Any members affected by the wild fires

[432bartman]

Any members here affected by the So California wildfires? An extended family member of ours lost their home in Pacific Palisades, and a friend of mine at work, who lives in northern Altadena, miraculously was the only home on his block to survive. It truly is devastating. There are thousands of people without homes, and entire cities are literally destroyed. Many are still without power, and the winds are still blowing hard. Prayers to all those affected by this nightmare.

[Mikendebbie]

The pics i have seen on TV look like Hiroshima photos. Just terrible. We are praying for the newly homeless Californians.

[Mikendebbie]

The west side of IH35 in Austin is called “the hill country”. The hills are covered in cedar trees and scrub bushes. The cedar trees burn like gasoline if you put a flame to them. The hill country is also where the money and big houses are. It’s probably a miracle that a fire like this has not happened here yet. There have been a few small wild fires in the past 5 years…typically they start in a homeless camp. Fortunately the fire department has been able to quickly control them.

[mlh]

I can’t imagine how that could happen. We live in the Roanoke Valley Virginia. There are about 190,000 people there. That’s the number of people that had be evacuated. We live in the woods and what happened in California is nearly if not impossible here.
Blocks and blocks of everything just gone. How would you rebuild? Could you especially if your insurance had be cancelled. If you still owe on your mortgage could you repay it while paying off a new house.
I’m sure there are a lot of rich people there but a lot of people just getting by. You feel sorry for them but the super wealthy not so much.
Lynwood

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Our hearts go out to everyone affected but especially those of modest means.

Additionally the water problem was simple physics not a lack of water. The system was never designed to have that many hydrants open at the same time. Add to that the fact that they cannot fly in those kinds of winds and they were powerless to stop it.



This is the best explanation of it I’ve ever heard.

https://youtube.com/shorts/T8GAJwRZK...TJdJk7-SBdfiUl

I’m impressed how good these pilots are when they can fly. This was on the news this morning:

https://youtu.be/boW-HJeF4QA

[R.S.O'Donnell]

A pretty impressive video from the Line Fire near Big Bear a few months ago.

https://youtu.be/3MGTpF21XCE?si=tLZCgCuXO2H1RDTT

[DutchmenSport]

In the long run.... we are All affected by those wild fires. California is a mess (in many more ways than just wild fires). But in a way, the wild fires kind of symbolize what's happening in that state on many levels. And that affects everyone all across this nation.

I experienced a house fire many years ago and lost absolutely everything except the under ware I had on and a blanket wrapped around me. I even lost my pets. I'm just grateful I wasn't married yet and didn't have kids. Still, I lost everything I had... everything. And I had no insurance on anything. My vehicles were a loss too and a neighbor bought me a new bill fold and put $100 in it and another neighbor let me sleep in their travel trailer parked in their back yard for a few days.

It was an eye opener for sure and a harsh reality that made me do an honest evaluation of my life and my life style. A few weeks later, I enlisted in the US Army and started EVERYTHING all over again.

I'm not saying this is the path for everyone, but when calamity happens, I do think it's a wake up call to examine one's personal lifestyle, faith, and relationships with other people. A devastation like this is life-changing. Some get-it, some just get more bitterr.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

We lived in NE Florida when they had their 1998 wildfire season. It was a terrifying experience.

All you need is a long stretch without rain and it can happen to you. We currently live in what's called the "Inland Empire" of SoCal and the Santa Ana's were so bad here it blew our locked together e-bikes over. And we just got a taste of what they got along the coast. Here are a couple of videos of the 1998 wildfires:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unwvh2Rnrz0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFunNlo6mn4

[R.S.O'Donnell]

A pretty dramatic video of a senior living facility evacuation during the fire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dUPW8LUeck

[Playhouse]

We live in the Santa Clarita Valley, just north of the L.A. City boundary but still in L.A. County. We were camped up on the central coast last week off the grid and only got cell signal when we drove into town. Our town had evacuation warnings, but they never gave the order to leave.

The winds were crazy here and we had a lot of damage in the yard, but no damage to the house.

I'm in my last two weeks of "work" before retiring on the 24th. I'm burning the last of my sick days and floating holidays, so I'm not going in. But my office down in Glendale/Burbank has been closed since last Wednesday and I doubt it will reopen tomorrow.

My birth town of La Cañada Flintridge was evacuated for a few days, but luckily the fires never jumped the Arroyo. The other side of the Arroyo is Altadena, which is completely devastated.

We've been lucky where I live. I've always told family and friends that I'm not worried where we live, because any fire would have to burn through miles of city & homes before it could get to us, but that's precisely what we saw in Altadena & the Palisades. I've never seen anything like it. My dad was an L.A. County Fire Captain and we've always paid close attention to SoCal fires. I never thought anything like this could be possible.

Despite all this local devastation though, I still don't understand why there's 24/7 coverage of the L.A. fires while there's still so much damage and displacement from last season's hurricanes. It feels like the Hollywood stars are getting all the spotlight while there are so many people still affected by the hurricane carnage.

[mlh]

I agree with with your last paragraph. The people in LA at least have roads and their land. In Asheville the roads were washed away. Some people had their land washed away. There is a hole where their land was. Now what do you do. A friend who was helping out down there said he saw a house with a 40 foot tall electric pole sticking through the roof. The water had to be over 40 feet deep and probably a lot deeper for that to happen.
You feel so sorry for all of these people.
Lynwood