VIDEO + EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT: Chatsworth Fire, 27 October 2003

amazing.com (my web site) ^ | 10/27/2003 | David H Dennis

[daviddennis]

I was horribly curious. I used to live in Chatsworth, and I knew it pretty well. I had to see the fire. I just had to. And in seeing it, of course, I had to bring back pictures and video to share.

Some people would say that I shouldn't have gone there, that I was visiting a spectacle off people's ruined lives. In my defense, I would not have un-ruined one life or saved one house or tree from burning if I had not been there.

I gave all emergency vehicles a wide berth and didn't even get vaguely close to the action. But I still saw the terrifying grandeur of the fire, and it is this that I can share with you in my video.

If your house was damaged or destroyed, I feel bad for you. I considered moving to Box Canyon; if things had gone just a little differently, it might have been my house destroyed.

[daviddennis]

Click through to the site to view the video.

[ambrose]

You live in the Valley? For some reason, I was under the impression that you were from Malibu.

[daviddennis]

Thought you might find my report from Chatsworth and video of interest. Information is only about an hour and 20 minutes old.

The upshot at that time was that the Simi Valley fire was licking at the hills around the Topanga Canyon exit of the 118 freeway. I couldn't get very close, but my video camera has a pretty good telephoto, so I was able to file a report anyway.

As of 9:30, it looked like things were calming down a bit.

D

[daviddennis]

Moving to Malibu is an ambition of mine, but sadly home prices there have shot up even higher than my income has, so I'm stuck in Woodland Hills for now :-(.

D

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the video!

I hope with the Santa Ana's diminishing I hope the worse is over!

[ambrose]

What about renting a trailer on the beach?

[Ladypixel]

Thanks for the video. Mind if I post the link to your site on the news-only thread?

[RoarkMan]

Oh My God! The aliens are giving us a sign: Go Left! Now I have to vote for Dean.

[daviddennis]

I think I already did, but if I goofed feel free to do it again :-)

D

[Ladypixel]

Nope - you beat me to it, and it works fine. :) Thanks again!

[Texaggie79]

[ladyinred]

I wanna be trailer trash at Malibu!

[Texaggie79]

Movie Link

[Texaggie79]

That's as close as you could get?

[daviddennis]

I was a bit antsy about interfering with operations, but they had the road closed about five blocks or so from where I was. I selected that location because there was an enormous median I could set up on that gave me a nice straight shot at the fire. I cursed myself for not bringing my tripod; you really don't know what you need when you go on expeditions like this :-(.

I did drive around quite a bit to get a better view, but to be honest even places that were closer didn't have as clear a shot because buildings and trees and the like got in the way.

It was pretty frustrating, but of course they're not running a major firefighting operation for the convenience of hobby videographers, nor would I expect them to.

(I'm also pinging some of my friends that I forgot before - don't feel too bad, friends; I'm dog tired, seriously :-) ).

D

[daviddennis]

Space rent is about $1,000 a month, I believe, but you have to buy an existing mobile home to rent there.

Existing mobile homes cost anywhere from $150,000 to a mind-boggling $450,000, and of course you have no genuine ownership of the land. You get to keep the land as long as Malibu has its Mobile Home Rent Control Ordinance, and not a second longer.

I have to say it makes me feel pretty wary, since I'm sure someday someone will try to get rid of the mobile home parks entirely - they are an eyesore, after all, and at the prices being charged they're hardly even "affordable housing" anymore.

D

[WSGilcrest]

When I was a kid, I went rock climbing at a place called Stony Point? It was a big rock right in the middle of the suburbs. Do you know of this place, and is it near the fire?

[BullDog108]

When I was a kid I used to climb at Stoney Point. Excellent bouldering. Royal Robbins grew up in Glendale, and he used to climb there to. As we grew older we moved to Tahquitz and Yosemite.

[Ol' Sox]

What is that flaming arrow-like thing pointing left in both the picture and the video?

sheesh, I read that question and it sounds like I'm asking about a host in front of the sun...

[daviddennis]

I believe it's a traffic signal, but I got a nice laugh out of RoarkMan's interpretation.

D