Fire!

I've put my photos, passport and jewellery box in a bag, just in case. I hope this is a stupid over-reaction, but better safe than sorry, eh?

I bet it was a chip pan. I hope everyone's OK.

The flames aren't leaping out of the window any more, but there are huge clouds of yellow smoke billowing out.

(somebody has left their washing on the line at the back - that'll smell lovely when they bring it in)

A fireman has just emerged carrying a fluffy cat. I am assuming (hoping) this means there are no people in there that need saving.

Flames now leaping from roof of flat next door (one flat closer to my block). Press photographer has arrived, police interviewing people on the street.

There's no way to get a fire engine around the back - it's a closed-in block of tenements, so they have to get what equipment they can through the close to the drying green at the back.

he was very concerned sounding but I put his mind at ease, that you were not in any immediate danger. perhaps I understated it, too much, and he won't even telephone, to check you're okay. sorry!

he said to call him if something happens, I think. I don't know if he meant something other than what already has or what.

crosspost

12 or 13 metres or so.

I'm pretty sure the fire won't get into my flat. The absolute worst that can happen is the flats on the 3rd floor in my block or the one next door will go and then there would be tons of water damage, but it's still four flats away from that. I think (hope) they'll put it out before that happens.

I also lived in the top floor of an apartment building and watched a couple buildings across from me while they were on fire (with fire fighters up on a nearby roof). Actually, I benefited nicely from that fire*, since the buildings were torn down soon after, giving me a view of Rittenhouse Square, when I was paying a fraction of the rent most people with that privilege were paying.

*Which I don't mind thinking too much, since as far as I know, nobody was injured.

The police cordon is now up to the path to my front door.

Note to authorities: I am not suggesting Madchen is a twisted firestarter.

will this be on the news?

come back, madchen.

There is a TV crew, yes. Still wearing Access All Areas passes for the Great Scottish run. Did you see me in the Daily Record yesterday as well? (Alba, if you can scan it for me please do - don't have my own copy)

It isn't half noisy out there. I have a headache.

actually, he has copies of lots of yesterday's records.

I think you look just fine and cookie looks as insane as in reality.

the write-up is by one "tam cowan".

I think he says they have shitty tables but he might have just making it up, as he went along.

(They did have shitty tables, with great big cracks in. The candlewax poured through and ruined Dave's friend's shoes and trousers.)

Hope it all works out okay for you.

Then he blathered on about the Record. What is all this about the Record?

oops.

I had to buy cookie's record, yesterday, and said, to him, in front of the cashier, "you're making it look like I buy the record, now" and he said, so that the cashier could hear, too, "now, you're making it look like I buy the record".

I don't like sport and cookie can't read.

See the red blob on the bush? My flat is right behind that bush.
(it was meant to be a cross, but my photoshop skeez are not good)

the cross looks like an unlucky skydiver.

he used to live with me and with cookie.

"Minging, honking, bowfing - I'm still struggling to find the best Scottish adjective to describe the tables".

All members of the party except Cook are seen happily resting their elbows in the filth.

It was funny, because she pulled her arm away when I called at you down the street.

Later I went to see Dean Friedman and had a coke but, was probably still drunk. But not with lesbians.

I read the review on the website. I didn't like the bit where he made a virtue of the chicken breast meat he was served - any half decent restaurant reviewer knows that chicken breast is the most boring and flavourless of meats. Give me thigh any day.

really? did you thank your lucky stars you went? and was his bastard son there?

ihttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/AllyCook/Fire2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/AllyCook/Fire2.jpg

: (

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/AllyCook/Fire.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/AllyCook/Black.jpg

Did a fat pigeon sit on one of the television aerial prongs? Does it affect the picture?

The last photo is in the opposite direction. I just liked the light. It is nice. I wish there were a pigeon.

Dan started it, yes.

traffic, turning south, is having problems--all backed-up, along the south side of sauchiehall street.

some KGB-looking guy, outside sainsbury's. v. suspicious.

I believe it is the shack, formerly the temple, formerly lots of other things, I'm sure, on pitt street. listed, too, I should and do imagine. convenient. ally said it already looked burnt, anyway, and, you know, he is right. a taxi driver said it started in the basement but it wasn't likely that he'd say anything different, really. although, he did almost end up saying "convenient", too.

it is a nice day. ally already said.

crossposts

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/AllyCook/Picture111.jpg

Everything's OK, folks.

Must be something to do with Celtic playing.

i'd bloody hope so. mind you: judging by the state of some of my hangovers, you'd think not.

There was a fire during the week in the office where I do my Saturday job, in a bookshop here in Oxford. The funny thing is I said hello to several colleagues on the shop floor when I arrived this morning and NONE of them told me that it had happened, so it was a real shock when I opened the door to be greeted with a burnt smell and all of my papers covered in soot. Apparently someone had left a fan running when they went home and it was running perched precariously on a pile of books, so the vibrations made it fall off, the wire casing coming off as it hit the floor, where it proceeded to mash up the carpet and set it alight. Fortunately the person who'd been remiss enough to leave the fan on had at least shut the door and it is a small poorly ventilated room so the oxygen was used up pretty quickly and none of the desks, cabinets or computers caught alight. I have now been relocated to a MUCH better office at the top of the building which is well lit and ventilated (it actually has windows and a nice view) next to the second hand books department and it is amusing to discover that the staff in that department are by far the oldest in the whole shop, as if old books require old people to sell them!

Fire season has officially begun in Southern California. All at once unfortunately...

Mum called me today about my LA trip Wednesday worried that I'd "catch fire" down in socal.

I plan to wear my flame-retardant pee-jays so's I ought be safe and all.

I was in Irvine late afternoon/early evening and took these pictures of the Portola fire:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2309/1682421818_1360da655d.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2289/1681569965_9278e4bcbc.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2215/1683709391_52d4374b88.jpg

Nice. That first one is badass.

A hay distributor near here caught fire a while back. *BIG* fire. Firetrucks came from neighboring counties and the road nearby was lined both ways with spectators. None of my pictures really turned out though.

My house caught fire when I was sixteen. It was odd because the previous evening my parents had given me and my brother a talk about what to do do in case of fire, and suggested having a drill sometime. So when mum came in at five in the morning to tell us the house was on fire we were all "suuure Mum". I had to jump out of a first floor window, very exciting.

Our university halls of residence went on fire about two weeks after I moved out - my former room (still unoccupied at the time) was the worst affected as it was directly above the scene of the blaze. A friend of mine had to climb out his (ground floor) window because the corridor was full of smoke, then climbed back in because he'd forgotten his guitar.

Haha, priorities!

good news for Malibu homebuyers about to be bankrupted by ARM resets

will there be fallout from insurance companies refusing to pay any more than the current appraisal value? I would imagine so but then again the price drops in southern CA seem to be varying a lot from one zip code to another

look, all that matters is: ARE CELEBRITY HOMES IN DANGER??

ARE CELEBRITY HOMES IN DANGER??

yep, that was the top line on this story on the GMTV news this morning :/

OMG. WHich ones?

i reported a fire at an old disused timber yard about a month ago, it was only small but at night time not many people would have seen the smoke. The fire brigade arrived pretty sharply and had no probs putting it out. There was next to no damage.

Then amazingly less than a week after that, the whole place was knocked down due to a new 'development'.

hmmmm

You'd be amazed how many buildings in Glasgow (and latterly in my parents' home town of Inverness) that are struggling to get permission to convert to flats seem to accidentally go up in smoke. It's a staggering coincidence...

good news for Malibu homebuyers about to be bankrupted by ARM resets

I think that's more applicable to the Rancho Bernardo and Santa Clarita fires.

I dunno your boroughs mang

lol @ boroughs

It is all just a big intersection of 101, 5 and I-10 to me

This is the second Monday in a row that my school has been closed down (last week was because of the I-5 crash). I think one guy I know who lives near campus has had to evacuate.

Still, I had a shitload of work due today...

This does suck though. man, my parents live by Escondido, close to where the Romona fire is. They’re freaked out because they lost their home in the fires of 02. it’s not that close to them right now but the wind can change in an instant and from what I’ve read this thing is far from being contained.

look, all that matters is: ARE CELEBRITY HOMES IN DANGER??

i just had a phone interview with a californian indefinitely delayed because the artist in question is fleeing his home with his family

October 21st - 5:45 p.m Update
Buckweed Fire Update:
A total of 10 structures have been lost at this time due to the fire;
A total of more than 10,000 acres have burned thus far;
MANDATORY evacuations of upper Bouquet Canyon and Vasquez Canyon have been announced, as well as the San Francisquito Canyon and Copperhill areas, up to Spunky Canyon.

Be safe, Spunky Canyon!

yikes

fire is probably my greatest fear to the point where i walk around the house unplugging everything before I leave or go to bed. pleasant plains thinks im crazy.

did anyone see on tv that crazy guy videotaping a house he set on fire and, well, just talking wacko horrorfilmesque talk all the while? "HAHAHAHA YOU SAID I COULDN'T LIGHT A FIRE AHAHAA" " YOUR HOUSE IS NEXT!" i think we saw it on one of those "most shocking" shows this weekend.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-10/33375685.jpg

the (aptly named) carbon canyon fire

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-10/33372991.jpg

Castle Kashan

i want to see pictures of this spunky canyon.

creampie.jpg

lol

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44190000/gif/_44190784_malibu_fires_sat416.gif

is "pamela anderson" where the spunky canyon is, then?

The key to this map is helpful

xp

Spunky Canyon is near my school. It may be due East of Chuck E. Cheese and Circuit City. At least, so the legend goes.

Chuck E. Canyon

lol sting is burning

true fact: james cameron has his own fire truck and water tower for just such an occasion as the one impending.

this is totally worth it for listening to the governator talk about "getting these fai-uhz unda kontroll"

It's funny because he's Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie actor.

Current news has it that the Irvine/Portola fire was started by an arsonist. Now I really wonder if it was some Fraudera Ranch resident trying to get out of their ARM loan.

Actually it's more like he's Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, that's funny

Dear Powers That Be... Please do not repeat the 1993 fire. I don't wanna have to deal with that again. (though getting interviewed live on CBS Morning News was kinda cool)

The Irvine/Portola fire ran through our LNG plant in Bee Canyon last night. Still don't know the extent of the damage, everyone got out okay though the fire had jumped the main access road.

Will J Cameron loan his fire truck to Sting y/n

^^^someone make this into a film

Holy Shit, Jaq. That's good to hear, hopefully nothing springs a leak.

LAtimes.com says:

Bad day for fires, great day for surfing

Yeah Tombot, the main concern now is pressure building up and a safety valve relieving near an ignition source. I was supposed to head back down on Thursday, probably not now.

Somewhat hilariously, the emergency ops center for Orange County sits directly on top of the fire.

bring some water if you come

only rudy giuliani can save you now

I'll have to buy it after I get through security at Seatac, remy. Will 4 bottles be enough?

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7243279

Another friend who lives near castaic can see a thick black cloud approaching. She grew up here and says she's never seen fires like this.

http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2007/US/10/22/wildfire.ca/t1home.1602.fires.nasa.jpg

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site205/2007/1022/20071022_122245_FIRESATSHOT_300.jpg

Oddly enough there's no sign of any of these fires in Pasadena.

i got an email from towga today, she was at home because her place of employment is in the mandatory evacuation zone. she said it's like amarageddon out there, her boss is driving around with his art collection in his car, it was black as midnight at 4 pm yesterday. the boundry for the evac zone is now 1/4 north and 1/2 mile east of her, she's gassed up the car and have the dog carriers at the ready. she's pretty much prepared to lose everything.

fucking hell ...

one thing that's keeping her hopes up is that there is a fairly large lagoon to the north of her but if i remember correctly there was about three vacant lots-worth of brush between the lagoon and the edge of her 'hood. i didn't want to burst her bubble so i kept my mouth shut there.

it's fuck up because with those vicious wind gust all bets are off.

Mmmm dry underbrush. NOM NOM NOM

damn, 2 sets of grandparents + fiancee's family evacuated

holy shit, they're talking about SOLANA BEACH evacuating?!?!

I grew up in San Diego. I'm glad my family is no longer living there but I still feel my old city is disintegrating looking at the pictures. :(

holy shit if solana beach is evacuated towga will have to go north and the evauation zone was only 1/4 mile north of her place!!

fuck i wish i'd paid my fucking phone bill....

Oddly enough there's no sign of any of these fires in Pasadena.

-- nickn, Monday, October 22, 2007 1:44 PM (42 minutes ago)

Altadena had a quick (but photogenic) one a couple months ago, you missed it? It was up the hill right above fair oaks, people lined up on lake ave gawking, you could see it from the freeway. yeah but i went to miracle mile this morning, got no signs or smells from the current fires.

I missed that one too, I guess. The big Altadena fire of about 10 years ago I could see from my front porch. That one was started by a transient camping in the forest thereabouts.

I'm in Santa Monica, and there is a good-sized plume of smoke over the hills in the direction of Jim and Mel's places. I hope they're alright.

Parts of Valencia being evacuated now.

So how long can these things go on for? The planes doing water drops on Stevenson Ranch look rather ineffective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugaboo_scrub_fire

three months

a couple of my co-workers just left to head back to valencia

to save possessions or because it's safe?

i think to save possessions, my one co-worker just left because she saw her house on the news in an evacuated area.

I am offering to put up some classmates who need a place to go, wifey's gonna get a surprise when she gets back from work!

you're sending them to roger adultery's house?

haw haw

where i'm at there's no smoke, but just this gray haze which may in fact just be smog. the smoke seems to mostly be blowing out towards the ocean and i'm right on the ocean, pretty much.

My dad in North County SD just received the voluntary evacuation call. He's chilling out for now but with a bag packed.

School just sent out a message telling us campus will be closed tomorrow too.

You get used to this kind of stuff.

Yeah, Los Angeles, right? car crashes, fires, riots, beautiful dystopia.

don't forget earthquakes

And mudslides.

mudslides don't sound real.

Still, it beats tornadoes, ice storms, and hurricanes.

And boredom!

half dozen of the other

Oooh, they just showed like a 747 flying just over the top of the trees to make a drop.

Reminds me of my favorite AP news quote of the last month.

"Staying sober — and out of Los Angeles — is Lohan's main priority."

sorry. I should have prefaced that with the dangers that celebrity drivers pose to public safety.

My dad in North County SD just received the voluntary evacuation call.

fuck, jen's in north county.

It's huge, do you know which city she's in?

carlsbad village.

if by carlsbad village you mean downtown carlsbad, that's pretty close to the water and west of the 5 freeway. it's hard to see the fire getting quite that far.

but i feel that nervousness too - my parents are about a mile from the water and they've been told to "be ready" for evacuation. the idea of a wildfire getting from east SD to the water is pretty amazing.

it's west of the 5 and close to the water but 3 hours ago the mandatory evac. zone was only a quarter mile from her place. she works approx 4 miles to the west of her place and did not have to go in because the place was burning.

I just got a call that one of my classmates "saw some flames really close" and "got into a car headed to Los Angeles". He's from Korea and I don't think he knows his way around. Maybe I'm going to have a full house.

here's a map from this afternoon at around 4 pm, kevin

parents were evacuated last night :(

fuck a goddamn celebrity! Fuck John Travolta "I flew over that today and it's always a dramatic impression you get from this." yeah, well fuck off

This shit is really astounding - I understand that, like Spencer said, that a whole lot of Southern Californians get used to this sort of thing. Its what we do best - be "over" something.

But come on. 500k evacuated? In three days? NATIONALLY declared state of emergency (this time, on time)?

I used to think my mother in law was crazy for reacting the way she does this time of year...she lives in the foothills west of Pasadena, and her home has been threatened in the past. I still think she's crazy, but not for being afraid of the fires.

Shit is fucked up in SD county

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-10/33407503.jpg

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-10/33403749.jpg

Magic Mountain gonna burn

looks like my uncle and his family lost his house. they're sitting at my parents right now, with two cars packed. same situation at my fiancee's house, where there's three families + three packed cars.

it's sort of funny when you think about it

can't get in touch with towga. ;_;

i guess you have to have a some sort of sense of humor about it.i'm still sorry to hear that about your fam, bro.
i'm still holding out hope that my parent's house is spared this time around.
xpost

but it's really not looking to good at this point

wow shit is crazy - a few years ago i spent the summer in the rockies in n colorado and there were 3 forest fires within 10 miles of me at one point - smoke blotting out the sun, animals getting all edgy.

The Irvine fire in Bee canyon, Sunday night:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2109/1712073969_29cee5e2b0_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2095/1712074375_89e79ec2c6_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2385/1712074185_61d228fd6d_o.jpg

can people get fire insurance in cali or is this considered an "act of god"?

yes, you can get fire insurance. there's enough of a history of this stuff happening that they've worked out the rates + premiums on a block-by-block basis in some neighborhoods.

I live on a hillside surrounded by dry brush. Don't know what my insurance is when it comes to these things.

the last two photos remy posted don't even seem real, I thought they were like special fx stills from a movie

Like Tommy Lee Jones is going to come riding in on a firetruck with Anne Heche or some such shit, right?

The plume of smoke extending from the San Berdoo fire OVER LA to the ocean this morning at sunrise had a similar, Bruckheimer scope to it.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/23/fire.map/index.html

where's herzog on that map

A few miles East of Malibu Canyon.

Where's Devendra?

fanning the flames with his beard

mar vista officially smells of woods-moke now, and the sky is yellow and low

wood-smoke

looks like my uncle and his family lost his house.

-- moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, October 23, 2007 4:40 PM (3 hours ago)

whoa, redacted. they lost the vegetation in their backyard and about half the houses on the street are gone but theirs is still standing!!

Glad to hear they're okay. A friend of mine in Canyon Country had a similar experience - his house is one of the few on his street not to catch fire.

I'm bored of school being closed now, but it's impossible to tell how good or bad things are up there.

what school are you at, again?

CalArts

It's in between the three fires in the middle of this map (some of which are in varying stages of containment):

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&om=1&msa=0&msid=104490150066531762262.00043d07fd69c22f79aee&ll=34.394445,-118.542137&spn=0.143349,0.32135&z=12

uh this may be an extremely stupid question but: how the fuck are all these fires starting?

i know several started from downed power lines because of the high winds and several others due to arson. seems whenever there's a wildfire or two going, no matter the cause, someone jumps in to join in and create their own.

man made, lightning, anything that causes a spark. coupled with all the brush and the wind that blows burning embers for hundreds of yards it's hard to contain them.

meth lab incident

uh god watching fucking wolf blitzer pimp freaked out peoples emotions is reaaaally gross

omg maria shriver u r zombie so scarey

does the wind usually blow east to west out there? seems counterintuitive

no, but that's when there are the best waves

It's just that dry. When I was in Reno in July you could see smoke rising from a different direction every afternoon.

Anybody see the pictures of the really big fire whirl/tornadoes?

East to West winds are called Santa Anas, and they blow very dry air from the desert. They usually happen around this time of the year and that's why the fires are so bad. (End of rainless summer + dry strong winds = explosive tinderbox.) West to East is more normal other times of the year.

Nickn, OTM.

I was just about to 'splain Ye Olde Santa Anas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_wind

somewhere high in the desert near a curtain of a blue
the sane man skirts under the wind
but down here in the city of the lime lights
the fans of santa ana are witherin'
and you can’t deny that living is easy
if you never look behind the scenery
it's showtime for drag lines
and bedlam is dreamin' of rain

when the hills of los angeles are burning.....
palm trees are candles in the murder wind
so many lives on the breeze
even the stars are ill at ease
and los angeles is burnin'...

Survivor has an atmospheric song named "Santa Ana Winds" that refers to a disastrous woman.

yeah ok, the Santa Anas. The one time in my life I visited LA (last year) it really struck me that the climate is basically desert- my friend kept her screenless windows open (no bugs!?) etc. When I read about Atlanta's water problems I can't fathom how LA and SD get their freshwater. The whole place boggles my midwestern brane.

anyway, best of luck everybody. The pictures I've seen are pretty whoa.

i already had my fire since i live at the base of ol griffith park which went up in flames a few months ago (my place smelled like smoke for a week after that and since i lived just north of the evacuation line i had to get outta there).

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/23/us/24fire.3373.jpg

Famous Raymond Chandler quote, from "Red Wind"

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

And Pasadena's feelin' it now, from the Arrowhead fire.

When I read about Atlanta's water problems I can't fathom how LA and SD get their freshwater.

They steal it from up north. Not actually steal, but use way the hell more than their share. It's the desert! You don't need a lawn if you have to water it twice a day! If you want a lawn, move to Kentucky or something...

A couple of friends had to evacuate from Encinitas. They were supposed to finalize the purchase of a house today. Both homes are in the evacuation zone.

I'm so glad I moved this summer.

A couple of friends had to evacuate from Encinitas.

i'm envisioning the owners coming back to lou's records and finding one gigantic mound of melted vinyl.

towga had to evacuate this morning as far as i can tell from bulletins i've read from sd county government sites. still can't get in touch with her, still haven't heard from her. makes me anxious and angry for a lot of different reasons.

here come those Santa Ana winds again
BAAAAAAAD NEWWWWWWWS

http://www.blade-empire.com/Marto/Conan/Conan-Sword_of_the_Father-Fire.jpg

sorry larry.

They steal it from up north. Not actually steal, but use way the hell more than their share. It's the desert!

It's more complex than outright theft (you could make a case for Central/Imperial Valley agricultural water subsides being more of a negative affect than the Sprawl), but a few basic changes could make a difference. I can't recommend Cadillac Desert enough.

Also, SoCal can adjust to drought conditions extremely well. Droughts have happened here before and will happen again - I don't recall Georgia ever having a drought.

In recent memory that is

yay, gchatting with towga now, she's safe.

Walking around here today has been a strange shift after coming back from Hawaii. It's not unfamiliar -- there was plenty of ash, haze blocking the sun and the smell of smoke in past years such as 2003 -- but it's still jarring.

Good friend Stripey just passed on the word that yesterday her favorite area hiking spot, Whiting Ranch, burned up. She's quite upset and I don't blame her. I went out that direction with her some months back -- here's my photos -- and now who knows when it'll be like that again.

Couple of coworkers aren't in today -- they're from north San Diego County.

This photo from that set says it all:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/492435527_ef1606b5b6.jpg

they should have a purple wedge reading IMMINENT -- RUN!

How many fatalities so far, do they know?

1 directly as a result of the fire, 5 in fire-related circumstances (deaths by accident at evacuation facilities, for instance).

Although there's also this kinda freaky incident, which almost sounds like an echo of a double-killing in the area from some months back.

Grandstanding well under way.

These fucks!!
stop pointing fingers and fix it!
this shit happens EVERY year.

I didn't realize this would hit so close to home here, but a friend of mine who lives in Edmonds is hosting her grandmother, age 87, who had escaped her home (if it's still there now :( ) in Ramona in SD county. She managed to fly up here to get away from the situation. Here's the txt I got from my friend:

grandma's at the house relaxed now and happy she's alive. my mom is flying in from boise tonight to see her and make sure she's comfortable while i'm off to school. it was really hard this morning. I freaked out because grandma was missing this morning. WHERE IS SHE? I found her outside in the rain just standing there with her arms out. she's really old and shouldn't even be keeping her arms raised. obviously she shouldn't be outside in cold wet weather she's not used to. so i brought her in and she was just saying SO FULL OF LIFE. RAIN. THIS IS ALL I WANT. ITS NOT ASH ITS RAIN RAIN RAIN. I LOVE YOU. she started breaking down in tears. I ESCAPED HELL. THIS IS HEAVEN. i started crying too. i brought her inside. she's fine now.

I didn't bother asking if she knew how her grandmother's house was. It's pointless to ask that now.

Today summed up -- this is a view down the 405 freeway in OC. John Wayne Airport is the open patch of ground in the lower right hand corner, and I live not too far away to the further lower right.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/24/us/25wildfires-337.jpg

My bro says he's not sure they can get OUT of Ventura at this point.

Altho googlemaps seems to think the files in Ventura Co have now been contained, and it doesn't show anything for Santa Barbara...he says it's fucking HOT, though, and you can't see the sun at noon. :(

this shit is not cool

All still grinding away in OC -- the fire is starting to reach the Cleveland National Forest, and if it breaks out fully there, all the smoke in the air so far will have been as nothing in comparison.

Today has been even crappier already -- at least yesterday I could see the sun rise. The smoke is so thick it's essentially fog-level visual quality now. Aside from one on-campus errand and a quick run to get some lunch to go I plan on hunkering down in the library all day at work.

This map is the best one for tracking the OC/Santiago fire -- if you click on the satellite or hybrid option, you can see just how much mountainous terrain was involved. I can see a good chunk of this from UCI on a good day and it'll be nothing but black ash when the smoke clears.

A disputed land-use strategy designed to protect new developments from devastation in the county's exurban, fire-prone areas appears to have passed its first and most critical test this week.

vs

It's time to rethink where homes are built in San Diego County, several scientists, environmentalists and politicians said yesterday as wildfires continued to carve up the region.

so we had been planning on buying a house or condo in the west-of-5 area later this year, or renting until conditions became a little more favorable. i wonder what all this is going to do to the housing / renting market and how this is going to break down across each geographical and socioeconomic "bracket"

well with any luck it leads to some blade runner looking shit getting erected over all those ugly McMansions what got smoked

I'm such an optimist

We're saved!

http://www.latimes.com/media/alternatethumbnails/photo/2007-10/33471073.jpg

saved? did a burning tree fall on him?

A sweet dream.

I am no fan of the governator and his weird obsession with power (or the wway he seized office) but I must admit he's probably the most reasonable, competent governor the state's had in my lifetime

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Fox_hypes_Qaeda_plotted_fires_theory_1025.html

It was probably Iran.

WHAT!!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/25/AR2007102502488.html

Seems about right.

Another day of next to no visibility around here. Plenty of people with masks on campus. Fire's still eating its way through the Cleveland National Forest and might jump the county line over the weekend. At this rate I almost wonder what Halloween would be like.

Guys, if you're driving around, please use the recycle air button. I actually don't know why more people don't just leave this as their main setting.

parents house was spared! not true for 5 houses right down the street though :(

Yeesh. But glad to hear your folks' place is okay.

I was wondering if Mike Davis would be saying something and he will. Might swing by on Wednesday.

my dad was driving around down there when i was on the phone with him and and you could tell by the sound of his voice that the devastation was beyond belief. houses stood untouched on one side of the street and on the other side nothing but ash. SD county was hit so hard by this

house around the corner from my great aunt and uncle burnt down, but theirs is fine

Any Londoners in the Holborn area? There's a HUGE cloud of billowing smoke out towards Fleet Street/Chancery Lane right now.

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=fire+in+london

I'm going to be getting the bus in that direction shortly. A colleague who works there reports a great deal of jet black smoke around.

http://twitpic.com/img/27v8p-d2b51a41c5ac82106218d365176b7f58.49c1278f.jpg

Holy shit.