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Merged LA Wildfires/Malibu Barbie Evacuated from Dream House

I know there's not really a lot that can be done for the wild animals caught up in these wildfires, but I'm glad there are at least some people out there trying to take care of the pets who were and are being affected by them.


How Wings of Rescue is helping rescue animals displaced in LA fires
Story by Sahiba Tahleel

Wings of Rescue, an organization that flies pets from overcrowded shelters and disaster-stricken regions, has been a go-to in responding to the animal crisis caused by fires in Los Angeles. These fires have put pets and their owners in a precarious state, causing displacement and pressure on shelters reaching a high demand level...


Here's one of the comments to this article:

I wanted to hear what animals he rescued. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, I was down in NOLA for several months, along with hundreds of other volunteers. We did break into homes with mallets, and crowbars, to rescue animals. Homes that had been flooded, with mold that grew/looked like a jungle. The Louisiana SPCA, and the other large groups, would knock on doors! After all the trauma did they really think a dog would bark, or a cat meow?!? They marked doors saying there were no animals inside. That wasn't true. Those animals were scared and hiding. We recovered/saved hundreds, if not thousands. We even found animals after 3 months (November). I don't know how they survived, but it was a miracle (albeit they were skinny and weak).


ETA: WOW, someone actually took down the above comment.


ALSO: Out-of-state groups step up to alleviate overwhelmed Los Angeles pet shelters (VIDEO)[/ur]


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Today looks like another bad day for the fires as winds are once again picking up speed. The death toll has risen to 25. The one silver lining is, after today conditions may become much more moderate.
A day after firefighters got a reprieve with lighter winds than expected, gusts were hitting up to 35 mph (56 kph) on the coast and valleys and 55 mph (88 kph) in the mountains before dawn, National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Hall said. They were expected to increase up to 10 mph (16 kph) through the morning. “This is really just the last push of these winds here today,” Hall said. “Hopefully, if we get through today we’re gonna have some better conditions for late week, especially into Friday and Saturday.” Associated Press article link

By the way, regarding the plight of people's pets, I read an interview with a woman who had to evacuate with her daughter and small dog. The woman said she had to call four hotels before she found one that would accept her with the dog. But she did find one.

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I also read news stories about a couple who lived in Pacific Palisades with three dogs but were both away on business trips when the fires started. The dog-sitter they'd hired was unable to reach the home after the fires broke out because of closed roads and traffic gridlock. They were finally able to reach a CBS news crew reporting from the area through a friend, a CBS News producer. The news crew was able to get to the house and rescue the dogs. Soon after the house became engulfed in flames and subsequently burned down. CBS News article link
 
Here's a small section of a map created by Los Angeles County showing the status of homes in one Palisades neighborhood. The red icon means destroyed, orange is major damage, yellow is minor damage, green is affected but with even less damage, and black means no damage. You can see that many homes in the southern portion of this neighborhood have escaped the flames. So far. :(

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Link to full map
 
Imagine the outrage if Biden suggested that hurricane relief for Florida residents would be contigent on realistic building codes restricting new construction on flood prone sites like barrier island sand spits and low lying inland areas, or any locales where homeowners cannot get affordable flood insurance. Or any insurance at all.
 
Not everyone who has had their houses wiped out by a fire or hurricane is filthy rich and this was just their third vacation home. If it's in a locale where the disaster will probably happen again, disaster relief should include a buyout proviso for people to relocate rather than rebuild, and no, you don't get to sell off your beach vacation bungalow at the ridiculous price you paid for it 3 years ago. It's less likely for a hurricane to trash the Appalachians again than it is for one to clobber the Outer Banks. Carrot and stick for more intelligent planning.
 
Out of curiosity, I did a bit of a comparison. The LA fires have burned about 40 square miles. The Australian fires of 2019-20 burned almost 94,000 square miles. BUT the big difference is that there are many times more people in the LA area than were in the Australian area. About 65k people were displaced in the Black Summer fires. From what I can tell, about 200k people are under evacuation orders in LA.
 
That explains the spread. Not the start. Do fires usually start every time wind blows ? 3 in one day ?
Do arsonists usually set three fires in one day?

I didn't think it was necessary to spell out a list of possible causes of wildfires, but since it is, here are a few: wet or dry lightning, power lines, campfires, an unextinguished cigarette butt, trash fires, etc...
Local news now reporting that power lines are suspected to have caused the Eaton fire.
 
Local news now reporting that power lines are suspected to have caused the Eaton fire.
It's quite common that high winds can cause power lines to touch each other, and the result is usually a pile of hot sparks.

In Australia, you'll often see conductor spacers mounted between power lines to prevent this from happening.

This has been done, because of the fires caused by power lines.
 
It’s weird that people are talking about forest management in a thread that has nothing to do with forests. It gives the impression that they don’t have the first ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ clue what they’re talking about.
Right wingers don't. They live in this fantasy world where the only way to help poor people is to allow them be enslaved by the rich.
 
Okay, this is supposed to be a skeptic's board. This is an active large-scale disaster and there is no "Big Picture" as far as the facts go.

Here's the background:

1. Southern California (SoCal) has had a dry winter thus far after a summer of record-setting heat.
2. A HIGH WIND WARNING was issued last Sunday night before the fires, and was for LA County, Santa Cruz County, and parts of the northern coastal mountain areas.
3. A RED FLAG WARNING was issued for SoCal from Ventura County, LA County, and other SoCal counties. A Red Flag Warning means there is a high potential for wildfire. CalFire and just about all local city, and county fire departments were put on alert.
4. The winds arrived as predicted with average sustained speeds of 50mph, and guts up to 99mph.
5. The Palicades Fire was reported at 10:30AM. 7, January.
6. The Eaton Fire was reported at 6:18PM, 7, January.
7. The Hurst Fire was reported at 10:29PM, 7, January
8. The Lidia Fire was reported at 2:07PM, 8, January.
9. The Kenneth Fire was reported at 3:34PM, 9, January.
10. The Archer Fire was reported at 11:24AM, 10, January (today)

The high winds made interdiction by aircraft impossible on January 7, and the winds pushed, and spread the fire quickly. To understand these fires you need to understand topography. Those winds blowing through the canyons create a blow-torch effect that blows up small fires into Godzilla, and embers can fly up to a mile starting more fires, and quickly enveloping the area with a situation beyond the control of most fire departments. The fight stops being about putting out the fire, and shifts to containing it. The winds and topography in these areas made containment impossible without airtankers, and there was almost 30 hours without air support over a fire spreading under 40-60mph wind sustained winds. Nine and a half million people live in Los Angeles County. None of them were complaining about infrastructure on New Year's Day. Now everyone in California is getting a crash course in what state and local governments do, and don't do.

Meanwhile, nobody in LA County really knows what's going on. The scope of this disaster is off the charts, and only a 6.5+ earthquake down there would overtake it. It will take year to sort out all the issues with these fires on the optimistic side. Be careful of what you read and what you think is true until the fires are all out.

Here's CalFire's Incident page:


I will point out that LA County had a voter turnout of 25%, and the entire state of California had a voter turnout of 28.98% in 2024. I voted. You get the government you vote for. Or don't vote for.
The scary thing about all this is that, in US terms, California's government is extremely good and competent.

Imagine how much worse this would be in a red state.
 
I'm remembering when Hurricane Sandy hit and the GOP refused to vote aid for the victims (they claimed there was too much Pork...there wasn't).

Later when a GOP rep's own area was hit with a disaster congress universally voted for aid but noted the congressman had voted against Sandy aid. The congressman was all "Gee, I don't remember doing thaaaaaaat".

Also note how often FOX news has tried to make any disaster into "The Democrat's Katrina!!!!!"
Didn't Trampy once put in a big claim for Mar-a-Lardo when a hurricaine hit the other end of Florida, causing no damage to the area? Looking for something like $10m.
 
I wish the harshest critics of the government...
California wildfires are anything but a natural disaster.

It's hard to imagine a more thoroughly managed wilderness than the California back country. It's also hard to imagine a more thoroughly mismanaged wilderness than the California back country.

"Climate Change" is manna from heaven for government and politicians; effective rhetoric to avoid criticism of their gross incompetence.
... would consider the fact that they're unable to provide one credible answer to a simple question: What specifically should the the government have done / not done to mitigate the risk?

(I also wish for a pony.)
 
In the "flat what" category, trump has announced Jon Voigt, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone as special ambassadors to Hollywood.
 
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Some residents displaced by the wildfires are getting impatient to be allowed back to their homes. Especially residents whose homes are apparently intact. But emergency responders say they're not ready to reopen all the neighborhoods. That two factors delaying it are 1) the need to make sure all bodies have been recovered and 2) to make sure residents will be safe when they return. Some residents have been away from home for over a week but it may be another week before they can go back.

Some evacuation orders have been lifted in recent days in the Eaton Fire, but most of the orders will likely stay in place into next week....
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna also said there are damaged areas that need to be secured. Thousands of structures have been damaged and destroyed. "It literally looks like a bomb dropped," he said. "There are things everywhere." NBC News Los Angeles article link

Below left is a map showing burned out homes (marked in red) in one Pacific Palisades neighborhood. On the right is a Google Streetview image from December 2023. It shows homes that were intact then but burned out now. The homes shown are circled on the fire map. Kind of puts a face on the tragedy. :cry:

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Mel Gibson was just on with Rogan telling everyone then Ivermectin and fenbendazole (another de-wormer) are a wonder cure for cancer. He four of his friends with stage four cancer that completely recovered after taking them.
 
Some residents displaced by the wildfires are getting impatient to be allowed back to their homes. Especially residents whose homes are apparently intact. But emergency responders say they're not ready to reopen all the neighborhoods. That two factors delaying it are 1) the need to make sure all bodies have been recovered and 2) to make sure residents will be safe when they return. Some residents have been away from home for over a week but it may be another week before they can go back.



Below left is a map showing burned out homes (marked in red) in one Pacific Palisades neighborhood. On the right is a Google Streetview image from December 2023. It shows homes that were intact then but burned out now. The homes shown are circled on the fire map. Kind of puts a face on the tragedy. :cry:

View attachment 58497
Many of those people are probably afraid that even if their houses are still standing, someone will have burglarized the schneikies out of them while they are waiting for permission to return. Crooks generally ignore 'DO NOT ENTER' notices, as they would rather chance'um for a big payout.
 
Mel Gibson was just on with Rogan telling everyone then Ivermectin and fenbendazole (another de-wormer) are a wonder cure for cancer. He four of his friends with stage four cancer that completely recovered after taking them.
It's a great pity we can't give Mel Gibson stage four cancer so he may prove his hypothesis.
 
Mel Gibson was just on with Rogan telling everyone then Ivermectin and fenbendazole (another de-wormer) are a wonder cure for cancer. He four of his friends with stage four cancer that completely recovered after taking them.
Yes, he said he had three friends with stage four cancer and now none of them have it any more. I suppose we assume they recovered but maybe they’re dead (or never existed).
 
Mel Gibson was just on with Rogan telling everyone then Ivermectin and fenbendazole (another de-wormer) are a wonder cure for cancer. He four of his friends with stage four cancer that completely recovered after taking them.
And what other treaments did these "friends" receive? Mel Gibson and Joe Rogan, what a roomful of stupid.
 
...Crooks generally ignore 'DO NOT ENTER' notices, as they would rather chance'um for a big payout.

True but it's not just signs, there is also a huge police presence and they are very aware of the looting/break-in potential. There's also a curfew in effect at night. Below is an image of two men -- one dressed as a firefighter -- who were detained in Pacific Palisades by LA Sheriff's deputies.

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I know a lot of people want to help their fellow humans who are hurting right now, and I can understand that, but PLEASE, PLEASE don't forget the animals:

Organizations Helping Pets & Animals Affected By L.A. Wildfires


Learn about the organizations aiding pets and wildlife impacted by the L.A. wildfires and how you can help their critical efforts.


ETA: I just wanted to add that what's happening in LA with pets and wild animals also happens all over the world during all natural disasters and the groups and organizations above do their best to help. A lot of folks tend to forget all about them during a time like this.


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When the smoke clears (pun intended) there will be changes at LACFD, and the mayor is looking at a successful recall in November.

Instead of playing the blame game, there needs to be discussions about the future of firefighting in Southern California. Up in San Francisco, after the 1906 earthquake in which the city was destroyed by fire, not shaking, the city built a number of cisterns to hold water in case of a major fire (which looms big over the city even today). What SF has now are two systems for fire hydrants; one being a low-pressure system like they have in most US cities, including LA. The other is a high-pressure system fed either by cisterns, or sea water pumped up from the bay. It's this sea water high-pressure system that would have made a difference in many areas in those first three days.

You can read about them here: https://sf-fire.org/our-organization/division-support-services/water-supply-systems

The next issue should be burying power lines in hazardous areas. I honestly don't know why the state hasn't made this job one both in the Sierras, the Redwoods, Big Sur/Santa Lucias, and SoCal. It's been seven years since the entire city of Paradise was erased in the Camp Fire, and the fact that powerlines are not a priority gives me a headache.

And yes, both solutions are expensive, but certainly cheaper than what the bill will be for these fires. I won't hold my breath. Oh, and right now I'm under a shelter-in-place thanks to a fire at the battery storage facility at Moss Landing. It's fourth fire the power company has had since they installed the batteries. In the 80 years prior, the old gas-fueled plant had maybe two fires. Yay, clean energy.
 
The next issue should be burying power lines in hazardous areas. I honestly don't know why the state hasn't made this job one both in the Sierras, the Redwoods, Big Sur/Santa Lucias, and SoCal. It's been seven years since the entire city of Paradise was erased in the Camp Fire, and the fact that powerlines are not a priority gives me a headache.
Burying power lines isn't a panacea. It's far more expensive to bury a line than it is to build towers and hang bare high voltage cables from them. The ground isn't that friendly of an environment and cables need to be well insulated to protect from damage by moisture and rodents. High voltage lines tend to get hot and burying them doesn't help with cooling, so often the cables need to jacketed and actively cooled with fluid or nitrogen gas. Breaks are harder to find and more expensive to repair.

My feeling is for short runs of a few kilometres burying the cables will work, but not for great distances.
 
Burying power lines isn't a panacea. It's far more expensive to bury a line than it is to build towers and hang bare high voltage cables from them. The ground isn't that friendly of an environment and cables need to be well insulated to protect from damage by moisture and rodents. High voltage lines tend to get hot and burying them doesn't help with cooling, so often the cables need to jacketed and actively cooled with fluid or nitrogen gas. Breaks are harder to find and more expensive to repair.

My feeling is for short runs of a few kilometres burying the cables will work, but not for great distances.
Looks like it has to be a mix of underground, and above-ground equipment upgrades, which makes sense:
 
As the fire map previously inserted illustrates, some houses survived very well, sometimes among other houses that burned. NPR looked at why.

More than 10,000 houses have been destroyed in Los Angeles, the charred piles of wood and metal all that remains after the fast-moving wildfires. But within that wreckage, some homes are still standing, seemingly untouched. It's a phenomenon that's been seen in other high-intensity fires, something that can feel like a stroke of luck. Sometimes, the houses survived because the winds could have shifted at just the right moment. But more often, fire experts are finding those homeowners took key precautions that likely saved their houses from burning.

The key safeguards are things that can be done to the house itself, as well as the environment directly around it, including the density of flammable plants. Many are already requirements in California's building codes for fire-prone areas and its rules for clearing nearby brush and vegetation, known as creating "defensible space." Few other Western states have adopted similar standards, even those that have seen destructive wildfires....Los Angeles has rules requiring defensible space, mandating that trees be trimmed back from the roofline and bushes be spaced out. Homes in high risk areas get yearly inspections to ensure homeowners comply. The key is to ensure the plants and bushes aren't touching each other and the house, acting like a highway for the flames. NPR article link

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Weather forecast is concerning.
NOAA said:
Very strong Santa Ana winds will develop Monday and continue through at least Tuesday. Humidities will drastically lower to the single digits. Along with the extremely dry fuels, this will create Extremely Critical fire-weather conditions and rapid firespread with any fires.
 
Sometimes I just post an hour too soon. What my last post in this thread should have been:

How do the bushes get 'spaced out' are they marijuana bushes or something?

No, you just have to plant them six feet apart. It's called SoCal Distancing.
 
Conditions are slowly getting better, but the danger is not yet over. Now fires are breaking out in the San Diego area, too. And for many thousands of burned out residents, their nightmare is ongoing. An update from the New York Times:
The worst of the Santa Ana winds was over in Southern California late Tuesday morning, but the high risk of fire will persist across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties in the coming days. Bone-dry air, warm temperatures and another round of winds are all in the forecast, as firefighters continue working to contain the deadly Eaton and Palisades fires...The Friars fire burned a few acres in San Diego’s Mission Valley neighborhood Tuesday afternoon, prompting evacuations. The flames were in a dangerous location — near power lines and between two rows of apartment buildings — but firefighters quickly got the blaze under control and were “mopping up hot spots” by 2 p.m. local time, according to a spokesman for the city. New York Times article link
 
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