Posted on 09/29/2005 8:19:10 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES - A wind-whipped brush fire quickly tripled in size early Thursday to more than 9,300 acres, destroying at least one home and prompting evacuations as a ridge of flames was visible for miles.
The blaze burned to the edge of a number of multimillion-dollar homes that abut rural, picturesque hillsides in the San Fernando Valley. Homes in several communities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were evacuated, but officials did not release an exact number.
"Our house is still OK, but oh, God, it's not a good feeling," said Phil Goldenberg, 53, who was at an evacuation shelter at Canoga Park High School with his wife and son.
Late Wednesday night, bright red flames 10 to 15 feet high stretched several miles across much of the western edge of the valley.
"It's pretty hard to deal with when it's dry brush and dry fuel. There's not a lot you can do to stop it," said Paul Shakstad of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Fire officials confirmed that one home had been destroyed, although two structures that appeared to be homes could be seen burning in a news broadcast.
Past wildfires fanned by Santa Ana winds have roared south to Malibu, the celebrity-packed community about 10 miles away, and that's one of the biggest fears firefighters have with this blaze, Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mark Savage said.
Authorities planned an all-out assault against the fire at daybreak using water dropping helicopters and tanker planes, he said. No evacuations were reported at Malibu.
More than 700 firefighters were on the scene, fire spokesman Ron Haralson said earlier. One firefighter was struck on the head by a 40-pound boulder and was taken to a hospital, officials said.
The fire was only 5 percent contained early Thursday, authorities said.
A blaze in Riverside County, meanwhile, spread over 1,330 acres between the cities of Redlands and Moreno Valley, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles. That fire destroyed three chicken coops at a ranch believed to have housed 70,000 to 90,000 chickens.
So far this year, wildfires have charred 8.16 million acres nationwide, compared with 7.74 million acres at the same time last year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
___
On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov
THEN the rain of toads....
Where is Bell Canyon in relation to Topanga? The Los Angeles TV stations are doing a lousy job of putting up any location maps....I've been very confused at various mentions about the fire affecting both the 118 and 101 Freeways, which are several miles apart.
http://www.kcal.com/
KCAL 9
Click on Live Webcast: Fire Watch Coverage
top center of page under FiRe Watch image
Bell Canyon and Topanga are within a couple of miles of one another. Take Valley Circle to the 101, go down one offramp, Tada. Topanga. The fire is in the north part of Bell Canyon. It'll have a ways to go before it hits Topanga providing, of course, Topanga is not ALREADY on fire.
Bell Canyon is at the far west end of the San Fernando Valley. It is a pretty good distance north of the Topanga area, and several miles west of Topanga Canyon Blvd. It is kind of a fire trap, with only one road in and out.
see post 43 for KCAL Live web cast link
Thanks!!
Don't think much will be updated until this evening/tomorrow, unless South California Ops puts an information website up. It's not up yet.
South Ops GACC's homepage:
http://gacc.nifc.gov/oscc/index.htm
But some of the satellite imaging and analysis is near real time.
Here's one from NOAA (the type of service Accuweather and Santorum would like to keep off the web)
http://newweb.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/
(just click on the LA dot).
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/
This gives you maps of the burn areas, more or less, generated by MODIS.
Fire weather for the LA area:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/lox/firewx.php
Thanks for the links,, the nifc site is slower than heck.
as you mentioned, Not a lot of info up at this point.
Well, that goes without saying.....
The largest fire began at about 1:30 p.m., just north of the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway in the Chatsworth area. The blaze quickly jumped to the south side of the freeway.
A Los Angeles County Fire Department official said one single-family home burned Wednesday afternoon. Other homes were threatened.
The fire began west of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, said county fire Capt. Mark Savage. The California Highway Patrol shut down part of the freeway in both directions between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Rocky Peak.
The fire scorched more than 30 acres during the first 90 minutes. At 4:30 p.m., fire officials said containment was at 5 percent.
"We get some additional moisture in the evening that will help lay down the fire," said John Mancha of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
At least 500 acres burned as of 5 p.m. The fire grew to 1,200 acres by 9:30 p.m.
Mandatory evacuations were declared in the Box Canyon, Bell Canyon and Woolsie Canyon areas. Residents were brought to area high schools. Three evacuation centers have been set up, officials said.
"I saw the flames about 50 feet from our house," said a resident. "If you're not burned out, the smoke will get you."
As of 3 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department was on tactical alert. Officers may not leave after their shifts in case they are needed to help evacuate areas affected by fires.
Winds fueled the blaze, but NBC4 forecaster Fritz Coleman said calm conditions are in Wednesday evening's forecast.
"What we're seeing is a gusty wind that, earlier today, exceeded 50 mph and, in some localized areas, hit 70 mph," Coleman said. "The foothills and mountains of Ventura and L.A. counties got the worst of it. The fire danger will not decrease as rapidly as the winds do."
A firefighter hit by a rock is in good condition, according to Wells.
Wells said the fire did not appear to be related to a blaze that burned earlier Wednesday nearby.
Authorities said another 400-acre blaze was burning in Calimesa. Another fire began at a chicken farm in San Timoteo Canyon. About 90,000 chickens were killed.
A blaze began at about noon near a Moorpark neighborhood. Wind spread embers, causing smaller fires to break out near the main blaze.
The fire started in the 7000 block of Pecan, near Moorpark College. Winds in the area were blowing at about 25 mph.
Dozens of homes were threatened, but crews extinguished the blaze when winds decreased. The fire burned for about two hours.
A pre-dawn brush fire scorched about 100 acres north of Chatsworth early Wednesday, but an aggressive counterattack that included helicopter water drops kept the flames from spreading.
By 8 a.m., the blaze was 100 percent contained, authorities said.
The blaze that began in the 11100 block of North Browns Canyon Road threatened no homes but was regarded as a "major emergency brush fire," said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells.
Some firefighters remained on scene to douse hot spots, authorities said. The cause of the fire was under investigation. No injuries were reported.
More than 100 firefighters were deployed to fight the fire, which was first reported at 3:54 a.m., authorities said.
The city's fire department sent 23 fire companies, and Los Angeles County firefighters contributed to the firefighting effort as well, Wells said. Five water-dropping helicopters were sent to the scene.
The flames were fueled by medium to heavy brush and fanned by winds in the 20-30 mph range, Wells said.
The De Soto Avenue offramps from the eastbound and westbound Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway were closed because of the brusher, said California Highway Patrol Officer John Seumanutafa.
The decision to deploy water-dropping helicopters even before daybreak appeared to reflect a determination to knock down the blaze as quickly as possible. Weather forecasters said daytime conditions would be sunny, warm and windy.
A National Weather Service Wind Advisory was in effect today in mountain regions of Los Angeles County, with forecasters saying they expect winds of between 30 and 40 mph, gusting to more than 60 mph.
A flat bed truck with a jeep on it that was also towing a mobile home caught fire on the southbound Antelope Valley (14) Freeway Tuesday night, sparking a 10-acre brush fire, authorities said.
The vehicle fire occurred on the freeway, about a mile south of San Fernando Road at 7:55 p.m., said Capt. Mark Savage of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Then several explosions in the vehicles -- probably propane gas -- set fires on both sides of the freeway, Savage said.
A quarter-acre fire on the northern side of the freeway was quickly extinguished. However, the 10-acre fire on the south side took the combined forces of about 150 Los Angeles and Los Angeles County firefighters on the ground and in the air a little more than an hour to extinguish, he said.
"We will be here several hours mopping it up tonight," Savage said.
No one was injured and no structures were affected, Savage said.
The southbound freeway was closed for about 45 minutes. Lanes began reopening shortly after 9 p.m.
"I'm being ignored because I'm female.."
No, you are being ignored because you are a conservative female. See? if you were Maxine Waters you would have already had your house rebuilt and your entire family on the state payroll.
; )
I hurt my knee tracking Hurricane Katrina...chondromalacia patella...wonder if I ought to put in a FEMA claim! (Injury from sitting on my butt at a bad angle too many hours! Amazing!) Where's my rehab money! If Karl Rove hadn't cranked up the weather machine...;-)
File now!
its in chatsworth which is above LA...but we have a bunch of fires burning all over here...one in moreno valley....one in moorpark...and its probably going to get worse today
stupid la mayor is now on the scene...this guy cant help but get media attention...last week he was on the runway to "monitor" the jet blue plane...this guy is camera hungry...
LOL! But seriously, my kids are just south of Santa Maria - so the fire appears to be going in the opposite direction. That's good news.
http://www.sigalert.com/map.asp?Region=Greater+Los+Angeles
I haven't read the whole thread so I don't know if you've gotten your answer. Hit refresh on this periodically and you'll get a general idea of where the fires are.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.