Posted on 08/31/2009 7:39:02 PM PDT by myknowledge
* More than 70 dwellings confirmed destroyed
* Over 6,000 homes under evacuation orders
* Fire crews retreat from key mountain summit (Updates with new damage toll, evacuees, news conference)
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES, Aug 31 (Reuters) - A massive wildfire roaring through mountains north of Los Angeles forced some firefighters to retreat on Monday as the toll of engulfed homes rose sharply and flames menaced Mount Wilson, a broadcasting hub and site of a historic observatory.
Fire officials said at least 71 dwellings had been destroyed since the blaze erupted last Wednesday -- 53 clustered in the foothill community of La Crescenta on the northern fringe of suburban Los Angeles and 18 others first reported as lost on Sunday.
As of Monday evening, a total of 6,300 homes throughout the fire zone were under evacuation orders, authorities said.
The so-called Station Fire more than doubled in size as it burned out of control for a sixth day, charring 105,000 acres (42,500 hectares), up from 42,000 acres (17,000 hectares) late on Sunday, and sending up towering palls of smoke that fouled the air for miles (km) around.
Two firefighters died on Sunday when they were overrun by flames in the Angeles National Forest and rugged San Gabriel Mountains. Nearly 2,600 firefighting personnel, some from as far away as Montana and Wyoming, were battling the blaze.
With no forecast for an immediate break in the triple-digit temperatures and very low humidity that has helped energize the fire, officials pushed back their projected date for full containment of the blaze by one week to Sept. 15.
"This is a very angry fire that we're fighting right now," Fire Commander Mike Dietrich told a news conference. "Until we get a change in the weather, I'm not overly optimistic."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The wildfires are burning on soil and vegetation that has not seen an intense fire in like six decades.
One other thing: Are the wildfires God's diving judgment on the Granola State (California), for its inherent immorality, Hollyweird, promotion of homosexuality in public schools and society in general, along with abortion?
If you don't believe me, have a read.
Is the fire spreading towards LA proper?
BTW, I have some friends who fly for the CDF and can't get a hold of them ...haven't seen any fire drops ...anyone know if they're up????
If it is spreading toward LA, then the Los Angelinos would gather up buckets and hoses, forming makeshift firefighter brigades, if they want to save their homes.
Oh sheesh, get a grip.
You should take that crap somewhere else.
One thing that is really helping this thing burn is the fact they don’t clear away dead and old vegetation, that’s just leaving fuel around for a fire to burn. Might as well leave a full gas can sitting out there.
I feel for the people losing their homes, in general. I certainly wouldn’t mind, however, if the fire overruns Mt. Wilson and takes out all of LA’s over the air communications and TV. It would be an ironic twist that hollywood can’t get entertainment.
Big Tujunga Canyon, which is in the area, was also the site of a big fire in November, 1975.
Go play on the freeway bonehead
As we see everywhere, blessings and judgments fall on both the good and the bad. When we have any kind of disaster, some good people suffer, some bad people suffer, some good people survive, some bad people survive.
Of course, one could also imagine the radical enviro-nazi crowd that won’t allow controlled burns and timber cutting to prevent/contain fires in the first place might have something to do with it as well...
Many of the threatened cities, such as Tujunga, are governed as part of the City of Los Angeles...
Yeah, that’s a problem that has affected a lot of people all across the country.
Generally the econuts aren’t unhappy because most of them are population control nuts too who think too many people are killing the earth. For them if the fire takes people out many see it as a positive thing.
“One thing that is really helping this thing burn is the fact they don’t clear away dead and old vegetation, that’s just leaving fuel around for a fire to burn.”
Exactly right!
Posted like a true Californian...
What’s really sad is that it’s not even fire season yet here in California...
No,
They are due to dry, burnable material and flames.
California is more conservative per capita, than many states are..
It is moving away from the city of Los Angeles and has been since it started, really. My friend lives about 4 houses from a fire line in La Canada. The firefighters told her they were letting it burn in the forest, because it has been so long since it burned, but they are protecting the homes. The terrain is very rugged, it’s been 100 in the shade and humid, and there is no wind.
When we have a fire plus Santa Ana winds, then the fires race through canyons, houses, jump from tree to tree, etc. With no wind, however, the smoke goes straight into the air — looks like Mt St Helens — and the water-dropping planes and helicopters have to fly into the smoke and cannot see the flames. They have those great helicopters that look like mosquitos, that land on lakes, suck water in, and drop it. Very cool.
I heard our Congressman on the radio today. He said that Jerry Brown, our IDIOT Attorney General in Sacramento, had sued the Forest Service to make them stop cutting up dead trees and clearing brush. The suit is in the courts, the USFS is afraid to bring on additional suits, and so is doing nothing in the way of clearning dead (burnable) dry tinder.
Also the AQMD/ Air Quality Management, has stopped the USFS from having controlled burns because of particulates in the air, so they are responsible as well. You should SEE the particulates in the air this week, tho, of course. There are neighborhoods where you can barely see, ashes everywhere, smells smoky.
Most of the homes that have burned, from what I understand, are way in the tops of canyons, or cabins in the forest, etc. It has not really gone into residential areas at all. They have also managed to save Mt. Wilson, with the telescope and communications stuff.
There is a storm coming up from Baja, but it is not due for a week. That should help, too. People are just going about their business down here, not far from the fire. Some have evacuated but most are just staying put. No wind makes it totally different from the firestorms we sometimes have.
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