are going to move to that supposed safe area, then be sure to take a look at this chart of estimated net domestic migration in 2024 and fill your heart with despair.
posted by The_Vegetables at 5:28 PM on January 10 [6 favorites]
That type of thinking is right in line with conservative/traditional US protestant values anyway - like the only thing that should be risked is young lives in pointless wars.
People are allowed to have a life outside of their toil, and if that means they enjoy some nice weather, a coast, and some dusty hills well that's what we invented insurance for a freaking long time ago and people who hang too hard on eco-diasaster fantasies should maybe remember that. My relatives home is in jeopardy - it was built 70 years ago. That seems like an acceptable length of time for a moderately sized single family home to survive.
Why even have a federal government if all it's going to do is tut-tut at its own citizens instead of help them? Bad things happen sometimes.
BTW if you think people are going to move to that supposed safe area, then be sure to take a look at this chart of estimated net domestic migration in 2024 and fill your heart with despair.
posted by The_Vegetables at 5:28 PM on January 10 [6 favorites]
LA has dense housing near heavily forested, lightly managed environments.
Where in LA is this? I can’t picture what area you mean. Angeles National Forest is frankly pretty sparse as forests go, and the surrounding areas are not really dense housing.
posted by corey flood at 8:04 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]
Where in LA is this? I can’t picture what area you mean. Angeles National Forest is frankly pretty sparse as forests go, and the surrounding areas are not really dense housing.
posted by corey flood at 8:04 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]
There's nowhere that's going to be safe from the effects of climate change. We saw this with all the flooding last year.
Currently, there are more evacuations being ordered. The LAFD chief is on record criticizing budget cuts made to LAFD, and has been summoned for a closed door meeting with the mayor.
posted by toastyk at 10:26 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]
Currently, there are more evacuations being ordered. The LAFD chief is on record criticizing budget cuts made to LAFD, and has been summoned for a closed door meeting with the mayor.
posted by toastyk at 10:26 PM on January 10 [2 favorites]
The prison firefighters are not forced to do that work--they choose it.
If you are locked in a cage and told "you must work or you will be punished", nothing about that is actually voluntary. hth. Yes, many prisoners preferentially choose firefighting over other, shittier prison jobs -- they at least get opportunities for sunshine, and an extra dollar an hour, and they get fed actual human food while they're out on a fireline -- but they are still being enslaved and exploited.
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:42 PM on January 10 [5 favorites]
If you are locked in a cage and told "you must work or you will be punished", nothing about that is actually voluntary. hth. Yes, many prisoners preferentially choose firefighting over other, shittier prison jobs -- they at least get opportunities for sunshine, and an extra dollar an hour, and they get fed actual human food while they're out on a fireline -- but they are still being enslaved and exploited.
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:42 PM on January 10 [5 favorites]
Mod note: One removed; attacking other members is against guidelines. Let's all take care to focus on the facts and ideas expressed rather than fellow commenters. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 12:07 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 12:07 AM on January 11 [1 favorite]
For people interested in hearing from prisoners involved in the firefighting, Ear Hustle (a podcast that began when one of the hosts was still incarcerated) did an episode on this in 2020.
Certainly my number one concern is the safety of people (and animals), and I know some people who had to evacuate, and I agree that it does no good to blame individuals. But I'm also a little alarmed by reporting and the discussion in this thread that downplays the history of negligence in how these places developed, particularly the Palisades. Like the Didion quote above suggest, and that is laid out it great detail in the chapter "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn" by life-long LA resident and historian Mike Davis, it's not just climate change at play here - the area of the Palisades fire is "the wildfire capital of North America" and it burned many times in the previous century. But people kept building - more and more exclusively to suite the needs of the wealthy. To pull just one paragraph from the larger chapter:
Angeles National Forest is frankly pretty sparse as forests go
Yes if you think in terms of trees, but fires don't require trees - also pulling from the Davis piece "it was often remarked that chaparral [the shrubland plan community of CA], particularly that composed largely of chamise, is a fire-climax community, it is now joked that the same is true of the Southern California mountain suburb."
posted by coffeecat at 8:00 AM on January 11 [8 favorites]
Certainly my number one concern is the safety of people (and animals), and I know some people who had to evacuate, and I agree that it does no good to blame individuals. But I'm also a little alarmed by reporting and the discussion in this thread that downplays the history of negligence in how these places developed, particularly the Palisades. Like the Didion quote above suggest, and that is laid out it great detail in the chapter "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn" by life-long LA resident and historian Mike Davis, it's not just climate change at play here - the area of the Palisades fire is "the wildfire capital of North America" and it burned many times in the previous century. But people kept building - more and more exclusively to suite the needs of the wealthy. To pull just one paragraph from the larger chapter:
Ultimately the 1956 fire—followed by two blazes, one month apart, in 1958–59 that severely burned eight firefighters and destroyed another hundred homes—proved the beginning of the end for bohemian Malibu. A perverse law of the new fire regime was that fire now stimulated both development and upward social succession. By declaring Malibu a federal disaster area and offering blaze victims tax relief as well as preferential low-interest loans, the Eisenhower administration established a precedent for the public subsidization of firebelt suburbs. Each new conflagration would be punctually followed by reconstruction on a larger and even more exclusive scale as land use regulations and sometimes even the fire code were relaxed to accommodate fire “victims.” As a result, renters and modest homeowners were displaced from areas like Broad Beach, Paradise Cove, and Point Dume by wealthy pyrophiles encouraged by artificially cheap fire insurance, socialized disaster relief, and an expansive public commitment to “defend Malibu.”Given the speed at which disaster capitalism happens, it's probably good to not wait too long to have these conversations - though better to focus on the broader infrastructures than to blame individuals' decisions.
Angeles National Forest is frankly pretty sparse as forests go
Yes if you think in terms of trees, but fires don't require trees - also pulling from the Davis piece "it was often remarked that chaparral [the shrubland plan community of CA], particularly that composed largely of chamise, is a fire-climax community, it is now joked that the same is true of the Southern California mountain suburb."
posted by coffeecat at 8:00 AM on January 11 [8 favorites]
The Hurst Fire is on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles Aquaduct Cascades, which is a how lots of LA gets their tap water, and looks like a really fun waterslide as you drive past it.
That would be the absolute worst waterslide ever.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:22 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]
That would be the absolute worst waterslide ever.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:22 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]
Forest management and climate change are one and the same.
No, they aren't, and it does a disservice to everyone to conflate the two.
Specifically to the current fires, both forest management and climate change have connections that are complicated.
Forest management in chaparral covered hills full of homes is a very difficult challenge that nobody, neither government nor residents, are enthusiastic to jump in with both feet. Residents because of the disruption and potential danger, and public officials, because of the responsibility of both action and inaction.
Just a reminder to folks unfamiliar with the region, these hilly areas are not forested in the way most people would think of the word. Things like prescribed burns in such places is likely to leave bare burn scars vulnerable to subsequent erosion/landslide. And not without risk. Or maybe people are thinking "rake the forest..."?
Prevention and mitigation would be a good idea, but again, what, exactly? There is a reservoir that's been offline, but it's unlikely it could have been useful in such dry and high wind conditions. Similarly, buffer zones have to be extremely wide to be effective in these conditions. Practicality to be determined.
The climate change connection is there, but tenuous. Dry conditions and high winds are not typical in Jan. in L.A. but absolutely not unexpected. Perhaps zooming way out, a more direct line can be drawn, but wildfire has always been a part of the region, particularly the hilly, less densely populated areas. Every place that has burned in the last few days, or is burning now has done so before, sometimes decades before, and will again.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:39 PM on January 11 [6 favorites]
No, they aren't, and it does a disservice to everyone to conflate the two.
Specifically to the current fires, both forest management and climate change have connections that are complicated.
Forest management in chaparral covered hills full of homes is a very difficult challenge that nobody, neither government nor residents, are enthusiastic to jump in with both feet. Residents because of the disruption and potential danger, and public officials, because of the responsibility of both action and inaction.
Just a reminder to folks unfamiliar with the region, these hilly areas are not forested in the way most people would think of the word. Things like prescribed burns in such places is likely to leave bare burn scars vulnerable to subsequent erosion/landslide. And not without risk. Or maybe people are thinking "rake the forest..."?
Prevention and mitigation would be a good idea, but again, what, exactly? There is a reservoir that's been offline, but it's unlikely it could have been useful in such dry and high wind conditions. Similarly, buffer zones have to be extremely wide to be effective in these conditions. Practicality to be determined.
The climate change connection is there, but tenuous. Dry conditions and high winds are not typical in Jan. in L.A. but absolutely not unexpected. Perhaps zooming way out, a more direct line can be drawn, but wildfire has always been a part of the region, particularly the hilly, less densely populated areas. Every place that has burned in the last few days, or is burning now has done so before, sometimes decades before, and will again.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:39 PM on January 11 [6 favorites]
Watching on YT the firefighting being done in the canyons above Brentwood today, a new saying came to mind:
"The best time to remove brush was 2 years ago. The second best time is now."
posted by torokunai2 at 12:55 PM on January 11 [2 favorites]
"The best time to remove brush was 2 years ago. The second best time is now."
posted by torokunai2 at 12:55 PM on January 11 [2 favorites]
Fire-related mutual aid efforts to support and some must-reads.
Watch Duty - if you need to track the fires for yourself or loved ones.
The LAFD chief is not fired after criticizing the budget, but "differences will be worked out in private."
CA is welcoming firefighters from Mexico to boost firefighting capacity.
posted by toastyk at 4:37 PM on January 11 [4 favorites]
Watch Duty - if you need to track the fires for yourself or loved ones.
The LAFD chief is not fired after criticizing the budget, but "differences will be worked out in private."
CA is welcoming firefighters from Mexico to boost firefighting capacity.
posted by toastyk at 4:37 PM on January 11 [4 favorites]
Death toll is up to 16, from 1, then 5, then 6, then 10.
posted by kensington314 at 8:11 PM on January 11
posted by kensington314 at 8:11 PM on January 11
That would be the absolute worst waterslide ever.
But you'd be thoroughly aerated by the time you got to the bottom!
posted by notoriety public at 8:11 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]
But you'd be thoroughly aerated by the time you got to the bottom!
posted by notoriety public at 8:11 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]
Asking rents skyrocket as LA fires destroy homes
posted by jeffburdges at 5:24 PM on January 12 [1 favorite]
posted by jeffburdges at 5:24 PM on January 12 [1 favorite]
Hasan Piker/Caroline Kwan interview with CA's prisoner firefighters (warning: this is an hour long).
posted by toastyk at 10:00 AM on January 13 [2 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 10:00 AM on January 13 [2 favorites]
GoFundMe, Mandy Moore and the unfairness of disaster relief: ‘If you were poor before, you should stay poor’ Guardian
Has links to 2 GoFundMe folks, ones who, unlike Mandy Moore, had very few resources even before they lost everything.
posted by Glinn at 4:14 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]
Has links to 2 GoFundMe folks, ones who, unlike Mandy Moore, had very few resources even before they lost everything.
posted by Glinn at 4:14 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]
Droughts across the West are getting worse - and scientists warn it’s not going to get any better
Carbon dioxide levels rose more than ever in 2024
Awareness of climate change seemingly remains poor among Americans (via)
posted by jeffburdges at 12:18 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]
Carbon dioxide levels rose more than ever in 2024
Awareness of climate change seemingly remains poor among Americans (via)
posted by jeffburdges at 12:18 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]
“Fire-evolved,” Dayna Tortorici, n+1, 17 January 2025
A conversation with Jordan Thomas on fire suppression and prescribed burning in the megafire eraposted by ob1quixote at 9:14 AM on January 19 [3 favorites]
LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund is an emergency relief fund for artists and arts workers in all disciplines who have lost residences, studios, or livelihoods or have otherwise been impacted by the devastating Los Angeles fires. For information on the fund and application materials go here.
posted by gudrun at 7:19 AM on January 21
posted by gudrun at 7:19 AM on January 21
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posted by torokunai2 at 8:26 AM on January 8 [5 favorites]