Live Updating Thread: 2007 Southern California Firestorms

LA Times ^ | 9:35 AM PDT, October 21, 2007 | Associated Press

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

UPDATE: The city of Malibu is advising residents in Puerco Canyon to begin evacuating due to a wildfire driven by powerful winds. This area is north of Pacific Coast Highway and about 1 mile west of Pepperdine University. Residents along the beach on Malibu Road may soon be evacuated. Pacific Coast Highway is closed between Kanan-Dume Road and Topanga Canyon. Residents are advised to head to the west. Evacuation centers are being set up in the Zuma Beach area.

A wildfire driven by powerful winds in the Malibu Hills this morning threatened a university, destroyed at least one home and forced the evacuation of hundreds more, authorities said.

Related Stories
-	Wildfire burns 500 acres near Interstate 5
-	Santa Ana winds are sweeping the region

[Brad’s Gramma]

Not right now it isn’t......I DID notice about an hour ago that the heat rose and there was a stillness to the air...and, that “feeling” I get when the Santa Ana’s are about to come in.....

Oh PLEASE God...do NOT let them come back...

[calcowgirl]

Is the Smoke in the Air bothering anyone else?....I’ve been out and now my throat is feeling yukky...

Yes! It's been bugging me a lot all week! Raspy throat, pressure in the chest, headache, sleepy. Today is the first day I started to feel better as there was an ocean breeze and I finally got a bit of semi-fresh air (from a coastline that finally showed some blue sky).

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I think I shall take my body to the horizontal position...nite all....Yukky taste ....I need a cough drop....

[BurbankKarl]

They are coming back all right.

But not as crazy as before.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Well then!

Just call on ME next time you need a weather report! :)

And.....GOOD GOOD GOOD that they’re not going to be gale force winds THIS time ‘round....!!!!!!

[Brad’s Gramma]

Here’s to hoping you feel better tomorrow, Ernest...

Sleep well!

[Brad’s Gramma]

BTW.......how soon are the winds expected back?

The kid & the geezer are in the process of cleaning the pool....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I'm back and I feel better....

A weather 'blessing' aids battle

***************************EXCERPT************************

Cool, moist air — drizzle in some places — lets firefighters make big gains, but Santa Anas could return.

By Tony Perry, Ashley Powers and Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 28, 2007

Under cool, moist skies, firefighters on Saturday made significant strides against the remaining fires in Southern California. Displaced residents streamed back to their homes, and hard-hit San Diegans prepared to cheer on their Chargers in a football stadium that, just days before, had been an emergency shelter for thousands.

Firefighters hoped that balmy temperatures would help them maintain their gains on many fronts today. In the mountains of San Bernardino County, the nearly 13,000-acre Slide fire was 65% contained by Saturday evening. Earlier in the day, it had been only 25% contained.

"This is a kind of blessing," said meteorologist Valerie L. Meyers at an evening briefing in Running Springs.

Even as something approaching normality returned to many areas, firefighters worked feverishly to take advantage of the comparatively low temperatures and light breezes. Some forecasters were predicting that the fire-triggering blasts of Santa Ana winds would return, although perhaps not as severely, at week's end.

In all, 1,997 houses had been listed as destroyed by Saturday night -- an increase of 222 from the total listed on Friday -- as officials continued to assess damage.

At the 27,521-acre Santiago fire, a cliffhanger that was still threatening dozens of homes in Orange's County's Silverado Canyon, a sprinkle of rain raised the hopes of weary firefighters and frustrated residents. At least 16 homes have been destroyed overall in the arson-triggered blaze.

"The threat is diminishing day by day," said county Battalion Chief Pat Antrim, himself a resident of the canyon for 46 years. "We're getting a little drizzle, which is better than hot wind."

By evening, firefighters said they had made steady progress, but Orange County's rustic canyon communities remained under a mandatory evacuation order.

Forecasters said the winds would change direction today, bringing slightly drier, warmer weather to the fire regions in Orange and San Diego counties. Moister air is to return on Tuesday.

In San Diego, 19,000 residents remained under evacuation orders, but local political and tourism leaders lost no time pitching the city's charms to prospective visitors.

"We want the message to go out across the world: San Diego is open for business," Mayor Jerry Sanders said at a morning news conference at the San Diego Zoo.

As the mayor spoke, families, out-of-state tourists and couples streamed through the zoo's entrance. Sanders said only one convention bailed out during the fires and that plans were still on for a popular golf tournament and a major neuroscience convention this week.

San Diego authorities said the city was almost entirely "repopulated" -- a judgment echoed at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Two animals died there as smoke poured through the area, but park officials disclosed that six more were born: three gazelles, a fringe-eared oryx, a Ugandan kob (an antelope), and a dik-dik (an antelope native to eastern Africa).

Officials warned residents of the thefts, scams and price-gouging that seem to trail every disaster.

Lt. Phil Brust of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said six people had been arrested on suspicion of looting in the last week, and 128 looting reports had been fielded by his office.

Playing for bigger stakes, an out-of-town company snapped up 50 apartments in the Rancho Bernardo area and tripled the rent, the mayor said. Alerted by an evacuee, city officials pressured the company to offer the apartments at the pre-fire rent.

Fly-by-night contractors were given a stern warning by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who showed up with other state officials for a morning briefing at the fire command center in Irvine Regional Park.

"If anyone tries to exploit this tragedy, I will make sure you will pay for it for the rest of your life," the governor said, also vowing that investigators would arrest those responsible for igniting two blazes -- including the destructive Santiago fire -- and perhaps another two in the region's string of fires.

So far, more than 1,000 tips on the Santiago fire have poured in to the Orange County sheriff's office, where deputies want to question the driver of a white Ford F-150 seen leaving the area where it began Sunday evening.

San Diego fire investigators appealed to the public for information about a 44-year-old Los Angeles man in custody for allegedly impersonating a firefighter at the Rice fire in Fallbrook, where his truck was loaded with firefighting gear. They said William Reed Brock, who was on probation for a drug offense, was not a suspect in the fires.

[Fitzcarraldo]

This is north of fire on Palomar mtn., in southern Riverside county.

Incident:  0409 Type: Structure or Grass Fire Location: SR371 AT SR79 Zoom Map: 982 7F info as of: 10/28/2007 11:48:51 AM 

11:02AM RP ADV IT APPEARS TO BE SEPERATE FRM THE SAN DIEGO FIRES , SHE CAN SEE THE SMOKE FRM THOSE FIRES ON THE OTHER SIDE 
11:02AM XFER TO CDF RIV 
11:02AM RP ADV SEVERAL SMALLER FIRES IN THE AREA AS WELL 

[BurbankKarl]

Someone tried to light a few yesterday in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles. Thankfully the drizzle kept them from spreading.

[BurbankKarl]

NY Times has an article suggesting CA just let wildfires burn for ten years and then dont build in those area anymore.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Okey Dokey.

Fine folks, they are..................

[Brad’s Gramma]

Did they get him? Shoot him like the other dude?

[BurbankKarl]

nope

[Brad’s Gramma]

Dang.

[SCalGal]

I can see this one. Too close.

[stephenjohnbanker]

NY Times is still in business?

[Salem]

"BTW.......how soon are the winds expected back?"

Here's the week's forecast from the weather program I have on my computer. It looks like it will be windy near the end of the week—after a few damp/drizzley days! Hopefully this region wide trial is pretty much over.  

---

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Areas of smoke. Lows 52 to 60. Light winds.

Monday

Partly cloudy in the morning...becoming mostly sunny. Areas of smoke. Highs 78 to 83. Light winds becoming southwest 15 mph in the afternoon.

Monday Night

Mostly clear in the evening...becoming partly cloudy. Areas of smoke in the evening. Areas of drizzle after midnight. Lows 52 to 58. Winds west 15 mph in the evening becoming light.

Tuesday

Partly cloudy. Areas of drizzle in the morning. Highs 70 to 76. Light winds becoming west 15 mph in the afternoon.

Tuesday Night

Mostly clear in the evening...becoming partly cloudy. Areas of drizzle after midnight. Lows 51 to 56. Winds west 15 mph in the evening becoming light.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy in the morning...becoming mostly sunny. Areas of drizzle in the morning. Highs 70 to 75.

Wednesday Night

Mostly clear. Lows 49 to 55.

Thursday

Mostly sunny. Highs 74 to 79.

Thursday Night

Mostly clear. Lows 50 to 56.

Friday

Mostly sunny. Highs 76 to 81.

Friday Night

Mostly clear. Breezy. Lows 50 to 57.

Saturday

Mostly sunny. Windy. Highs 80 to 88.

Saturday Night

Mostly clear. Breezy. Lows 49 to 55.

Sunday

Mostly sunny. Highs 82 to 89.

[CindyDawg]

My DIL and one of my grandsons are sick with respiratory infections now.

[calcowgirl]

Oh, No! How do they treat that?
I hope it is not too serious.