[Wrao]

I live in Pasadena California, however, I used to live with my parents in Thousand Oaks California. I am currently at my mom's house in Thousand Oaks. I came here to help her set up her new iPod nano, but quickly learned of this fire that started in chatsworth and has been eating up the edge of the san fernando valley since around 2 PM.

So, we're not really in danger, but the area we live is surrounded by dry brush and there is a path of dry brush leading right to where the fire is.

It's far from us, maybe 20 miles, but it's conceivably possible to end up right at our doorstep, assuming the winds push westward, which it has been doing. But it's also been moving south, so it might pass us and head to malibu.

All in all, it's a little tense, my mom is clearly worried, she's packing up her car with priceless irreplaceable stuff. I'm personally not all that worried, I've been at the foot of many large fires and never been directly affected.

My sister's house burned down a couple years ago. So, we haven't been completely unscathed from fires. But, still... there are plenty of houses in between us and the fire, and while there is a lot of dry brush EVERYWHERE, I'm really not that concerned.

I think that, ultimately, if it *is* going to hit us, we'll know at least a couple hours in advance, solely based on the fact that there are some other houses within 20-30 minutes drive from us that would probably be hit first.


unfortunately I don't have any media for you guys, I did take some pictures with my phone but they are of substandard quality(they were in my car) If I find some images I'll post. I'm considering going for a short hike up some of the hills, I think I'll be able to see the flames. Maybe not though, there are a lot of hills in the area.

It really is a big fire, I've been watching the news, it's consumed 3500 acres, they've contained 5% optimistically, and the flames are 20-30 feet high at points. So far there have only been two structures consumed, and only one injury, but they are no where near containing or controlling this blaze.

Welp, that's hte excitement of the night.

[Brad]

I'd say it's time to take the water hose outside and start spraying down the surrounding areas!

Seriously, though, I hope everything goes alright. I can't imagine what it would be like living where fires spread like that. Hurricanes? Bring em on. Fire? Eep.

[Wrao]

Yea, ultimately, we're not really that much in the path of the fire.

It's something like this, I'm actually a little unclear exactly where the fire is, I saw it earlier, but it's BIG, so what I saw might have only been part of it.

the lower orange circle is where I think it is, give or take. The yellow lines are silly squiggles indicating that the path is all dry brush. The blue circle is my house. There are many houses inbetween us and the fire, but at the same time, there is a dry brush path with no houses at all. If the fire were to move on fuel instead of wind, it could easily show up in our backyard. But, a fuel based fire is less likely to burn down a house than a wind based fire(since hte flames don't jump around as much)

So, I'm not worried, but I'm still helping my mom load up the cars with all the artifacts.

[Wrao]

I just drove around for an hour or so looking for news and public opinion. Many areas around me are unofficially evacuating, I saw dozens and dozens of fire engines. Lots of people(including an astounding number of hot young women) standing around gawking.

The fire is actually a lot closer than I thought it was

Here's a more accurate approximation. I don't know exactly how BIG it is, but I did see some flames creep up over and around some of the ridges around that red blob. Again, my house is in blue, and while it seems pretty far and well protected, the light yellow path is pretty much barren brush that a fire could easily sneak through.

[Dave]

Come on, man! It's been over an hour! Where's our update?

Seriously, I hope you and your mom and her house are fine. Good luck getting out the irreplaceable stuff if it comes to that.

[Wrao]

Yea, where IS the update! it's fucking frustrating as hell. We're seeing smoke pretty much all around us, huge chunks of ash all over, air is thick. It's not a pleasant experience, but we have no clue what the status is, no local news is active, all the police and fire departments are busy working their asses off to prevent the fire from consuming any houses in this area.

But, I fear it is creeping closer to us. There is still a considerable distance the fire must travel, and the winds have died down a lot, which is good. Also, a lot of brush has been cleared around our house, so fire fighters can actually fight effectively in our canyon.

I'm still pretty sure our house won't burn down, but it is a little nerve racking.

My mom and step dad are pressuring me to leave, but I want to stay at the house. They are preparing to goto oxnard(40 or so miles west of us) where they bought an investment property a year ago.

So... we don't have any updates really. Hopefully a fire engine or police car will come down our street and tell us what's happening.

My folks are leaving, I'm staying. I'm going to take a little nap, if the fire is at my doorstep when I wake up... welp, that'll be very lame.

I think I'm going to go for another little drive in a bit, hopefully I'll find a police officer or maybe even get a glimpse at some flames.

I'm still not one to worry, but at the same time, you really never know, this could go down in history as being one of the most destructive fires, who knows, it might be totally contained by the weekend, or maybe the winds will change and it'll leave my area, anything could happen. I'm not worried, but my mind is racing.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by Wrao I think I'm going to go for another little drive in a bit, hopefully I'll find a police officer or maybe even get a glimpse at some flames.

I really do wish the best for you and your family. It isn't worth staying if the fire really is "knocking on your door." Best to just get out. If you can clear some of the brush it would make a major difference, thought the wind can still carry the flames and heat.

If you do go out, bring a camera, and try to make sure someone knows where you are in case they need to find you.

[Wrao]

I just woke up from a little nap. Looking outside is pretty damn ominous. I have no update as to where the fire is exactly, but I am about to explore(both TV and physically in my car) It's a pretty damn bleak scene, unfortunately, my camera is in pasadena, all I have for pictures is my camera phone, which, is 1.3 megapixel but... ya know...

Well, I'm going to go look around, if things are really bad, I'll pack up the car and head out to meet up with my parents, but yeesh.

Edit: Apparently Oak Park(on the map, the area north on kanan inbetween lindero and the start of kanan) is under a mandatory evacuation, that is quite a bit disconcerting. The news is focusing on the norther side of the fire up near the 118 freeway, but the one down here seems to be equally serious. Dang.

edit2: they are saying that upto 10,000 acres have been burned, that the fire nearly doubled throughout the night. Shesh!

[Wrao]

I just drove around a bit, the fire is currently consuming one of my favorite hiking areas, that I just so happened to have hiked half of last night in hopes to get a better view of things.

[alcimedes]

Better to bail than be caught off guard.

My parents live in NM, I know how fast those fires can move.

[Wrao]

Yea, for now I'm going to take a little nap. I only got 2 hours of sleep, I'd rather be awake and alert and ready to do a million things at once than yawning and lethargically not wanting to do anything at twice.

Winds have died down considerably, ~5 MPH compared to 20-30 MPH we were getting last night. That's good.

[kscherer]

You probably have better info than this, but it was just put up on Netscape, so I thought I would post it:

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/default.jsp

My prayers are with you and your family, Wrao!

[Grip]

Good luck Wrao! Be safe!

[Wrao]

it looks like the fire that is closest to me has been mostly taken care of. It's moved north a bit and since the winds have died down it's become easier to fight. I don't exactly know the status, it has moved closer to me, but I think it has weakened.

[Amadeus]

It's very sad when homes are lost. The important thing is to evacuate, lives can't be replaced, but homes can. I have a friend that lives near Los Angles. He has family in the area. When went to help them pack-up some important items in his car, while they packed their car. My prayers are with everyone in the area.

[Wrao]

Remarkably there have been very few homes destroyed. They only talk about 1, but say there might be 2 or 3 others.

However, I almost get the feeling that could change on a dime, and if some of these homes start burning it'll ignite a chain reaction that could decimate a lot of the areas around here. So, while I'm still not worried, things could conceivably hit the fan and get real ugly real quick.

Winds have been good, some of the local fires closest to me have died down a bit, but it's still very unpredictable, they were saying that on the news a minute ago, but literally as they were saying it the fire they were watching got a big resurgence of energy.

One of the things that kind of worries me is that they aren't being very optimistic or pessimistic, they basically aren't talking about what I want to hear, and they keep repeating the 5% contained figure, which I have a hard time buying, seems like that's an easy euphemism for "shit, this shit is serious shit" But, that's not to slag on the men and women working their asses off to keep us safe, much respect, they've been working all night, and doing all they can.

This is why Fires are lame, there really is only so much fire fighters can do in these situations, they basically just have to let it burn out, keeping it off people's homes.

On the bright side, assuming we have a wet fall/winter, spring time should be unfathomably beautiful.

[Wrao]

Here's an updated map of where the fire is, more or less. I drew a bold line, but there are many breaks in the flame wall, it's not exactly that consistent, but it is taking up about that much area. I'm the blue circle, the gold line is where the fire could travel to get to my house(aside from a house or two, it's pretty much a dry brush path)

I haven't seen any engines on my street, which is a mixed message. They are currently battling it pretty much directly north of me. THey are saying that it's burning northward though, and the winds have died down, that's good.



Also, if a mod wants to change the title, the fire is also eating up the simi valley.

[murbot]

Holy shit.

[Windswept]

I hope your parents have been keeping in touch with you, Wrao.

If you stay there, but finally are ordered to evacuate, are there plenty of ways to leave the area?

It kind of looks like there's just that one main road. It would be crammed with cars if everyone had to evacuate at once. And what if you had to leave right during rush hour? The roads/highways you'd be feeding into would be jam-packed too.

I hope you have taken all that into consideration.

Good luck, Wrao. I really do hope that everything works out for you and the people in your area.

[Wrao]

Ya, evacuation wouldn't really be a big issue, enough people have left the area already that traffic wouldn't likely be too bad plus westlake blvd. is a 50 mph road with 3-4 lanes, and there are some alternate surface streets to get to the freeway which would be heavily crammed no doubt, but not really in jeopardy of the flames.

[Mac+]

I can't see the maps you have posted - but I'm glad to know that you're not in immediate danger of the flames Wrao. However, if the wind changes drastically I certainly hope that you and your Mum manage to get out quickly and safely.

Thinks back to Ash Wednesday fires in Victoria.

[Wrao]

Looks like we're going to be fine. The winds have changed a bunch and all in all it looks like it's moving away from our area a bit. So that's good.

[Grip]

Good news Wrao. I'm in Studio City myself I and I can smell the smoke from here. Can't imagine how scary it is for you out there. Be safe.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by murbot Holy shit.

http://www.wildlandfire.com/pics/fire2/ratcreek.jpg

One outside my hometown, '94.

Glad to hear you're doing okay Wrao. Once the ground fuel goes, they tend to be done.

[murbot]

Yeah, that's pretty nasty. I've got some doozies from the fires in Kelowna, BC last year that are similar, I'll have to dig 'em up.

I didn't post that because of the size or severity, but the freaky "fire ghost" thing. The fire looks like it's alive, and it wants those firemen.

[Windswept]

Hey guys. Has anyone heard from Wrao today?

[Amadeus]

Originally Posted by Windswept Hey guys. Has anyone heard from Wrao today?

I hope that we hear from Wrao soon also. At least his last post sounded very positive. It's important that we be concerned about fellow members of this forum.

[Wrao]

Aw shucks. Yea, we're fine here. The winds changed and the fire that was only about 4 miles away and heading towards us is now dying an probably more like 8 miles heading away from us. They are starting to contain sections that were threatening us, and while the fire is still raging out of control farther east and north, it is no longer in my neighborhood. So, I was fine, I am fine and I'll be fine.

That said, a couple more houses got burned down, very sad for those people, but the fire should probably be mostly contained fairly soon.

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by Wrao Aw shucks. [...snip...] I was fine, I am fine and I'll be fine.

We are really REALLY glad to hear that. Yay!

*hug*

[Amadeus]

I'm very sorry to hear about your neighbors.

Happy to hear about you news also.